How do you play correspondence

  

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Benjamin Block    (2008-04-28)
How do you play correspondence?

Hi, In bigchess i use my own brain because i don´t know if there is any computer i think around 1 min in the moves. In Go i am a beginer and i just think 10s. In corrspondence chess i let my computer think 0-1 min. How do you play corrspondence? Do you use Deep position analysis?


Marc Lacrosse    (2008-04-28 23:12:00)
Is it a joke ?

" In correspondence chess i let my computer think 0-1 min "

In correspondence chess I never let my computer(s) think less than several hours on one move.
I also analyse on my own with computer use for at least 30-60 minutes per move.
I also prepare openings for at least one hour per day _everyday_ even when I have no game at all running in the opening phase.
I built one of my computers specially for chess, an overclocked quad with efficient watercooling.
I will go for an eight-processors one in the very next months.
My main weakness is that I like playing unorthodox openings
So it's a bit difficult to go higher than 2400 elo here ...

So if you let your computer go 0-1 min per move we probably do not play the same game ...
But I cannot imagine your pleasure when playing a move that has been decided by a "0-1 minute" engine analysis.

Marc


Benjamin Block    (2008-04-29 17:32:19)
Is it a joke.

No i don´t need more to get i play vs low rated player my future ELO is over 1700 so i don´t need more time. I will analysis more and more when i get higer rating.


Andrew Stephenson    (2008-05-01 13:50:35)
hours for the computer

I don't se much benefit to letting the computer think for hours frankly wants it gets to 20 + ply. There all sorts of horizons in positions that letting the computer run for a year wont sort out. Marc why are you playing this c3 stuff against the sicilian with such great kit? You play the same openings all the time and I thought it was because you had not much time!!!


Marc Lacrosse    (2008-05-01 18:03:17)
to Andrew

"I don't se much benefit to letting the computer think for hours frankly wants it gets to 20 + ply. There all sorts of horizons in positions that letting the computer run for a year wont sort out."

There are other ways to use engines than letting simply one of them run for hours.
You may interactively walk along the various branches of the tree going from current position with one or several engines running.
You may also have engines playing some kind of test matches against each other from the current position or from any critical position that you identify along the possible continuations.
You can use Rybka randomizer against itself or against other engines for more exhaustive evaluation through test games
And so on ...

"Marc why are you playing this c3 stuff against the sicilian with such great kit? You play the same openings all the time and I thought it was because you had not much time!!!"

1. I never played this disreputed c3 stuff against the 2..d6 sicilian (with or without the 4.Be2 pawn offer) before january 2008 in my 140+ former serious correspondence games
Indeed I did choose it because I erroneously enrolled in three new tournaments simultaneously and I feared to miss time for serious analysis due to heavy workload at that time.
Results are a bit disappointing with it : five draws so far and two unfinished games that I should win (one win is sure and the other one is probable).
This should lead to a 64% result and a 2333 elo performance. Not shining but not that bad insn't it ?

2. I like playing unorthodox openings in correspondence play.
I do not see any interest in beginning my games with 30 moves of overanalysed theory.
Most often I decide for a side variation and I do play it in as many games as possible simultaneously : I do the analysis job once for all while being fully "in the mood" of a similar set of positions.
Then I change for something else
I won't probably ever play any more game with the line I played against you.

3. An exception is the Basman-Sale Sicilian (2..e6 4..Bc5).
I like it a lot and even have a web site devoted to it (http://chessbazaar.mlweb.info/basmansale/index.html)
I am in a running series of more than twenty corr. games without a single loss with it and decided not to stop using it until defeat happens
I probably analysed it more than anybody : I have several thousands of analysed lines in my files.
I am just busy to consider switching to something more agressive for cases where I need to play for a win as Black.

Regards

Marc


Andrew Stephenson    (2008-05-01 19:50:21)
Marc

Thanks for the informative reply! I do the interactive walk thing you mentioned its very useful though you need reasonable power to have several engines running at once - this you have! I am afraid I dont know how to organise test matches but sounds good. same with Rybka randomiser I have the engine but no idea how to use the randomiser and get it to play itself. 2 wins from the c3 is good as I think it gives white nothing ..but in the line I chose I noticed that after Gelfand (as black) got a draw against Adams with this line Adams repeated it aginst Kasparov who varied. So I guess Adams had an improvement perhap it was what you played? - as black has to find some very accurate moves . Incidentally I very nearly played 5..g5!!? which is really interesting but as my other games were promising decided to settle for taking a draw I like the Basman-Sale and although I have given up e4 in cc will play e4 if we play again as I have some ideas against it. Thanks for the reply


Rodolfo d Ettorre    (2008-05-02 01:31:20)
Test matches ....

Hi, I use ARENA, a free user interface compatible with most chess engines. With it is possible to organize matches and tournaments between engines.


Ilmars Cirulis    (2008-05-02 09:07:08)
Arena

Me too. :))


Andrew Stephenson    (2008-05-02 16:56:33)
arena

Thanks! I have downloaded it - just need to figure out how to use it - but it looks good


Andrew Stephenson    (2008-05-03 06:22:50)
Arena

I have loaded Rybka into Arena and it seems to be performing at a superchetged rate - unfortunately I cannot make sense of its analysis out put. I am used to a Fritz environment where you can select how many different moves it displays and it ranks them and assisgnsa value + 1.1 etc. it does the same for other uci engines. In arena hoe do I get this kind of output??


Josef Riha    (2008-05-03 15:48:18)
Arena

Hello Andrew, try out the following:
Open the Engine-Paramter dialogue of Rybka and then:
Display PV Tips...on
Win Percentage to Hash Usage...on
Display Current Move...on
Preserve Analysis...on
For more information look at www.rybkachess.com and click on Parameters FAQ on the left side of the screen.
With best wishes, Josef.


Benjamin Block    (2008-05-03 21:14:21)
How fast is you´re computer?

I also prepare openings for at least one hour per day _everyday_ even when I have no game at all running in the opening phase. I built one of my computers specially for chess, an overclocked quad with efficient watercooling. I will go for an eight-processors one in the very next months. How many GHz do you have?


Marc Lacrosse    (2008-05-03 23:12:54)
How fast ...

My main computer is a Q6600 quad running at 3.650 Ghz for overnight tournaments/ analyses (I had it running faster but not stable for long runs).

Marc


Jason Repa    (2008-05-04 10:27:37)
How fast is your computer?

I think I'm a bit out gunned here. I'm running BATTLE CHESS on a Commodore 64. Luckily I just acquired a 5.25" floppy drive (rendering my cassette tape drive obsolete) so I can now store my games on removable media.

I believe its running at 1.023 MHz.


Rodolfo d Ettorre    (2008-05-04 14:23:28)
Commodore 64

Also for Commodore 64 a good chess program was Sargon 3. It was great! I will try to find a good C64 emulator


Benjamin Block    (2008-05-04 15:41:43)
How fast is my computer.

My computer is a AMD Sempron(tm)1.80 GHz.


Thibault de Vassal    (2008-05-05 11:09:26)
AMD Sempron

Mine is even slower :/


Wayne Lowrance    (2008-05-06 21:10:26)
how do you use correspondence chess.

Very interesting postings. I discovered just here that I am terribly outgunned here. I have a single cpu on a rather slow amd processor. I do not complain tho as correspondence chess using engine(s), is more about technique and metholodgy in analyzing with your engine. I think it is more important than cpu power, just an opinion. Wayne


Lincoln Tomlin    (2008-05-16 02:24:00)
Erm...

Interesting thread. I just spent 20 minutes composing a response, hit submit and *BAM* I got the Password Incorrect page, signed in again and all had disappeared. *sigh* :)


Don Groves    (2008-05-16 06:03:34)
Erm...

Hi, Lincoln -- You learn quickly here to save long postings. That has happened to me more times than I care to admit ;-) The timeout for automatic logging off seems to vary considerably -- sometimes minutes, other times hours.


Thibault de Vassal    (2008-05-16 14:04:14)
Erm...

Lincoln, until the "message box" (with the scrolling text that auto-refreshes) doesn't appear anymore, your message should be posted without you logout.


Mladen Jankovic    (2008-05-16 19:51:00)
PC

Mine is an AMD Turion 1.66 GHz.

Do any of you happen to know any ARENA-like user interface for Linux?


Jason Repa    (2008-05-16 21:46:50)
Erm...

The easiest way is to just get in the habit of saving all your text in the windows clipboard every new paragraph or so. (Ctrl+a then Ctrl+c).


Lincoln Tomlin    (2008-05-17 19:07:03)
Don, Thibault, Jason...

Thanks. I usually do make a habit of copying to the clipboard before hitting any butons but, well, you know that ONE time you forget etc. :) Not to worry. I just wanted to add what a powerful study tool FICGS can be in analysing structures, plans and ideas in openings for your OTB repertoire. I really think that this form of chess is undervalued in really trying to get an understanding of target middle and endgame positions for use in club and tournament play. I use a lowly 1.7Ghz Celeron based laptop and Chessbase along with an older version of a 'weaker' (not telling which) engine for checking line and ideas but mainly try for lines that I want to head for in games against humans. Unless they prove to be truly disastrous of course. 8|