The Kibitzer 
by Tim Harding

THE TWO WORLDS OF CORRESPONDENCE CHESS

The growth of the Internet has benefited chess and chess players in
numerous ways: newsgroups, information sites on the Web like
The Chess Cafe and The Week In Chess, databases of chess games
and servers where real-time chess can be played against distant
opponents. Perhaps the greatest benefit, however, is the
opportunity to play correspondence games by e-mail.

At present there are two worlds of correspondence chess: firstly,
the traditional 'postal' system with its established network of
national and international competitions, titles and ratings and
secondly the new but burgeoning e-mail chess community. There
is only a small overlap between these two worlds at present but the
links are constantly being strengthened. 

Undoubtedly one of the reasons for the huge popularity that
playing e-mail chess has already attained is that it puts you in
direct contact with real human beings elsewhere on the planet as an
antidote to endless interaction with computer programs!

Correspondence chess (usually called "CC") has a history going
back more than 150 years with moves normally sent by postcard or
letter and sometimes by telegraphic means. The telephone,
however, never proved suitable as a means of transmission
although fax tournaments are now becoming popular among
players who do not have e-mail accounts. CC players generally
make a distinction between their kind of game (where time is
measured in days) and real-time play through chess servers or on
CompuServe, which are governed by  the clock with about an hour
being the normal duration of a game.

The present organizational structures of CC developed early in the
20th century and became well established in the late 1940s with the
foundation of the International Correspondence Chess Federation
(ICCF) which is the rule-making and governing body for all forms
of CC worldwide. Most chess-playing nations are affiliated to
ICCF. But in those countries (like the USA and England) where
there are a multiplicity of CC organizations, umbrella groups have
been formed to represent them internationally.

The ICCF organizes World Championships and international team
events for men and women, as well as a wide range of graded
events for master-strength players down to average and weak club
player standard. Play by fax or e-mail is permissible in these events
if your opponent agrees; ICCF also organizes special fax-only and
e-mail-only events. They also, like most CC organizations, hold
'thematic' openings tournaments for players who prefer to play for
fun or to test new ideas, usually in sharp tactical openings of the
kind rarely seen in over- the-board master play. Newcomers
(however strong at over-the-board play) do better to start with one
of their national CC clubs and gain experience with the mechanics
of CC before trying international play.

Here is an example of postal chess played at the highest level. The
winner, Britain's Jonathan Penrose, was one of the few players to
defeat the late Mikhail Tal when he was world champion and at the
height of his powers. In the 1970s, Penrose began to play postal
chess and was until recently the top player on the ICCF rating list.
He is now second (on 2710) behind Gert Jan Timmerman of the
Netherlands (2725). Penrose was one of the runners-up in the 13th
World Championship Final, won by M.M. Umansky of Russia;.

Penrose -Richard Goldenberg [France] 13th Correspondence
World Ch 1989-91 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.c4
Nb6 6.Be2 Goldenberg won a game in this championship against
the Russian player Korelov, who played 6 c5 here, but Penrose
chooses the calmer continuation, preferring to complete his
development before undertaking active operations. 6...Nc6 7.0-0 e6
8.Nc3 Be7 9.d5 exd5 10.cxd5 Nb4 11.Qd4 Bxf3 12.Qxg7!? After
the present game had ended, Jansa-Gipslis, Ostrava 1992, went 12
Bxf3 0-0 13.Qe4! Re8?! [better 13.c6 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Rd1 N4d5
restricting White's advantage] 14.Rd1 Bf8 15.Qg4 and White went
on to win. 12...Bf6 13.Bb5+ c6 14.Re1+ Kd7 15 dxc6+ Informator
55 gave the unclear line 15.Qxf7+ Kc8 16.Qe6+ Nd7 17.gxf3 cxb5
18.Nxb5 Qg8+ 19.Kf1 Qxe6 (or 19...Nxd5 20.Nd6+ Kc7 21.Nf7
with compensation) 20.dxe6 Nc2! 21.exd7+ Kxd7 22.Rd1+ Kc6
23.a4. 15...bxc6 16.Qg3! (See Diagram) Typically forceful play by
Penrose, giving up a piece to keep the black king insecure, whereas
the obvious 16 Qxf7+ (tried in some CC games) seems to lead
nowhere. 16.Bxc3 17.bxc3 cxb5 18.Bg5 f6 19.Qxf3 N4d5 20.Be3
Kc7 21.Rad1 Re8 22.a4! This ensures the recovery of the piece (if
21.bxa4 22 c4) and leaves Black with permanent problems due to
his king position and weakened pawn structure. 22...Qd6 23.a5
Red8 24.axb6+ axb6 25.g3 Qc6 26.Bf4+ Kb7 27.Rd3 Rd7 28.Red1
Rad8 29.h4 h5 White's strategy from here is based on a siege of
this pawn until it can be safely taken. Black would have liked to
simplify by 29.Nc7 but it leads to a lost king and pawn ending:
30.Qxc6+ Kxc6 31.Rxd7 Rxd7 32.Rxd7 Kxd7 33.Bxc7 Kxc7
34.g4 Kd6 35.f4 Kd5 36.Kf2 Kc4 37.g5 fxg5 38.fxg5 Kxc3 39.h5
b4 40.g6 hxg6 41.h6 and White queens with check. In
correspondence chess, it is much easier to analyze such positions to
the limit and confirm that an ending is won or drawn, whereas
over-the-board grandmasters, playing against a pressing time limit
and without the freedom to move the pieces around before making
their decision, may sometimes settle for second best. 30.Qe4 Kc8
31.Rd4 Kb7 32.Kh2 Qc5 33.Qf5 Qc6 34.R4d2 Qc4 35.Qxh5 Qe4
36.Qg4 f5 37.Qg6 Nxf4 38.Rxd7+ Rxd7 39.Rxd7+ Kc8 Black
threatens mate in one and all White's pieces but Penrose has seen
the final coup: 40.Rd8+! Kxd8 41.Qd6+ Kc8 42.Qxf4 Whether or
not Black exchanges queens, the white h-pawn will decide the
game. 42.Qe6 43.h5 Black resigned.

For the traditional postal player, there are two big advantages of
moving to e-mail transmission of the moves. The first is the much
reduced expense since a move (sometimes several moves) can be
sent for just the cost of a local phone call - and in some countries
such calls are free. Of course, buying the computer and modem and
a subscription to get connected amounts to a major expense beyond
many personal and family budgets, but more and more  people
have access to the Internet through their work or college, or can
justify the purchase of a personal computer for work done at home
or to help with their children's education. For them, the additional
expenses involved in using it to play chess are very small,
compared with the cost of postage stamps.

Secondly, many players are frustrated by the slow pace of postal
games with opponents in distant countries with unreliable postal
services; the duration of a game that might have lasted anything
from eighteen months to five years can be cut by a factor of four or
five. Fax is also available to speed up play but works out more
expensive than postal chess to overseas destinations.

Organized e-mail play began a few years ago and there are now
several bodies catering to the demand. For example, CompuServe's
Chess Forum offers e-mail as well as real-time play, and American
members can compete in United States Chess Federation
tournaments through the service. Another national body offering
e-mail tournaments is the well-established American Postal Chess
Tournaments (APCT). Internationally, there have been two
principal organizations offering competition: IECG (International
E-mail Chess Group) and IECC (International E-mail Chess Club),
but reorganisation may be under way and the best place to get
up-to-date information is the newsgroup rec.chess.play-by-e-mail.
There you can get started and find an opponent, particularly if you
prefer unrated play. 

One of my opponents told me he had no difficulty in finding
opponents from a great number of countries without joining any
organization. The snag is that you may find opposition obtained
that way can be much weaker or stronger than you, whereas the
organizations try to match players of roughly equal strengths.

One of the strongest postal players who is turning to e-mail is
ICCF international master Alan Ludgate, who is currently
competing in IECG's informal E-mail World Championship. Here
is one of his wins from an earlier event, with some of his
comments.

Ludgate [Ireland]-Pietro Cimmino [Italy] IECG M004, 1996 1.c4
e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.e3 f5 6.d4 Nc6? 7.dxe5 dxe5
8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.b3 e4 11.Bb2 Nf6 12.Na4 Ne8
Exchanging bishops leaves Black with the bad bishop and the
White king can advance on the dark squares later. 13.0-0-0+ Ke7
14.Ne2 Bxb2+ 15.Kxb2 Rb8 16.Nd4 Bd7 17.Nc5 Nd6 18.Kc3 At
first sight 18 Nxd7 looks good but 18...Kxd7 19 c5 Nc4+ 20 Kc3
Ne5 is unclear. 18...Be8 19.f3 exf3 20.Nxf3 Rd8 21.Rd4 h6 22.Re1
Rf8 23.e4! A combination to simplify into a winning ending.
23...fxe4 24.Rdxe4+ Nxe4+ 25.Rxe4+ Kf7 If 25...Kd6 26.Kd4 Bf7
27.Ne5 wins material. 26.Rf4+ Ke7 27.Rxf8 Kxf8 28.Ne6+ Ke7
29.Nxd8 Kxd8 After 29...c5! 30.Nb7 Bc6 31.Nxc5 Bxf3 White
should still win but it's much harder. 30.Kd4! g5 If 30...Ke7
31.Kc5 Kf6 32.Nd4 Kg5 33.Nxc6 and White wins. 31.Kc5 Kc8
32.Ne5 Kb7 33.b4 a6 A last trap was 33...h5 hoping for 34.h4 gxh4
35.gxh4 Ka6 36.Nxc6 Bxc6 37.Kxc6 but 34.Nf3 prevents any
stalemate. 34.a3 h5 35.Nf3 g4 36.Ne5 a5 37.bxa5 Black resigned.

When I look into my crystal ball to foresee the future of CC, I
expect that e-mail play will grow in the next two decades until it
represents perhaps 60-80% of all CC played but there will always
be some players who do not like computers or who prefer the more
meditative pace of the postal game. There are interesting years up
ahead for correspondence players; the game is very far from being
dead!

* If you would like to know more about correspondence chess, you
can visit my website (link directly from The Chess Cafe) and leave
an e-mail if you don't find the answer to your question there, and I
shall get back to you within a few days. Or you could buy my new
book 'Winning At Correspondence Chess', published by Batsford
in the United Kingdom, Henry Holt in the USA and Fitzhenry &
Whiteside in Canada.

