Originally posted by sydsadIt depends how you use the engines. If you use them to help you prepare for an opening that is OK. Say you and your friend decide to play a certain book line so you put that line into Fritz before your start the game and use Fritz to suggest improvements / the best line or what to do when the book ends saying "white stands better" and keep details of this analysis that that is perfectly acceptable and legitimate preparation. Retain this information and add to it as time goes by. I do this regularly on lines I have found don't go too well for me following the book, retain the info in a DB and annotate my book. Using this information in a subsequent game is OK.
I suppose this is well described in some FAQ but still.....
Is it OK to use engines in unrated games? Me and a friend are going to study some openings and it might be usefull to ask, say, Mr Fritz for advice.
What you must not do is use Fritz to analyse a current position in a current game regardless of whether it is rated or not.
So rules are rules and thats what it says but if you and your friend agree that you want to play unrated games and both use engines to assist it would be a hard man who banned you for infringing the rules but it could happen and if it does don't blame me.
Originally posted by bosintangThere was a thread about this before...and Russ clearly stated that there is no engine use allowed period!
Well maybe he does. I don't see why. If I was the OP, I'd just send a message and ask him. If you're playing an UNRATED game against your friend, who's going to report you?