Who (if anyone) runs Correspondence Chess in Canada?

[Pargat Perrer]

Does Correspondence Chess come under the umbrella of the CFC? If not is there a separate federation for it in Canada?

And what about globally, does FIDE run international correspondence chess?

[Sam Sharpe]

The Canadian Correspondence Chess Association (CCCA) is the national body for correspondence chess in Canada. http://www.cccachess.ca/index.htm
It is a separate entity from the CFC, and is a member of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF).

[Pargat Perrer]

The Canadian Correspondence Chess Association (CCCA) is the national body for correspondence chess in Canada. http://www.cccachess.ca/index.htm
It is a separate entity from the CFC, and is a member of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF).

Thanks Sam. Of course I did a google search before asking the question, and the results didn't include (at least on the first few pages) any mention of the CCCA. So I was left wondering.

My reason for asking: since Correspondence Chess only differs from regular chess in time control, it seems that the CFC is the official federation of only a very limited form of chess, and ONLY chess. No variants, and no correspondence time controls.

If this is true of international chess federations, specifically FIDE, then the field is wide open for any alternative form of chess to have its own federation, and FIDE and its sub-federations including CFC would have no claim on that alternative game even if it was derived from chess, as correspondence chess is.

And if such new federation of a chess alternative were to be formed, and that alternative turned out to draw away almost everyone from regular chess .... because the alternative was so much more exciting to play .....

goodbye FIDE and all its sub-federations.


Also, I went to this crosstable of a very recent CCCA event that has completed:

Cross Table (iccf.com)

Wow, correspondence chess is REALLY in the doldrums!!!! Look at that crosstable! ALL DRAWS except where someone exceeded the time controls!!!!!

I'd have to say correspondence chess is dead in the water. The people that play it are not doing so for competition, but for ... I guess just exercising their brains. At some point, it has to become .... very very boring. I'm guessing they are all seniors of age 70 or higher, and playing correspondence chess is like doing crossword puzzles.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Bonham/Perrer you are invited to put your prodigious capacities into realizing your dream.

Oh, wait. You will have to get off your couch and do some work and not expect anyone else to do it for you. I guess FIDE and the CFC are safe.

[Fred Henderson]

Thanks Sam. Of course I did a google search before asking the question, and the results didn't include (at least on the first few pages) any mention of the CCCA. So I was left wondering.

what a crock. what did you search on? Here's my google search...

https://www.google.ca/search?q=corre...client=gws-wiz

My reason for asking: since Correspondence Chess only differs from regular chess in time control, <snip wortlhess drivel>.

LOL. You obviously have never played correspondence chess, since you have clearly demonstrated your complete and total ignorance of the rules.


Do you even play chess? If I had to guess, I would say no, or else you wouldn't be talking such shit about it all the time..

[Pargat Perrer]

LOL. You obviously have never played correspondence chess, since you have clearly demonstrated your complete and total ignorance of the rules.

.....

You seem to be implying that correspondence chess has different rules for the game itself? Do the pieces move differently? Is the board sized differently?

You are correct, I have never played it, Everything I've read on it says that it is dying out because no one can win games anymore. And then that crosstable I found, the most recent official tournament played as far as I can tell, had ALL draws except for some games where a player exceeded time control and was forfeited.

If you play correspondence, Fred, may I ask what motivates you to play it? Do you think you can win a game or two? I really don't get it, since players are allowed to use engines so that games just become engine against engine. Maybe once or twice in a game when Stockfish is showing several moves withing centipawns score of each other, one might deviate from the engine's top choice.

I don't see anything creative in the whole process.

Anyway, it is apparent that FIDE and its sub-federations are strongly bonded to regular classical chess. There's some chess960 event once in a while, but not too often.

[Bob Armstrong]

I have a friend who is a top Canadian Correspondence Chess player.

He advises me that the main issue now is when human intuition should over-ride the computer suggestion. This seems to be the main way to win a game. And it seems that the human over-ride is not always wrong, though the computer rating may well outstrip that of the human.

Bob A

[Pargat Perrer]

I have a friend who is a top Canadian Correspondence Chess player.

He advises me that the main issue now is when human intuition should over-ride the computer suggestion. This seems to be the main way to win a game. And it seems that the human over-ride is not always wrong, though the computer rating may well outstrip that of the human.

Bob A

I think human intuition overriding the engine is the best way to LOSE a game. But maybe it's like tennis: in tennis, there are many safe shots. You can keep the ball in the court and keep the action going. That would be like following the engine move in chess. But you can also "go for the lines" ... and either win or lose quickly.

Bob could you ask your friend why does s/he play correspondence chess? I'm really curious, especially as to what % of moves do they go against the engine top choice of move? If it's a very small %, why even play the game at all? at least with OTB chess you are exercising your brain. What brain exercise is there in Correspondence Chess in the age of chess engines?

Somebody who plays it needs to WRITE AN IN-DEPTH ARTICLE about this!

[Gordon Taylor]

The main thing about correspondence chess today is that computer assistance is allowed. To better understand the dynamics I suggest you read the ChessBase articles featuring Leonardo Ljubicic. These are easy to find using ChessBase's search function which is near the top of their webpage. His annotations to his win versus Zdenek Straka are very enlightening. But the image I took away was of a shepherd herding his sheep -- the sheep in this case being his many, different engines!

[Sam Sharpe]

In addition to the above, a lecture from ICCF World Champion Jon Edwards at the Marshall Chess club (scroll down to May.23.2023)
https://www.marshallchessclub.org/replay