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ICCF-U.S. NEWS

Letter to USCF Absolute Championship Participants
from USCF Correspondence Chess Director Joan DuBois

2 December 2002

In cooperation with the USCF Correspondence Chess Committee the ICCF-U.S. is posting this letter from USCF CC Director Joan DuBois. If you have ever participated in the USCF's top cc event, the Absolute Championship, we ask that you please respond to the following letter. The USCF Correspondence Chess Committee has launched the "Absolute Project" with the specific aim of preserving the history of this significant series. The letter was sent in October to all past and present Absolute tournament (1976-2001) participants whose address was on record at the USCF offices in New Windsor, NY. Not all of the letters were delivered due to a number of possible reasons. It is hoped that this posting will help to reach those players with whom the USCF has lost contact. The deadline mentioned in the letter for responses has now been extended to account for those who did not receive the original letter. Games may be submitted in any form - on hand-written score sheets, in pgn or Chessbase files, as Excel or Word files, etc. All game scores should be submitted to the USCF Correspondence Chess office either by mail, fax or email as given below. Any other related materials such as copies of nomination letters, crosstables, adjudication letters, player bios, player photographs and the like would also be quite helpful. The USCF Correspondence Chess Committee thanks you in advance for your assistance with this worthwhile project.

Postal Address:

Absolute Project
USCF Correspondence Chess
3054 US Route 9W
New Windsor, NY 12553

Fax:

845.561.CHES(2437)

Email:

JoanDuBois@uschess.org

www.uschess.org U. S. Chess Federation

845.562.8350 Fax 845.561.CHES(2437) 3054 US Route 9W New Windsor, NY 12553

October 25, 2002

Dear USCF Absolute Participant:

This letter is being sent to you because the USCF has on record that you participated in at least one Absolute championship between 1976 and 2001. The USCF Correspondence Chess Committee has decided to take on an exciting and worthwhile endeavor ... to compile all historical data on its Absolute correspondence championships and to archive them, perhaps through use of a viewer on the USCF website or the like. The Absolute represents the best that US Chess has to offer and we feel it should be available for all to see.

Toward this end we are asking you to contribute your Absolute gamescores, either in written or electronic format (PGN, NICBase or ChessBase) for inclusion in this project. We are also looking for crosstables if you have them. Games may be annotated; in fact that would be preferred. Full credit will be given to those who submit games. It is only recently that the USCF has made it a requirement that all Absolute game scores be submitted with the result. In the same spirit we would appreciate your cooperation with past tournament games before these treasures are lost forever. We have already had contributions from many past players.

We understand that many correspondence players prefer to keep their games secret and we understand and respect that view, if that is your decision. We hope that most feel the benefit gained in this case outweighs the potential drawbacks. In either case, we would appreciate your acknowledgment of this letter and your decision to donate any materials. A return envelope is enclosed for your reply; please mark the envelope, "ABSOLUTE PROJECT". We would like all materials to be submitted by November 20, 2002. We look forward to your response.

Yours in good chess,

Joan DuBois
Director, Correspondence Chess
JoanDubois@uschess.org

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