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AISE

AISE, which stood for Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi, was an Italian organization that promoted the play of Chess variants through postal correspondence. The most literal translation of its name is The Italian Association of Heterodox Chess, but it can also be translated as The Italian Association of Chess Variants. According to their Storia (or History) page, AISE officially formed in 1976, though its origin goes back to 1971 when Roberto Salvadori and Roberto Magari, proposed to ASIGC (Associazione Scacchistica Italiana Giocatori per Corrispondenza) that they consider the inclusion of Chess variants. In May of 1976, Armando Silli proposed the creation of an association specifically for heterodox chess, and in October, he, the two Robertos, and others became founding members of AISE. In 1979, new member Maurizio Sciam became the first President of AISE, and in 1985, longtime member Allesandro Castelli became President. The last tournament described on the AISE website is their Grand Prix 2000, which began in 2000 and completely finished in 2002. By this time, the founding members were a generation older, and postal correspondence was giving way to online correspondence. Members of this site were already playing each other through the PBM system that would become Game Courier, and some other websites were also enabling online play of Chess variants.

Here are some links to archived copies of its website:

The following website by a former AISE member is also of interest. While still up, it looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1990's. In fact, its link to this site is to the original location at Hans Boedlander's university account.

While it was still active, the President of AISE, Alessandro Castelli, sent Hans Boedlander the following description of AISE, Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi, (the Italian Association of Chess Variants).


AISE: Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi

AISE is an association devoted to chess variants and non chess games.

AISE's Members are from: Italy, USA, Canada, UK, France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Croatia, ...

AISE organises every year the following correspondence tournaments:

The AISE Bulletin is the Eteroscacco Magazine (ISSN 1121-6387). The first issue was published in 1980. Eteroscacco columns are: Chess Variants, Games from AISE tournaments, Theory and History of Chess Variants, Non Chess Games, Oriental Games, Book Reviews, ... The columns are in Italian, and sometimes in English.

Contact for information:

Alessandro Castelli
via Potenza 11
I-62010 Villa Potenza (MC)
Italy


Last modified: April 20, 2023.