Invitation to the 21st  ISC

The International Solving Contest next year will take place on Sunday 19.01.2025. The event is happening simultaneously in all participating countries.

There will be three categories: one for experienced solvers. The second category is intended for weaker, inexperienced solvers. This second category is not open for solvers with a rating (or half-rating or non-active-rating) of more than 2000.
The third category is intended for youngsters born after 31.12.2011.

According the WFCC sanctions against Russia and Belarus because of the war in Ukraine only tournaments in category-3 are possible in Russia/Belarus.
According to the decision at the WCCC in Jūrmala, no cash prizes are permitted for all participating countries.

Separate results are recorded for youth, females and seniors. For Categories 1 and 2 the results of solvers will be rated. However for all solvers no norms for titles are possible.

The name of the locally appointed controller must reach the central controller by e-mail not later than 31.12.2024.

Announcement of 21st ISC | Rules of ISC

Thank you for your cooperation,
Arvydas Mockus
Central controller of ISC 2025


ISC 2024 – FINAL results

20th International Solving Contest (ISC) 21th January 2024

We had 41 tournaments in 26 countries and 669 solvers from 46 countries (24 unofficial solvers in cat-3) – 171 solvers in cat-1, 236 solvers in cat-2 and 262 solvers in cat-3. Thanks to all local controllers for their excellent work and good cooperation and congratulations to the winners.
Special thanks to Borislav Gadjanski for his daily updates of the results on the MatPlus-website, to Luc Palmans who checked  Cat1, to Andy Ooms who checked  Cat2, Bohumil Moravčik who helped a lot with the selection of the problems.

Arvydas Mockus, Central Controller of ISC 2024.

Problems CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3 | Solutions CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3 | Results CAT1CAT2CAT3

PRESENTATION of ISC results


The 20 years of ISC (2005-2024)

The idea to organize the International Solving Contest, simultaneously in many countries, came from Uri Avner in the year 2003. After a period of preparation the 1st ISC was held in January 2005. The winner was Roland Baier (SUI) and Ward Stoffelen was the Central controller. With 27 tournaments in 23 countries and 262 solvers it was already the greatest solving tournament in history.

After the success of the first edition, it was decided that the next tournament in 2006 should be rated, and that a second category for less experienced solvers should be included. In the following years ISC became a standard in the second half of January and the number of participants grew until more than 400.

In 2015 a third category for kids under the age of 13 was established. The record number of participants was reached in 2020, with 885 solvers in 31 countries. Later on, the regularity of ISC wasn’t interrupted even during the Covid crisis. The ISC became an opportunity for many solvers around the world to compete and get initial ratings. Also, nearly all top solvers have been using this tournament to test their skills. The record holder is Piotr Murdzia (POL) with six wins in the 1st Category competition.

Axel Steinbrink,
Central controller of 14 ISC tournaments


Invitation to the 20th  ISC

The International Solving Contest next year will take place on Sunday 21.01.2024. The event is happening simultaneously in all participating countries.
There will be three categories: one for experienced solvers. The second category is intended for weaker, inexperienced solvers. This second category is not open for solvers with a rating (or half-rating or non-active-rating) of more than 2000. The third category is intended for youngsters born after 31.12.2010.

The name of the locally appointed controller must reach the central controllers by email not later than 31.12.2023arvydas.mockus@gmail.compalmans.luc@skynet.be

Announcement of 20th ISC | Rules of ISC

Arvydas Mockus, 20th ISC Controller


65th WCCC – Highlights and Decisions

31 member countries were present, 4 of them via Zoom connection. Armenia was welcomed as the 44th member country of the Federation.

Upcoming events 2024:

20th International Solving Contest (ISC) on 21 January 2024, central organizers Luc Palmans and Arvydas Mockus.

17th European Chess Solving Championship (ECSC) iHagen, Germany 19-21 April 2024.

66th World Congress of Chess Composition (WCCC) and 47th World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC): the deadline for bids extended till October 15, decision postponed for the WFCC online Meeting.


ISC 2023 – FINAL results

19th International Solving Contest (ISC) 29th January 2023

We had 38 tournaments in 26 countries and 601 solvers (+15 unofficial solvers in cat-3) – 181 solvers in cat-1, 172 solvers in cat-2 and 248 solvers in cat-3. Thank you to all local controllers for their excellent work and good cooperation and congratulations to the winners. If you find any mistakes in the tables (e.g. wrong written names, wrong gender, …) please let me know. I will correct such mistakes.
Special thanks to Borislav Gadjanski for his daily updates of the results on the MatPlus-website, to Miodrag Mladenovic who entered all results from those local controllers who did not use STM for this and also to Luc Palmans and Ivan Denkovski who helped a lot with the selection of the problems. – Axel Steinbrink, Central Controller of ISC 2023

ISC 2023 Winners | Category 1 (181 solver) | Category 2 (172 solvers) | Category 3 (248 solvers)
Problems CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3 | Solutions CAT1 – CAT2 – CAT3

See the ISC 2023 presentation and all previous ISC competitions in the section: Competitions -> Solving -> International Solving Contest


Happy New Year 2023!

The year behind was crowded with official composing and solving events, thanks to the judges and organizers who worked hard in 2022.

January brought 18th International Solving Contest, another successful edition run by ever passionate Axel Steinbrink.

In March, the Solving Committee has made another step forward, introducing the very informative Solving Portal on our website.

May was the month of 15th European Chess Solving Championship, and Julia Vysotska created and exceptionally friendly atmosphere in Riga to attract solvers to the first ECSC since 2019.

Results of the two longest lasting composing events were completed between August and October. First, Valery Kopyl finalized the 8th World Championship in Composing for Individuals 2019-21, in spite of the most difficult circumstances in his country.

The other hard task was fulfilled by our long standing President Harry Fougiaxis, who took over the duty of the 11th World Chess Composing Tournament director.

During the summer, awards of the 10th FIDE World Cup in Composing were appearing one by one. In October, the director Aleksey Oganesyan ended his job and announced the final results.

World Solving Cup 2021/22, under the firm control of Roland Ott, lasted throughout the year, using the organizing resources of 13 different countries.

The final stage of the WSC was in Fujairah. In November, the United Arab Emirates hosted the 64th World Congress of Chess Composition. The first ever WCCC in Arabian Peninsula was an outstanding event in many ways. Dr. Abdulla Ali Aal Barket assured the memorable conditions for promotion of chess composition, and Mohammad Abdul Ghani was there to execute every single task.

The director of the 45th World Chess Solving Championship was the same as for the 15th ECSC. It was a challenging double task, unmistakably executed by Ivan Denkovski.


Let’s turn to 2023!

The red dates in our calendars will be 29th January (19th ISC), 2nd-4th June (16th ECSC in Bratislava) and 2nd-9th September (65th WCCC in Batumi).

Apart from regular competitions, we will have a joint duty to come closer to a much wider audience. The first steps in this direction were made a week ago, registering the WFCC in different social media (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram), with some introductory posts for each of them.

To find our stable place there we need more contributors from different countries, to “feed” the media with short but attractive and frequent posts. Some longer posts, for instance from national championships, may appear on the FIDE website, as announced by their Marketing and Communications Officer David Llada.

It’s perhaps time to recall words by our Honorary President Dr. Klaus Wenda, dedicated to the Golden Jubilee of our organization, in 2007:

There is no doubt that the status of the contemplative occupation of chess problems among the young is lower nowadays; that is confirmed by an alarming lack of young problemists in virtually all the member countries. It only makes the task of the commission more important, though: creating new incentives and new ways to arouse interest in chess composition. I know that there is no easy answer, but the important thing, in accordance with Herakleitos’s dictum, is to recognise new trends quickly and react to them appropriately.

Happy, healthy, and peaceful 2023!

Marjan Kovačević
WFCC President


Invitation to the 19th ISC

The International Solving Contest next year will take place on Sunday 29.01.2023. The event is happening simultaneously in all participating countries.
There will be three categories: one for experienced solvers. The second category is intended for weaker, inexperienced solvers. This second category is not open for solvers with a rating (or half-rating or non-active-rating) of more than 2000. The third category is intended for youngsters born after 31.12.2009.

The name of the locally appointed controller must reach the central controllers by email not later than 31.12.2022:  axel.steinbrink@gmx.de  / palmans.luc@skynet.be

Announcement of 19th ISCRules of ISC

Axel Steinbrink, 19th ISC Controller

ISC 2022 – FINAL results, Statistics & Galleries

18th International Solving Contest (ISC) 23rd January 2022

Finally we had 44 tournaments in 20 countries and 585 solvers (+15 unofficial solvers in cat-3) – 94 solvers in cat-1, 166 solvers in cat-2 and 325 solvers in cat-3. Thank you to all local controller for their excellent work and good cooperation and congratulation to the winners. If you find any mistakes in the tables (e.g. wrong written names, wrong gender, …) please let me know. I will correct such mistakes.

Results: Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 | Statistics ISC 2022 | ISC 2022 Studies-Analysis | ISC 2022 Winners | ISC 2022 TOP 100

Axel Steinbrink, Central Controller of ISC 2022


See the ISC 2022 presentation with a gallery of participants!
The navigation to the ISC main page: Competitions -> Solving -> International Solving Contest


18.ISC: first results

The preliminary results of the 18th ISC: We had 44 tournaments in 20 countries. In Category-1  94 solvers ; Category-2  166 solvers ; Category-3  323 solvers (+14 unofficial because solvers were too old for cat-3) – together 583 solvers.

In Category-1 already nearly 90% of the results are confirmed. Still the scanned sheets from several countries are missing.

All results will be updated in MatPlus every evening – see http://www.matplus.net/start.php

Best wishes,
Axel Steinbrink, Luc Palmans
Central controllers ISC 2022


Invitation to the 18th ISC

The International Solving Contest (ISC) next year will take place on Sunday 23.01.2022. The event is happening simultaneously in all participating countries. There will be three categories: one for experienced solvers. The second category is intended for weaker, inexperienced solvers. This second category is not open for solvers with a rating (or half-rating or non-active-rating) of more than 2000. The third category is intended for youngsters born after 31.12.2008

The name of the locally appointed controller must reach the central controllers by email not later than 31.12.2021:  axel.steinbrink@gmx.de  / palmans.luc@skynet.be

Announcement of 18th ISCRules of ISC

Axel Steinbrink, 18th ISC Controller