May I introduce a great chess thematic organization: THORG.
THORG has the possibility to join 5 thematics in a year. These thematics start at a fixed date.

There's the possibility to join:
TH17: CHIGORIN DEFENCE
1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6
It's a tournament with 24 players, divided in 8 groups of 3 players.

TH18: FOUR KNIGHTS
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6
It's a tournament with 30 players, divided in 6 groups of 5 players.

TH19: Colle Zukertort
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Black starts at move 5.
It's a tournament with 32 players, divided in 8 groups of 4 players.

TH20: RUSSIAN
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxc4 5.d4 d5 Black starts at move 6.
It's a tournament with 36 players, divided in 12 groups of 3 players.

You can fill in the form at the website or send me a message with the subject: JOIN TH20

To join any of these thematics, please fill in the form at the website or send me a message. Enjoy your games at THORG.

Best regards
Denis Hebbelynck <Denis.H Hebbelynck@skynet.be> Web: http://users.skynet.be/THORG

Alan Rawlings (BFCC, England) writes that there were a couple of errors in the Readers Write section in the February Bulletin. "...you quote me under the heading International Matters but have, I think, confused two separate issues.

I wrote originally offering to help with the organisation and, if necessary,direction of an international tournament in memory of the late Mr Samtani. The Bulletin now says: "We contacted AICCF Champion S.K.Somani to enquire if he was prepared to play in such a tournament but as he is already busy with ongoing tournaments we did not receive a positive response." Such a tournament, and such an offer as mine, is not dependent on the participation of one player. One would expect that in such a tournament up to half the players would be from AICCF. The confusion has arisen because there was, separately, an invitation for Mr Somani to participate in the tournament BCCA-100 IM section, which starts on the ICCF Webserver in May of this year. Mr Somani has accepted for that, and your readers will be able to follow his progress online. You also report that World Cup XI semi-finals are finished. That is not the case... but we are almost there.

Alan Rawlings England

Sunil Somani replied,
I have already given consent to play for the BCCA-100. I consider this invitation as the honour bestowed by you on me. I am fully occupied by so much work that even at the national level, it has become difficult to participate in different tournaments (except for the National Championship), that is why I refused to play in other international / friendly international / tournaments. Now in India we have good CC players who can take the lead for such tournaments. In spite of my preoccupation, I assure you to participate in any tournament where you or AICCF need my presence. I want progress of Chess in India and for that reason, you may always ask me for any requirements.

Sunil K. Somani Indore

In reply to Alan Rawlings:
It is news to me that Sunil Somani has already agreed to play in the BCCA-100 IM section. It just shows that we need to communicate more. Neither Dr. Saxena who looks after our International Section or myself were aware of it. Regarding your offer of helping us to organise a tournament in memory of Late Mr. Samtani, we felt that we don’t have enough players who would be ready to play in such a tournament. Sunil Somani is just one example. We have difficulty to find enough participants for the ICCF email and webserver Olympiads. I think we have at most 4 or 5 players who are active in the International scene. However as announced in the February Bulletin pg. 11 we decided to honour the memory of Late H.J.Samtani by having the AICCF Special Tournaments named after him.

Dr. D.R.K.S.Rao informs us that he took a cessation of play in the Cecil Purdy Tournament and his other games during January and February 2006. He writes, "In the last week of December 2005 I was involved in an accident, wherein I received body bruises and some cuts on my face which required stitches. As a consequence I suffered a heart-disorder in the first week of January 2006 and was hospitalised in the ICU. The February Bulletin is excellent. I will write in detail again". In March, Dr. Rao was recovering and he had started replying to his games.