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Correspondence Chess in the Year 2010
A vision of the future?!
by John C. Knudsen
January 15, 2010. It's almost time. I've been waiting for the tournament assignment for several weeks now. Looking at my watch, I ascertain that it is time for me to open my Wallet-PC and prepare for the initiation conference call between the participants of my World Cup preliminary section and the tournament secretary. The beeping signal rings loud and clear - time to begin.
"By my count, all of the players are ready for initiation," the voice of TS, with his Danish accent, comes through clear. "Gentlemen and ladies, we will now initiate the computer disable feature on your devices."
At this instruction, all of the players activate the research-only function on their PCs and disable the analysis function. This is a locked function, and cannot be enabled for the duration of the tournament. A necessary precaution, since the debacle of the World CC Finals of 2006, when the eventual winner (before disqualification) used a secret program he obtained from the developer of the OTB World Champion, Deep Blue-Green VI. This scandal rocked the CC world and almost ruined the ICCF in its wake. In the interim, the software gurus at ChessWare 2000 had developed the present fail-safe system.
I notice that the new rules provide for a social clause. Those who wish may make full use of the "commentary" option on their PCs. This function enables the user to send voice files and videos along with the moves. Interestingly enough, some of the more vocal players (particularly Americans) had used this to torture their opponents. Comments such as "Take that, you patzer," or "Did I tell you that my brother-in-law is a famous Grand Master?" became common. Now, a player had the option not to accept such media, along with the moves. It is in the rules. But the vast majority of players used the new technology to talk about chess, their families, and other things going on in their lives. The world became smaller as a whole.
My father told me of the time when he had problems with some postal services (can you imagine that - using the postal service?), particularly those of Cuba and Latin American countries, along with Africa. Now all opponents were on an equal footing, and the so-called "silent withdrawing" player was as rare as a traffic accident. No more registered repeats. No more wondering if a guy had passed away, or whatever. Instant forfeits!
After checking my five million game database, I send my first move. I'm glad the time control for this section is 20 moves in 30 days. Even if someone has another computer sitting somewhere in their house, the "detect another move-generating computer pattern" function on my wallet PC protects me from the obvious use of an unfriendly PC. Should this alarm go off, I will notify the TS, and he will use a sniffer program to detect illegal use of second or third party computers. Tournament Secretaries had long been required to be computer engineers. Should an offender be found, it results in - instant forfeit!
December 20, 2011. In my section of fifteen players, three were eventually forfeited because of ethics violations. But to say that it was common place would also be wrong. During the course of the tournament, a period of about two years, I learned some Arabic, learned of the joys and sorrows of my opponents - my friends; and learned that, no matter how hard I tried, there would always be the eternal search for the best move. This search, which almost drove me insane, was a creative pursuit. And, I enjoyed every minute of it. All by myself.
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This story appeared in the March 1998 issue of Chess Mail, http://www.chessmail.com
John C. Knudsen is a Senior International Master (SIM) of correspondence chess.
He is also the founder of CORRESPONDENCECHESS.COM (1996) and the Editor of this syndicated article feed.
Copyright 1998-2005 by John C. Knudsen, all rights reserved. Visit CC.COM at
http://www.correspondencechess.com
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