I joined a correspondence chess team through my club and played my first match as part of the Correspondence Chess league of America and a match of our club versus the Greater Worcester club:
I’ve never done snail mail chess or anything like this before. I always feared I’d be playing against someone else’s computer. But I was talked into this match and felt the honor system was worth a shot. In hindsight though... too much ICC blitz made me a bit impatient. So note to self, either tapper off online blitz for a month prior to playing or decline next offer.
My first opponent was against someone who was just as impatient as I was and what transpired was a correspondence version of Blitz. We got email notification of when our opponent moved and what this meant was that both of us were sending move emails back and forth when we discovered we were both logged in at the same time.
We played two games simultaneously with opposite colors. I won my game as white with a Smith Morra and lost as black against a Slavo-Kan hack that I played too passively.
Here are the two games… I hope you enjoy them as you plug them into the PGN viewer way down the bottom of my links
(1) Duval,G - Alarie,M
Met League Metro West CC - Greater Worce ICCF, 22.09.2007
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Qd4 Nc6 7.Qxg7 Qf6 8.Bh6 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qxh6 10.Qxh8 Nce7 11.Bd3 Qf6 12.Qxf6 Nxf6 13.0–0 h6 14.Rab1 d5 15.e5 Nd7 16.Bb5 a6 17.Bxd7+ Kxd7 18.Nd4 Kc7 19.f4 b5 20.Rf3 Bd7 21.Rg3 Rg8 22.Rxg8 Nxg8 23.g4 Kb6 24.a4 Kc5 25.axb5 Bxb5 26.Nxb5 axb5 27.Rb4 Ne7 28.Kf2 Nc6 29.Rb1 d4 30.cxd4+ Nxd4 31.Ke3 Nc2+ 32.Ke4 Na3 33.Rc1+ Nc4 34.Kd3 Kd5 35.h4 Kc6 36.Rxc4+ bxc4+ 37.Kxc4 Kd7 38.Kc5 Ke7 39.g5 hxg5 40.fxg5 Kf8 41.Kd6 Kg7 42.h5 Kh7 43.Ke7 Kg7 44.Ke8 Kg8 45.h6 Kh7 46.Kxf7 Kh8 47.Kxe6 Kg8 48.g6 Kh8 49.g7+ Kh7 50.Kf6 Kg8 51.e6 Kh7 52.e7 Kxh6 53.e8Q 1–0
(2) Alarie,M - Duval,G
Met League Metro West CC - Greater Worce ICCF, 22.09.2007
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bf4 Bf5 5.e3 a6 6.Nf3 e6 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.Rac1 dxc4 11.Qxc4 Nbd7 12.Rfd1 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qc7 Qxc7 15.Rxc7 Rfd8 16.Rxb7 Bf8 17.Kf1 Nf6 18.Rc1 Rac8 19.Rxc8 Rxc8 20.Rc7 Rb8 21.b3 Ne4 22.Rxf7 Rc8 23.Rc7 Rxc7 24.Bxc7 Ba3 25.Ba5 Kf8 26.Ke2 Ke7 27.Nd2 Nd6 28.f3 Nb5 29.Kd3 Kd6 30.Nb1 Kc6 31.Nxa3 Nxa3 32.Bb4 Nb5 33.a4 Nc7 34.e4 g6 35.g4 h5 36.h3 hxg4 37.fxg4 dxe4+ 38.Kxe4 Nd5 39.Bc5 a5 40.Ke5 Nc7 41.h4 Na6 42.Ba3 Nc7 43.h5 gxh5 44.gxh5 Nd5 45.h6 1–0
Life in the fast lane.... we were the first board of the match to complete both games. We sit "patiently" waiting and watching as our team-mates progress on move 10.
For those of you in isolated communities, this is a great venue to play some real chess in virtual over the board style. It's worth checking out. For me... I'm not sure I've got the patience for this due to my crippling Blitz addiction on ICC.
Enjoy, BP
11 comments:
If you are impatient you can solve that by playing 100 games at the same time.
Hello,
I have added your link to my blog.
Will you please add mine to yours?
Getting to 2000 :
www.gettingto2000.blogspot.com
Thanks
Whoa...you sell your own T-shirts?
Ya know, I actually might consider getting one of the mugs. It would be perfect for my collection of unusual mugs that would make sense for me to own (currently numbering 2).
I don't have the patience either. I love slow games, but once they start to last more than a day, I lose interest and my train of thought.
according to BDK no one should look at games posted as text! himmmm? the lattest item up for big discussion, all the rage...
but i dont mind. nice going!
DK: I said more people will look over games that aren't just text dumps. This follows from the axiom of human laziness. Perhaps you are an exception, or not human.
BDK and DK, I finally went to the back rank and looked at the exchange about game dumps and diagrams: http://thebackrank.blogspot.com/2007/10/writing-some-narratives.html
First, thanks for bringing much needed controversy to my blog... i can't wait for the readership to spike! ;)
Hey, I've done it all. I've tried the embedded route and had a hard time with it because it always required tweaking ( Now you say there is a good one out there with the bugs worked out? Hmmm, I will try that... when i have time) I then attempted several versions of diagrammed annotated games. First by creating my own diagrams with fritz and making "pictures" to put in then I found the Chess Image viewer- FEN based utility from Steve Learn's Chess and like that approach.
My Lazy ass data dump in this psot was just that. I was lazy. It didn't hurt my readership at all.. nor did it improve it. I worked with what works for me given my current situation. Sometimes i just don't have time to do an elaborate dump. I was sitting on these two games for a while and wanted to get them posted as an example of teh fun of correspondence chess. The main topic was how I was more frustrated on the adjustment to the time table for this kind of chess and how it turned into a blitz.
I mix it up... thanks again. Maybe my next post will have a mix of all three styles! Regardless, my readership will still be flat. I am grateful for the consistent base I do have though.
Very well played SM game. You handled his creative defense well after you played Qxg7. Damn, dude, you just went in for the kill from move one. That's how I want to play!
you are a stronger man than i. i couldn't do it. and i too have the fear i'm playing against a book or a computer...
Tempo: How about 100 games simul blindfold?
i: have added you
LEP: My first sales!? Hmmm My marketing campaign finally pays off. How about clicking on a google ad about 100 times for good measure. ;)
BDK I thought You'd like that one. I love S&M ( in chess)
CL: not that I am stronger... just shows my level of insanity
Hi! Nothing to do with chess: I'm the author of the "Snail on turtle" drawing you used on this post. I'm happy someone found it nice enough to use it! Just wanted to say it X) Greetings!
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