The idea to organize this event came to my mind just after taking over by me ICCF delegate for Poland duties from my predecessor and friend Józef Lubas. Initial information was presented to the ICCF Congress 2010 in Antalya, Turkey and included in the minutes.
From ICCF Congress 2010 minutes (page 45):
Witold Bielecki Memorial (POL)
The Polish Federation announced initial information, which will start early 2012. This event will be presented at the 2011 for consideration and approval.
Until next ICCF Congress 2011 in Helsinki, Finland, talks with national delegates were conducted to invite players. It was not easy to gather top players in one tournament. Few players kindly refused. The main reason was that few of them wanted to take a rest from correspondence chess, permanent withdrawal or for a short time called “coffe break” 🙂 Other reason was short of time, because of extensive duty obligations or other tournament commitments. Fortunately, Caissa was favorable to us and we managed to gather very good representation from the top. This is very rare situation for players to compete in so strong events at category 16 or higher.
At the ICCF Congress 2011 this event was officialy accepted and included in the minutes.
From ICCF Congress 2011 minutes (page 55):
Witold Bielecki Memorial (POL)
ICCF Webserver, Invitational tournament
- Section A 13-15 players, Cat. XIV – XVI,
- Section B 13-15 players, Cat. XII – XIV,
Start dates: 03.01.2012 Prize fund: To be decided TD: To be decided TO: Mariusz Wojnar
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Finally sections were fixed in January 2012 as following:
- section A: Top players, cat.16, 13 players
- section B: Bravo section, cat.12, 13 players
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