OTB v CC

I've mentioned in the past that one of the advantages of playing Correspondence Chess (CC) is it is far easier to represent your country than in over the board (OTB) chess. One of the reasons for this is that international friendlies are a regular part of the CC scene. Such matches are often played over numerous boards, with 60 board matches not uncommon.
One opponent that has consistently posed problems for Australia in recent years is Germany. In a previous friendly we were comprehensively walloped, but Australia bravely fronted up again for the return match. We are still behind in the new match, but at least we aren't losing by quite as much.
To bolster our ranks we even brought in some help from the OTB world,  with GM David Smerdon joining the team. I'm not sure how much CC David has played in the past, but in the following game he showed he could hold his own against one of Germany's top players.
BTW, if you want to see the current standings from this event, and play through the games, just click on this link.


Fischer,Wolfgang (2495) - Smerdon,David
GER-AUS/NZ 2015 ICCF, 08.02.2015