Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Sharing analysis

Although my correspondence chess activity has diminished somewhat, I still play the odd game on turn based chess servers (chess.com or chessworld.com). Generally it isn't that serious, although I tend to stick to team events, either representing PNG or Canberra. However I kind of get ticked off with the assumption that anyone who does well on these servers may be using computer assistance. When I won a couple of games on chess.com and had my rating go over 2000, I was sent a gentle reminder about the servers policy on computer assistance. I assumed it was a form letter that every 2000+ player gets, but I still found it kind of annoying.
So thinking about this, I wondered if there was a way of reducing this level of distrust. One idea I had was for players to share analysis, while the game was in progress. For example I'm currently playing a sharp line against the French, and have just sacrificed a piece. Now I have no idea whether it will work or not (although I am following a game where white had an unconvincing win), but I would hate to think that my opponent believed there was some silicon assistance behind my move choices. To that end what I would be interested in doing is to simply say, 'here is my sacrifice, and this is what I've seen so far'. Note, this isn't the same as sending conditional moves in CC, as it might turn out that his reply reveals something new or different.
Of course players could still 'game the system' by sending incomplete analysis, or use it to try and bluff their opponent, but I would be interested in seeing if such an 'open' game would result in better, and happier, chess.

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