Where To Play Correspondence Chess

     Correspondence chess has, in my opinion, suffered from the engines and it's lead to meaningless ratings and titles. And, it's been that way since engines reached the point where they could beat humans. 

     In the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of people thought engines would never be able to defeat the top humans. In 1968, IM David Levy made a bet that no chess computer would be able to beat him within ten years. He won his bet in 1978 by beating Chess 4.7, at the time, the strongest chess program there was. 

     Then in 1981, Cray Blitz scored 5–0 in the Mississippi State Championship. In round 4, it defeated US Master Joe Sentef, rated 2262, to become the first computer to beat a master in tournament play and the first computer to gain a master rating...2258. 

     By the late 1990s engines running on personal computers and laptops began to rival even Grandmasters. In 1998, Rebel 10 defeated the world's second ranked player, Viswanathan Anand, by a score of 5–3, albeit four were blitz games and two were Game 15 and two games were played at tournament time controls (40 moves in two hours, one hour sudden death). After that, engines began to take over. 

     In 2004, Robin Smith published Modern Chess Analysis in which he discussed the strengths and limitations of engines...the book was practically out dated by the time it was published so rapid was progress being made by the engines. Correspondence sites outlawed engine use, but it was a losing battle even with software designed to detect engine use. 

     These days a lot of players mistake the 3ooo-plus rating of engines as being the same a human ratings, but they are not. The engine ratings you see on sites like CCLR and CEGT are all calculated in games between engines, not humans, at rapid time controls. 

     Die hard correspondence players using powerful hardware claim computer-assisted analysis improves the quality of play and enriches the game. Maybe, maybe not, but for most of us ordinary correspondence players engines have ruined the game. I worked long and hard for a number of years playing postal chess in Chess Review, USCF and CCLA tournaments working my correspondence rating up from Class C (1600) to Expert (2065) only to have it rendered meaningless because of the advent of engines. By the way, in spite of what some players claim, using engines is not cheating if it is permitted by the site. If the site prohibits engine use, then, of course, engine use is cheating. 

     It is still possible to enjoy correspondence chess without using an engine and many people do although it's mostly at the lower levels. After all, even on sites where engine use is permitted there are still a lot of players with low ratings which indicates they don't use them. Some sites, Lechenicher SchachServer, for example, offer no engine tournaments. 

     If anyone is interested in playing correspondence chess the two sites I recommend are Lechenicher SchachServer and Queen Alice. 

     IECG, an email site, stopped its operations on December 31, 2010 due to the fact that email play was quickly declining in popularity, plus in those days viruses and spam were a more difficult problem to control than nowadays. Fortunately, its activities were taken over by Lechenicher SchachServer, a site that is run by Dr, Ortwin Paetzold who was one of the IECG founders. 

     Lechenicher SchachServer is free and tournament offerings cover the full range of tournaments at various time controls, Fischer Random, theme tournament in which a specific opening must be played and no engine tournaments. Currently available thematic tournaments: Gruenfeld, Torre Attack, Kong's Gambit Accepted, Lopez-Gianutio counter-gambit (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 f5) 

     Unlike most servers, you play under your real name there and when you register, you will be asked to provide a starting rating from another organization. If you don’t have one you will be assigned a rating of only 800 so it’s unlikely at that rating you will be playing engine users. One bad thing is that it sometimes takes a long time for tournament sections to fill up, but at least you don't have to wait until the tournament is full...games start as soon as at least two people are registered.

     Another good free site where engine use is forbidden is Queen Alice. Register by choosing a username and providing a valid email address and then enter a tournament or you can challenge another player or you can advertise an open game with whatever parameters you want and any player can accept. The site also has a forum that's occasionally active. 

     The following snappy little game shows how postal games were played in the old days when the only help was Modern Chess Openings, Practical Chess Openings, a hand full of general opening books or perhaps some foreign chess magazines. 

     The players in this game had the following Chess Review postal ratings: Johnson 1074 (Class B) and Knox 930 (Class C). Knox got into trouble at move 16 when he played to simplify the position by exchanging pieces and allowed white to make a R-lift transferring his R from c3 to the K-side with devastating effect.

D.W. Johnson - Wendell Knox

Result: 1-0

Site: Chess Review Postal Tournament

Date: 1950

Queen's Gambit Accepted

[...] 1.♘f3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 ♘f6 4.♗xc4 e6 5.d4 c5 6.O-O cxd4 The Steinitz Variation. White's isolated d-Pawn has dynamic strength, but is also a static weakness. 7.exd4

7.♘xd4 does not have much to offer. 7...a6 8.b3 ♗e7 9.♗b2 O-O 10.♘d2 b5 11.♗e2 ♗b7 12.a4 is equal. Mamedyarov,S (2770)-Mammadov,Z (2417)/lichess.org INT 2020

7...♗e7

7...♘c6 8.a3 ♗e7 9.♘c3 O-O 10.♖e1 a6 11.d5 exd5 12.♘xd5 ♘xd5 13.♗xd5 ♗f6 14.♕b3 Draw agreed. Garcia Ilundain,D (2490)-Illescas Cordoba,M (2575)/Barcelona 2000

8.♕e2

8.♕c2 O-O 9.♘c3 b6 10.♖d1 ♗b7 11.♗g5 ♘bd7 12.d5 ♘xd5 13.♗xd5 is equal. Sviridov,V (2264)-Giljazitdinov,E (2135)/Berdsk 2010

8...♘c6 9.♖d1 a6

9...♘b4 10.♘c3 ♘bd5 11.♗b5+ ♗d7 12.♗xd7+ ♕xd7 13.♘e5 ♘xc3 14.bxc3 ♕d5 15.c4 ♕e4 Reinhold,K (2161)-Lietz,W/ Recklinghausen 2002 and now with 16.Qb2 white would have been better.

10.♘c3 ♘b4 11.♗g5 O-O 12.♘e5 ♘bd5 Black has completed the N maneuver advocated by Steinitz. At d5 the N is well centralized, blockades the d-Pawn and cannot be dislodged by a P. 13.♖ac1 ♖e8 This move is pointless. He should play 13...Bd7 14.♗d3 h6 15.♗h4

15.♗xf6 was also quite satisfactory. 15...♘xf6 Otherwise Qe4 is unpleasant. 16.h4 ♗d6 17.g4 with a strong attack.

15...♗d7 16.♗b1 White is preparing the typical B and Q battery aimed at h7. 16...♘xc3 Black seeks to relieve the pressure on his position by exchanges, but here this common strategy proves disastrous because it allows white's R to rapidly get into play. Continued development with 16...Rc8 was in order.

16...♖c8 17.♘xd5 ♘xd5 18.♖xc8 ♕xc8 19.♗xe7 ♖xe7 20.♕d3 If black does not want to risk facing 20...g6 21.Nxg6 (unsound) then he can play 20...f5 with equal chances. 20...f5

17.♖xc3 Well played! The R has a great future. 17...♘d5 It's hard to see that this is the losing move. Even so, after 17...Rc8 18.Rg3 black faces a very difficult defensive task. 18.♗xe7 Missing 18.Qh5 which would have been absolutely crushing. (18.♕h5 ♖f8 19.♗xe7 ♕xe7 20.♖g3 f5 21.♕xh6) 18...♕xe7 19.♖g3 The threat is Qg4. White's R is a powerhouse! 19...♘f6 Losing instantly.

19...♗a4 20.b3 ♗c6 and black is still alive as there is no immediate forced win. 21.♕h5 (21.♕g4 f5 22.♘xc6 ♕c7 23.♕h5 ♘f4 24.♕f3 bxc6 is about equal.) 21...♘f4 22.♕g4 ♕f6 23.♘xc6 h5 24.♕f3 bxc6 white's advantage is minimal. Note he can't play Qxc6 because of the fork on e2.

20.♕d2 Threatening Qxh6. 20...♔f8 21.♖g6 The main threat is Rxf6.

21.♗g6 was also good. 21...♗c6 22.♗xf7 and black can't meet the threat of Ng6+

21...♕d6

21...♖ac8 To demonstrate white's main threat. 22.♖xf6 gxf6 23.♕xh6+ ♔g8 24.♕h7+ ♔f8 25.♕h8#

(21...fxg6 22.♘xg6+ wins the Q.)

21...♘g8 also fails to 22.♕f4 ♗a4 23.♖d3 f6 24.♖dg3 and black is paralyzed.

22.♕f4 Menacing both 23. Rxf6 and 23.Qxh6 22...♖ec8 (22...fxg6 is no help. 23.♘xg6+ winning the Q.) 23.♖xf6 ♕c7 (23...gxf6 24.♘g6+ snares the Q.) 24.♖xf7+ Black resigned. (24.♖xf7+ ♔g8 25.♖xg7+ ♔xg7 26.♕f7+ ♔h8 27.♘g6#)

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