Jon Edwards of Hopewell Township, NJ recently became the 32nd World Champion of Correspondence Chess. Play in the Final Round involved 17 players from around the world. Edwards was the only American in the competition.
He becomes only the third American to become World Correspondence Chess Champion. Here is the final crosstable of the event:
Four players achieved a score of nine points, but Edwards finished clear first as determined by a tie breaking algorithm.
Edwards won the right to play in the Final Round by winning the US Championship, the North American title, and then a Candidate’s Event, whose top two finishers enter the Final round.
As a consequence of his performance, he has earned the title of Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, just the thirteenth American to achieve that honor.
Edwards is also a member of the United States Correspondence Chess Olympiad team, which has recently clinched a medal after eight years of play.
These correspondence chess events are run by the ICCF, the International Correspondence Chess Federation. Competitors have 50 days to make every 10 moves. Games often last years. Players are permitted to use books and computers, but not help from other people. Correspondence chess is very carefully played and indeed, wins require innovative strategies that are extraordinarily deep and beyond the horizon of computer and conventional chess analysis.
Edwards continues to teach chess to promising youth and volunteers at Chess in the Schools in New York City. He has written numerous books about chess, notably the Chess Analyst, Sacking the Citadel, and ChessBase Complete.
He graduated from Princeton University in 1975. He received his PhD in African History from Michigan State University in 1988. He worked at Princeton University for 24 years first as Assistant VP for Computing and Information Technology and later as Coordinator of Institutional Communication.
You can reach Jon Edwards at 609-737-0786 or at [email protected]
If you are interested, I would be very happy to provide additional games for your consideration. Here is a win against E. Lobanov of Russia.
[Event “?”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “2017.10.06”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Edwards, J.”]
[Black “Lobanov, E.”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B84”]
[PlyCount “111”]
[SourceVersionDate “2017.10.06”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8. f4
O-O 9. g4 d5 10. e5 Nfd7 11. g5 Nc6 12. Bd3 Qb6 13. Na4 Qa5+ 14. c3 Ncxe5 15.
fxe5 Nxe5 16. Bc2 Nc4 17. Bf2 Bd7 18. b4 Qd8 19. Nc5 Bxg5 20. Qf3 Bc8 21. Rg1
g6 22. Bb3 e5 23. Nc2 Nd2 24. Qxd5 Nxb3 25. Qxd8 Rxd8 26. Nxb3 Bf4 27. Bg3 Bh6
28. Bh4 Rd3 29. Rg3 Bf5 30. Na3 Rxg3 31. Bxg3 Rc8 32. c4 Bg4 33. c5 e4 34. Nc4
f5 35. Bd6 f4 36. Ne5 Bh3 37. a4 Bg7 38. Nd2 g5 39. Ndc4 Ra8 40. Rd1 Bf6 41.
Nb6 Re8 42. Nbd7 Kg7 43. b5 axb5 44. axb5 e3 45. c6 bxc6 46. b6 Bxd7 47. Nxd7
Bc3+ 48. Ke2 f3+ 49. Kxf3 e2 50. Rb1 e1=R 51. Rxe1 Bxe1 52. b7 Kf7 53. b8=Q
Rxb8 54. Nxb8 Ke6 55. Ba3 c5 56. Bxc5 1-0
Here’s another of which I am especially proud:
[Event “USA/2015/A (USA)”]
[Site “ICCF”]
[Date “2015.03.31”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Edwards, Jon”]
[Black “Cruzado Dueñas, Carlos”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B33”]
[WhiteElo “2506”]
[BlackElo “2594”]
Edwards-Cruzado Duenas, Carlos
US Invitational, 2015
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c4 b4 12. Nc2 a5 13. Qf3 Be6 14. Rd1 a4 15.
Be2 b3 16. axb3 Rb8 17. b4 Bxd5 18. Rxd5 Nxb4 19. Nxb4 Rxb4 20. Qa3 Qb6 21. Rb5
Rxb5 22. cxb5 Qa5+ 23. Kf1!! O-O 24. g3 Qd2 25. Qxa4 Qxb2 26. Qc4 Bd8 27. Kg2 Bb6
28. Rc1 Qa3 29. Rc3 Qc5 30. Rf3 g6 31. g4 Qxc4 32. Bxc4 Kg7 33. Bd5 f6 34. Kf1
Rc8 35. Bc6 Rh8 36. Ra3 Bc5 37. Ra6 Rb8 38. f3 f5 39. gxf5 gxf5 40. Ke2 Kf6 41.
Kd3 f4 42. Kc4 Ke7 43. Bd5 Rc8 44. Kb3 Rb8 45. Ka4 Bb6 46. h4 h5 47. Kb4 Kd8
48. Ra2 Rc8 49. Bc6 Bc5+ 50. Kc4 Kc7 51. Rg2 Kb6 52. Kd5 Rd8 53. Rg7 Rb8 54.
Ke6 Rd8 55. Rg5 Rh8 56. Rg6 Rd8 57. Ke7 Rh8 58. Kf7 Rh7+ 59. Kf6 Ra7 60. Rg8
Bf2 61. Kg5 Re7 62. Rb8+ Ka7 63. Ra8+ Kb6 64. Ra2 Bg3 65. Ra6+ Kc5 66. Kxh5
Rh7+ 67. Kg6 Rxh4 68. Bd7 Rh2 69. Rc6+ Kd4 70. Rxd6+ Ke3 71. Bg4 Be1 72. Rd1
Ba5 73. Kf5 Rb2 74. Kxe5 Rxb5+ 75. Rd5 Bc3+ 76. Ke6 Rb8 77. e5 1-0
Submitted by Jon Edwards
