The reason was because at that time email play was declining in popularity making it impossible to put together tournaments. There were other issues, too, like spam and viruses.
IECG's operations were transferred its partner, Lechenicher SchachServer Server (LSS) which was run by Dr. Ortwin Paetzold, one of the IECG founders.
I am not exactly sure when I started playing with the IECG, but it was at my CCLA rating which was somewhere in the Expert class (2000-2199), but I do remember that I was unaware that the rules nowhere prohibited engine use and as a result I only scored two draws out of six games and dropped a class!
Back in 2004 when the following game was played, the top engines were Fritz 8, Chess Tiger, Crafty, Hiarcs, Houdini, Junior, Rybka, Shredder and Zappa. I am not sure how they compared to today's engines, but in 2005 a Fritz 9 prototype drew against the then FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.
By that time I had discovered that you could use engines on IECG, but they were not playing at the level at which they are today and you could still beat them as Robin Smith demonstrated in his book Modern Chess Analysis which was published in 2004. Naturally the book was quickly outdated because the strength of engines progressed so rapidly.
The original notes to this game proved to be useless when subjected to scrutiny by Stockfish and Komodo! According to the database with my games, the games played in 2004 were analyzed using the by then outdated Fritz 6.
I honestly cannot say if either one of us were using engine assistance during this game, but judging from some of the original notes and black's terrible 19...Be7 it would seem that we were not! At that time only a few correspondence sites allowed engine use and happily almost none of my correspondence opponents in the CCLA where their use was illegal were engine users.
In the previous game Spassky used one of my favorite openings to crush his opponent and in today's games I want to show just how dangerous this opening can be even when used by amateurs.
[Event "IECG email"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2004.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Tartajubow"]
[Black "Opponent"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D03"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2004.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 d5 4. Nbd2 c5 {Black has chosen a classical P setup
and aims to seize control of e4 and he hopes to organize counterplay in the
center. However, in doing this he weakens the e5 square which may become a
base for white's N.} 5. e3 {In this setup the long-term direction the game
takes depends on the development of the black forces, for which there are two
main plans. One is characterized by the fianchetto of the light-square B and
the deployment of the Non b8 to d7. Black chooses a third way which seems out
of place.} Qb6 6. Rb1 {Safe and solid. I was not interested in taking any
risks.} (6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. c4 cxd4 (7... Qxb2 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Rb1 Qxa2 10. Bb5+
Bd7 11. dxc5 {leaves black with a shattered P formation.}) 8. exd4 dxc4 9. Bxc4
Nc6 10. O-O {leaves white with a slight positional advantage after 10...Be7}
Qxb2 {Black should avoid this!} 11. Re1 Be7 12. d5 {with the advantage.}) 6...
Nc6 7. c3 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O (8... Bd7 9. O-O a6 10. Ne5 cxd4 11. exd4 Nxe5 12.
dxe5 Ng8 13. Qg4 {White is slightly better. Trifunovic-Puc, Novi Sad, 1945}) 9.
Ne5 c4 10. Bc2 h6 {Here one would expect to see a mild mannered retreat such
as 11.Bf4 or 11.Bh4 or even 11.Bxf6.} 11. h4 {I changed my mind about playing
it safe, but it's OK because he cannot very well take the B.} Qa5 (11... hxg5
$2 12. hxg5 g6 (12... Ne4 13. Qh5) 13. gxf6 Bxf6 14. Qf3 $16 Bg7 15. Qh3 Rd8 {
and white is winning.}) 12. Nxc6 {This seemed logical; it puts a whole mess of
black's P's on white squares, but the immediate advance of the g-Pawn was also
playable.} bxc6 13. g4 hxg5 (13... Qxa2 {is unplayable.} 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 (14...
gxf6 15. g5 fxg5 16. Qh5 Kg7 17. hxg5 Bxg5 18. f4 {wins}) 15. g5 {and wins.}) (
13... Qd8 {Just like in the Spassky-Osnos game getting the Q back to defend
the K fails.} 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. g5 Be7 16. Qh5 Qe8 17. Rg1 f5 18. Qxe8 Rxe8 19.
gxh6 Bf6 20. hxg7 Re7 21. Rg6 Rxg7 22. Bxf5 Rxg6 23. Bxg6 Bxh4 24. Nf3 {
and Stockfish gives white a decisive advantage of about 3 Ps. Komodo 14 puts
it at a little over half of that. Most of white's advantage is due to black's
B on c8 being bad as a result of my 12th move.}) 14. hxg5 Ne4 (14... Nd7 15.
Bh7+ Kh8 16. Qc2 {wins}) 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Bxe4 {White has the advantage, but
there is no forced win, so care must still be taken.} Bxg5 {Risky but a whole
lot of fun would have been 16...Rd8!} (16... Rd8 $5 17. Bxc6 {is insufficient.
} Rb8 18. Qc2 g6 19. f4 Bf8 {and black has at least equalized and may even be
a bit better.}) (16... Rd8 $5 17. Qc2 g6 18. Bxg6 {White maintains the
advantage after 18,f4, but this tempting move offers no more than equality.}
Qxg5 (18... fxg6 19. Qxg6+ Kf8 20. Rh8#) 19. Be4 e5 {with an unclear position.}
) 17. Bh7+ {Surprisingly, the coming discovered check doesn't accomplish
anything.} (17. f4 {also came into consideration.} g6 (17... f5 {This is not
so good.} 18. gxf5 (18. fxg5 {This loses.} fxe4 19. g6 Rb8 20. Qc2 Qg5 21. Qxe4
e5 22. dxe5 Be6 {and white is a piece down and therefore lost.}) 18... Bf6) 18.
Bxc6 Rb8 19. fxg5 Qxg5 20. Qf3 {and the position is equal.}) 17... Kh8 18. Be4+
(18. f4 {This is the only viable alternative.} Bh6 19. Be4 f5 20. Bxc6 Rb8 21.
g5 Bb7 22. Bxb7 Rxb7 23. gxh6 g6 {Positionally white is better, but making
progress will prove difficult.}) 18... Kg8 19. f4 Be7 {This is a blunder that
loses almost at once.} (19... g6 {Returning the extra piece allows him enough
play that the position is equal after} 20. fxg5 Qxg5 21. Bxc6 (21. Qf3 e5 22.
dxe5 Bxg4 23. Qf4 Qxf4 24. exf4 Rfd8 {With his B in play and the fact that
white's b-Pawn is a liability, black has equalized.}) 21... Rb8 22. Qf3 e5 23.
Qh3 Kg7 {Back is quite safe.}) 20. Bh7+ Kh8 {Even better was 21.Qf3 and 22.Qh3}
21. g5 Bxg5 (21... g6 22. Bxg6+ Kg7 {Black gets mated after} 23. Qh5) 22. Qh5
Bh6 23. Qxa5 Kxh7 {Two Bs just aren't enough for the Q. Still, white must
demonstrate the win!} {In order to get the other R into play.} 24. Kd2 (24. Qc7
{is winning, but white has a hard time making progress after} c5 25. Qxc5 Bb7
26. Rh2 Bd5) 24... c5 (24... f5 {leads to a mate in 13.} 25. Rxh6+ gxh6 26.
Qc7+ Kh8 27. Qe7 Rg8 28. Rh1 Rg2+ 29. Ke1 Kg8 30. Rxh6 {mates in 7}) 25. Qxc5
Bb7 26. Rh2 Bd5 27. Qe7 {Played in order to get the Q back to the K-side} Kg8 (
27... f6 {leads to mate in 7} 28. Rg1 Rg8 29. Qf7 Be4 30. f5 Bxf5 31. Rxh6+
Kxh6 32. Rh1+ Bh3 33. Rxh3+ Kg5 34. Qh5#) 28. Rg1 Rfb8 29. Rxh6 Rxb2+ 30. Kc1 {
Black resigned.} 1-0
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