The goal was to test the Berserk engine which I had read was sometimes able to uncover hidden opening resources that might not be found by other engines. It didn’t find any and when we reached the early middlegame it seemed like my position in both games was starting to deteriorate a bit, so I switched back to Stockfish and drew both games.
I nearly entered an event that would have required me to play 10 games, but got to thinking that was too many. A lot of players who win top level correspondence tournaments these days find repeating the task too exhausting and they often don’t opt for a repeat performance. I’m not a top level player, but do I really want to put in that kind of effort? The answer is, “No!” and in any case my old laptop which is held together with clamps and duct tape just isn’t packing the gear for such play.
These days an important thing in correspondence play is opening preparation. The goal is to find a line that looks good on a cursory engine analysis, but when you go deeper it’s flawed. That takes hours (or days!) of analysis.
You also have to use different engines because each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Plus you must be able to guide the engine into lines that it might not prioritize on its own. Engines sometimes misjudge complex positions, especially endings. (I wouldn’t know, but that’s what the good correspondence players say). It’s those critical junctures a human has to recognize. The bottom line is that merely copying an engine's top move will likely lead to a draw or a loss against a strong, engine-assisted opponent. I have neither the gumption nor the skill to do all that. Hence, I avoided temptation. Here’s the way we played correspondence chess in the old days.
[Event "Semi-Finals Golden Knights Postal Tmt"]
[Site "CORRESPONDENCE"]
[Date "1971.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tartajubow"]
[Black "Mike K."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B91"]
[Annotator "Stockfosh 17.1"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "1971.??.??"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "IND"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ENG"]
{B91: Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 {The only thing I remember about this game is
that my opponent was from Canada and he owned a furniture store.} 2. Nf3 d6 3.
d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 {A solid, if unambitious , line. My source
was O'Kelly's The Sicilian Flank Game.} e5 7. Nde2 {Again, a bit passive, but
also a bit more solid than 7.Nb3. This game was played in the semi-finals of
Chess Review's big one, the Golden Knights and I wanted to male sure I
qualified for the finals. This loss and one to US Senior Master Arthur
Feuerstein meant I failed to qualify.} Be7 8. Bg5 {The main oprion is to delay
this for a while and play play Bg2 and O-O.} Be6 9. Bg2 (9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. Qd3
O-O 11. Bg2 Nc6 12. O-O Rc8 {½-½ (12) Matulovic,M-Bogdanovic,R Sarajevo 1968}
) 9... Nbd7 10. a4 {I am not sure where O'Kelly's book line ended it analysis,
but it's possible that it was around here. My database has no games after this
move, so we may habe been on our own at this point.} O-O 11. O-O Rc8 12. h3 b6
(12... Nxe4 {at once was a possibility suggesyed by a couple of engines.} 13.
Bxe7 Nxc3 14. Qxd6 Nxe2+ 15. Kh2 Qa5 16. Bxf8 Nxf8 17. Bxb7 Rc4 18. b3 Rb4 19.
Qxa6 Qc5 20. Qxe2 Rxb7 {White has a R+P vs. B+N and the chances are about
equal, but practically speaking it looks very unclear/}) 13. b3 {When I first
saw this tiday it looked like an odd (bad?) move, but engines find ni fault
with it. Actually, the position is so evenly balanced it's difficult to
suggest a good plan of action for rither side.} Nxe4 14. Nxe4 {This leads to a
very slight advantage for blkack, but it avoids the complications arising from
14.Bxe7} Bxg5 15. Nxd6 Rc7 16. f4 exf4 17. Nxf4 Nc5 {Remarkably, the last few
moves havem't been faulted by Stockfish which now recommends either 18.Nxe6 or
18.Ne4} 18. b4 {This is not really bad, but black is beginning to get a very
slightly better position.} Rd7 19. bxc5 bxc5 (19... Bxf4 {was a bit better
because it allows black to take advantage of the pin on the N...} 20. gxf4 bxc5
21. Nxf7 Bxf7 22. Qg4 Rd2 23. Rad1 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Rd8 {with a slight advantage.})
20. Nxe6 $14 fxe6 21. Rxf8+ Qxf8 22. Qh5 Be3+ 23. Kh2 Rxd6 24. Rf1 {Black has
an extra P, but the Bs of opposite color and combined with the beavy pices don;
t give him any advantage. However, white's defense is more difficult and any
slip could have serious consequences.} Qe7 25. Be4 Rd2+ 26. Kh1 {[%mdl 2048]
Stockfish's evaluation is returning 0.00, so you woulf think a draw is going
to be the outcome.} h6 {Apparently black did not want a draw.} (26... g6 27.
Bxg6 Qb7+ (27... hxg6 28. Qxg6+ Kh8 29. Rf7 {wins}) 28. Qf3 Rd1 29. Qxb7 Rxf1+
30. Kh2 Rf2+ 31. Kh1 (31. Qg2 Rxg2+ 32. Kxg2 hxg6 {and whote has lost a piece.}
) 31... Rf1+ {draws}) 27. Qg6 (27. Rf3 $16 Rd1+ 28. Kg2 Rd2+ {draws}) 27... Rf2
28. Qh7+ Kf7 29. Rb1 {I was not eschewing the draw here...I thought this was
winning. It's not; it only leads to equality.} (29. Rxf2+ Bxf2 30. Bg6+ Kf6 31.
Bd3 Qb7+ 32. Kh2 Bd4 {is a draw.}) 29... Qg5 30. g4 {This is a losing blunder
that fatally weakens the dark squares around my K.} (30. Rb7+ {looks goodm but
loses after} Kf6 {and there is no followup.} 31. Qg8 (31. Qg6+ Qxg6 32. Bxg6
Kxg6) (31. Qxg7+ Qxg7 32. Rxg7 Kxg7) 31... Rf1+ 32. Kg2 Rg1+ 33. Kf3 Qxg3+ 34.
Ke2 Re1+ 35. Kd3 Bf2+ 36. Bf3 Qxf3+ {mate next move.}) (30. Qh8 {would draw...}
Bd4 (30... Qxg3 31. Rb7+ Kf6 32. Qd8+ Ke5 33. Qb8+ {wins the Q.}) 31. Rb7+ Kf6
32. Qd8+ Ke5 33. Qxg5+ hxg5 34. Bd3 {with a draw.}) 30... Bf4 (30... Kf6 {
was much better. White has no good move. However, the consequences of 30...Kf6
would be extremely difficult to calculate. As it is, black;s move is quite
satisfactory.} 31. Qg8 Rh2+ 32. Kxh2 Qe5+ 33. Kg2 Qxe4+ 34. Kg3 Qf4+ 35. Kg2
Qf2+ 36. Kh1 Qf3+ 37. Kh2 Bf4+ 38. Kg1 Qg3+ 39. Kf1 Qxh3+ 40. Ke2 Qh2+ 41. Kf1
(41. Kd3 Qd2+ 42. Ke4 Qe3#) 41... Qh3+ 42. Ke1 Qh4+ 43. Kf1 Qh1+) 31. Bg2 {
This is the only defense.} (31. Rb7+ {...the move white has been hoping to
play since playing 29...Rb1 loses.} Kf6 32. Qg8 Rh2+ 33. Kg1 Be3+ 34. Kf1 Qf4+
{mates in 2}) 31... Be5 {This is a serious slup that should have allowed ne to
equalize.} (31... Bc7 {gets the B out of the way of the Q and allows black to
gain a winning advantage in the ending despite Bs of opposite color and having
Qs on the board. However, the variations would not be easy to calculate, so
the outcome would still not be clear.} 32. Qe4 Qd2 33. Qd3 Kf6 34. Rf1 Rxf1+
35. Qxf1+ Ke7 36. Qc4 Qd1+ 37. Bf1 Qd6 38. Qe2 Qc6+ 39. Kg1 Qxa4) 32. Qh8 {
[%mdl 8192] After this the game is over. Centralizing the Q would have
probably resulted in a draw.} (32. Qe4 Bc7 33. Re1 Qd5 34. Qxd5 exd5 35. Bxd5+)
32... Qf4 {The aforementioned dark square weakness is now evident.} 33. Rb7+
Kg6 34. Qe8+ {As intended when playing 32.Qh8} Kh7 35. Qxe6 (35. Rxg7+ Bxg7 36.
Qxe6 Qc1+ 37. Kh2 Qxc2 38. Qd5 Rxg2+ 39. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 40. Kxg2 {is hopeless.})
35... Qh2# {With this loss, coupled with my loss to Feuerstein, I failed to
qualify for the finals and so was unable to add to my collection of the emblem
of th Golden Knight, a sterling silver, gold-plated and enameled lapel button.
I did however rceive a prize of $2.50 off the entry fee into another
tournament.} 0-1
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