David Robertson wrote:Tim Spanton wrote:David Robertson wrote:All pretty depressing though, isn't it - the insidious advance of computers into the game. They've already reduced CC at every level to a redundant discipline
Untrue (but a statement frequently made by people who don't play corr chess)!
Oh, it must be my birthday & Xmas rolled into one.
Tim Spanton?
Sun journalist. Yes? Telling me what's true and untrue. Yes? Well, have I got
The Truth for you. Remember: in Liverpool, we have a word for people like you.
Fact 1
Take yourself over to the ICCF server. I know you're registered there - because, alas for you, I am too
Now, punch my name in, and read what it says. You'll be astonished, and I hope, humiliated to find, that I have an ICCF rating from ten years back of 2201. That is a long way down, thanks to defeats by engines, from my 1992 rating of 2329. And that in turn, is a long way down from my rating in 1982 when I was 2400+ - pre-engine days, please note!
So much for your ill-informed mouthing off about not playing CC
Fact 2
You may hope that's all I have to say. Alas, there is worse to come. I have just played through your game: Spanton-Pheby from some tournament on the ICCF server. For those who don't know this Pheby bloke, he's just been crowned British Veterans Champion at CC. He has a CC rating of 2418; and a title of SIM (Senior IM), just below GM. Both he & Tim Spanton enjoy long-term OTB grades no higher than 160s. So for Mr Pheby, a near-GM CC title is...well, pretty 'impressive'
To add to the general gaiety, Tim Spanton achieved a very creditable draw with the remarkable Mr Pheby.
The game is in the public domain. I could publish it here. But I'm a really kind and courteous person. So I need an invitation from Tim Spanton before I'll publish the game. I need Tim Spanton to be sure he's ready for people to inspect this game. I need him to get his explanations ready. Above all, I need Tim Spanton, who claims I don't tell
The Truth, to be ready to answer the following question:
Why is it, when I play through Spanton-Pheby after the first nine moves, every single move thereafter, by both players, is a Houdini 1st choice? (If there is ever a rare departure, it's because Houdini gives 0.00 to all options).
Coincidence? I'm lying? Well, let Tim Spanton invite me to publish the game. Come ahead, Tim. Don't be shy. Untrue, you said, of my claim about CC. So let's hear it from you. I'll publish your game, and let people run it through their own engines. Or you can apologise! Even Kelvin MacKenzie managed that