Question about Fair Play in Correspondence

From lichess's Fair Play page:
> In correspondence games only, you may use the Lichess opening explorer, plus any other chess books or opening databases.

I've been thinking about trying to get into correspondence chess, and wanted to understand this better. What kinds of databases can I use in Correspondence? For example, could I use a chessbase masters game database? Could I use ChessDB.cn? Could I use a database of pre-played Leela training games? Could I use game or opening databases with annotations?

It seems clear to me that I definitely can't use software that evaluates a position that was not previously evaluated, but other than that, just wanted to check on the above. Thanks!

In truth, you really shouldn't be using any of that stuff. It's all a hangover from the Golden Era of Postal Chess...when there was no way to prevent such cheating (so they just decided to make it all legal). ;)

@MrPushwood said in #2:
> In truth, you really shouldn't be using any of that stuff. It's all a hangover from the Golden Era of Postal Chess...when there was no way to prevent such cheating (so they just decided to make it all legal). ;)

If all this stuff is allowed, then whats the point playing at all?

If I play the Sicilian Defense in correspondence, am I allowed to play it in bullet and analyze my games?

@Toadofsky said in #4:
> If I play the Sicilian Defense in correspondence, am I allowed to play it in bullet and analyze my games?
I actually also wondered this to be honest but am hoping to basically just partition my brain and not worry about it.

@EvilPyrokar said in #3:
> If all this stuff is allowed, then whats the point playing at all?

well by theory, you must not cheat so you don't get any more assistance once you're out of book.

But in practice there's a lot of underhand cheating in correspondence and it can't be detected, so there are no leaderboards as well ... yeah, ask yourself if it's worth playing. Maybe only play your personal friends.

@corvusmellori said in #1:
> From lichess's Fair Play page:
>
>
> I've been thinking about trying to get into correspondence chess, and wanted to understand this better. What kinds of databases can I use in Correspondence?

Game collections of any kind.

For example, could I use a chessbase masters game database? Yes.

Could I use ChessDB.cn? If it's a collection of games, yes.

Could I use a database of pre-played Leela training games? Yes.

Could I use game or opening databases with annotations? Yes.

>
> It seems clear to me that I definitely can't use software that evaluates a position that was not previously evaluated, but other than that, just wanted to check on the above. Thanks!

There are lot of people that have opinions about what should or shouldn't be allowed and whether it's good for your development or what not. None of that matters. You get to form your own opinions about that. But for that type of game, that's all legal, so feel free to use it as you see fit. Just don't get help from other players or a computer engine in analyzing a position from your game.

@DunnoItAll said in #7:
> But for that type of game, that's all legal
The lichess fair play page I quoted above makes it really clear that software that evaluates a position that was not previously evaluated is definitely not legal.

@Cedur216 said in #6:
> so there are no leaderboards as well ... yeah, ask yourself if it's worth playing
I don't play chess to try to take a leaderboard position, I enjoy it. I'm not concerned about cheaters - I just want to try to use game and opening databases to play chess in a new way that I haven't before. But I want to know what is legal according to Lichess's rules, which seems somewhat unclear.

@corvusmellori said in #8:
> The lichess fair play page I quoted above makes it really clear that software that evaluates a position that was not previously evaluated is definitely not legal.

Correct. Using game collections and books to look things up is legal. Using software or other humans to analyze a position from your game is not. It's pretty much that simple.

@MrPushwood said in #2:
> In truth, you really shouldn't be using any of that stuff. It's all a hangover from the Golden Era of Postal Chess...when there was no way to prevent such cheating (so they just decided to make it all legal). ;)

It's not just a hangover from those days and it isn't just about being unable to detect or prevent such practices. It would be completely unreasonable to disallow the use of books and databases in correspondence chess because you would then not be able to study (from books and databases) any openings or endgame-types that you currently have in a correspondence game.