TonyRo wrote on 03/05/10 at 18:56:27:


Your link is wrong - it's http://www.iccf-webchess.com

What's the best way to start playing correspondence chess?

I too would be interested in competing on behalf of Chesspub and/or working as a second.  I'm rated 2320 at LSS and I like to believe that I have a knack for smiting Rybka.  

My opening strategy in corr chess is to aim for razor sharp, complex middlegames (e.g. Noteboom) as these are the only types of games that are winnable in this day and age.

And I am following Moskalenko in three of my French games as Black.

The best pub for chesspub would be to make good results with the help of chesspub's analysis! For example how to beat the Tromp with the help of GM Prié's analysis  

I am sure the analysis from the forum could be useful in somes lines too.

In the future I think I could help the team as a 2200+  rated (in a few days) in ficgs.

Schaakhamster wrote on 02/26/10 at 06:57:06:


Oh, true enough.  I'm just saying that a team situation will induce me to put more hours into any given game.

Markovich wrote on 02/25/10 at 19:44:24:



This exactly sums up my feelings toward Corr. Perfecto.  I actually play way way more unrated Corr games than rated because to me it is about learning more about chess. This is why my rating is low i've only played about 100 rated corr games out of 500 total games. I try to seek out tough opponents too.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 02/25/10 at 14:11:21:


Sorry, I didn't understand the question, which was cryptic.  I thought the question was, what does LSS mean, something about engines?  Anyway, I am under no obligation to go do research to satisfy your curiosity or anyone else's, Smyslov Fan.  You can damn well do it yourself.

Whether you use engines or not affects how many games you can play, at least if you expect to play to a high standard.  Probably the main reason I prefer to use engines is that I can play a whole lot more chess.  If I didn't use an engine, I don't think I could play to a high standard in more than 12 games at once.

I stopped playing CC through the USCF, where I built up my corr rating to about 2400 without using engines and played in a few U.S. Absolute Championships, because not only did they forbid the use of engines, but they declared their use to be unethical!  They can take that attitude to hell, as far as I'm concerned.  And they wonder why they can't get anyone to play in the Absolute any more.  Actually when you look at the OTB ratings of some people who have high USCF corr ratings and even play in the Absolute, it's a good guess they're using engines.  No skin off my nose, but I would rather not do that in a league that calls it cheating.  

I imagine my corr rating would be higher now if I lavished my time on just a handful of games the way I did back in those days -- whether I used engines or not.  

But my main purpose in playing corr chess is to learn more about this game, mostly about openings, and so I play many games with a variety of systems and don't, as a rule, spend a great deal of time on the positions unless they are quite critical and/or interesting.  Though of course, I am much happier to score than not to.  The exception is team competitions, where I feel the obligation to support my teammates with a good score.  

For example I just went 1.5-0.5 against another near-2300 in the latest U.S. - Romania CC match, and I had to put in hours and hours to draw a difficult position in the one game.  I would rather not have my teammates looking down the results list and saying that Morss didn't hold up his end.