Hi.

Ok. So obviously time has passed since thread start and I got a bit into this correspondence thing again. My rate of play has not been fast at all. Games are sort of progressing in the opening phase with some entering the middlegame soon. For opening the strategy across the board as black was something like as long as Leela doesn't see problems go for the line you think look most interesting. This could fail as a strategy on the whole but will be interesting and I think it's best way to learn and gain relevant information for otb use later. As white against 1.e4 e5 I tried to find some recent white wins (not always easy) played by correspondence masters and generally just went for the same line.

New question btw:
Does anyone know how ICCF calculates time on their webserver? I heard something about only counting full days.

Regards.
/CbT

Sorry to hear about your club mate. It was a nice gesture by the family to drop off some of the disks at the club. Usually the family has no idea of the value of the chess collection, or what to do with it.

Megabase is just data, you don't need a code, unless maybe you want to update it.

Really old ChessBase software just needs the disk. They came with a registration code but it was only for support. That's the way my CB-8 works. At some point ChessBase the company changed that so you absolutely needed the code and without online registration it just doesn't work. I'm not sure exactly when they made the change, but I believe CB-9 doesn't need the code and CB-10 does need the code. Maybe someone else knows for sure.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 06/28/20 at 08:31:40:

If you are using the full version of ChessBase, then you could already add games to a .cbh file. So I deduce that you are using the free ChessBase Reader. In which case you can't use it to convert to .pgn. You would need to break down and purchase ChessBase, or find a different software for this conversion.

• Chess Assistant and/or Aquarium can open .cbh read-only, and convert to native or .pgn format. Neither is free.
• SCID can open and convert .cbh, and it's free.
• There is an Android app that can do it. Funny, it would be less expensive to purchase an Android tablet than to pay list price for full ChessBase.
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.chess.cb&hl=en_US
• I have a gently used disk for CB-14 that I can offer for cheap, although you would also have to pay shipping from the USA. PM me if interested. I uninstalled it, and have an email from ChessBase support assuring me that it's fine for someone else to register it. I also have (possibly reluctant) approval from GMTonyKosten to offer it for sale here.

If in fact you are using the full version of ChessBase, the way to convert a .cbh database to .pgn is to create a new empty .pgn database, then drag-and-drop from the .cbh database into the .pgn database.

Hi.

New question.

Can I make a .cbh file .pgn so I can add more games? Something tells me no.

Regards Cbt

Hi.

After I found the ICCF games I'm not so worried about the opening phase. My opponents have already shown willingness to play mostly mainline stuff (unlike me ), so there are going to be hundreds of relevant games from the ICCF stuff alone. If it is enough that would be great but idk. In correspondence knowing predecessors is sometimes big so missing some would be sorrowful.

VGA wrote on 05/25/20 at 22:39:11:

Ok. Is it easy to connect Stockfish to a 6-piece tb? I imagine there would be technologically minded people who have tried to find solutions for getting the 7-piece one but it's not so crucial for me I think. Don't play many games and in the endgame you can often analyse out the positions manually.

MW wrote on 05/26/20 at 00:42:07:

Thanks!

Have a nice day.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 05/24/20 at 15:49:55:


I play ICCF with a rating of 2380....not being much of an IT wiz I simply use an off the shelf version of Komodo 12 on an ordinary laptop...

Having previously been an OTB player I still use opening books currently  The Sicilian Taimanov by Pavlidis and Demuth's Modernized Reti (to name a couple) and the only database source I bother with is ChessBase's I don't even check the ICCF base as I don't know how to download it (all be it I do manually go through some of each opponents recent games to get a feel for what they play before I start each ICCF tournament).

I tend to try and play closed positions as Komodo is inclined to shuffle pieces around in the KID for example. This suits me as it allows me to make the computer look at lines that seem natural to me rather than me just blindly following the computers best move....   

At least this way if I loose or win the odd game I've had some input into it rather than it just being an IT solution which strikes me as pointless...

Good luck, ICCF has been great at keeping me mentally active during lockdown.

Hi.

Pawnpusher wrote on 05/25/20 at 11:40:43:

Ok, thanks I will try to read up on that discussion. The way I take it this means Stockfish might just be overall better in the endgame. Leela gives more interesting suggestions earlier though, so it seems clear you would want to use it previously in the game.

Somehow I still feel like using a combination of say Stockfish and Leela should be best for the early- and middlegame. Perhaps it's not worth it in relation to the extra work you would be putting in though. I think I'll do some analysis project and try to get more experience.

Have a nice day.

Hey.

With less stuff to do because of Corona I am right now playing in my first correspondence chess tournament in I think 6 years. Beforehand I noticed there is a split in the corr community. Most sites don't allow computer help (with many having anti cheating software). The tournament I am playing is with ICCF rules (computers allowed) however, so please keep that in mind. Afaik only ICCF, Lechenicher and FICGS practice this form of corr.

Basically I wanna win the tournament and be satisfied with my decisions and level of play so I thought I'd ask if anyone knows anything about modern day (2020) correspondence chess and if they'd be willing to share some insights?

Right now I am for example wondering what databeses to use? I do have access to ICCF games archive. That's a few decent corr games. Is there any big point to getting something else?

I also sort of wonder about chess engines. I have got Leela but an interesting thing to my mind is that it often gives multiple more lines indicated as playable compared to Stockfish (which I use most). Do I just have to bite the bullet and treat most Leela suggested lines as playable and analyse no matter how weird they look? How then do you sort of get forward in the analysis without extraordinary effort?

And of course. Are there known pitfalls and the like that amateurs fall into? My opponents are also new. That being said pretty much everybody will be using strong computer programs. I sort of predict they might make imprecisions but having a super strong computer helping obviously eliminates the risk of totally crazy blunders.

Have a nice day.