can you read a chess book while playing a correspondence game

Ye books are ok but its the whole point of correspondence there should'nt be any room for blunder.

 You should add endgame tablebases to this. I saw a forum the other week where someone was unsure about this one. I can easily understand how someone would think that an endgame tablebase is the same sort of thing as a normal database.

 Ouch! 

What happened?

OG

 Not correspondence, mate.

OG

 What is an endgame tablebase?

Sorry, I'm stupid.

OG

A similar theme is the opening explorer:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/cheating-perameters

In the above post, my mind was changed, with the aid of a practical experiment, from thinking that the studious use of material was cheating to not only being allowed, but being a crucial aspect of CC Chess.

It is the result of calculating the optimal moves needed to win when there are very few pieces left on the board; analagous to an auto-lander on a plane. Unlike an Openings Database - which is a collection of actual games arranged to follow in sequence of opening moves, an Endings Tablebase embodies calculation - so it is equivalent to using a Chess Engine at that point in the game - but where the analysis has been done in advance. It will show you, step-by-step, which move to make.

These discussions shed more light on Tablebases.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/is-using-a-computer-to-help-you-with-your-moves-cheatinglike-going-to-a-website

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/endgame-database

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/best-endgame-tablebase

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/endgame-tablebases

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/rook---king-edngame

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/endgames/queen--king-vs-rook--king-help

Thanks very much artfizz - that's made everything clear.

Do programs like Fritz and Rybka have tablebases attached?

Thanks,

OG

Most chess engines can use tablebases but don't come with them except in expanded packages.  The data necessary for a 4 piece tablebase is around 4.5 Gb or more.  5 piece is greater. 

I see.

OG

YES

Your information is incorrect. The four piece tablebases require 30 MB, but with five piece it expands to 7 GB.

Also, the most common chess engines--Fritz, Junior, Rybka, etc--all come with the 3-4-5 piece tablebases in the basic package. For a primer on tablebases see ChessDB site.

Guess I need to buy some new engines.  Mine are all a few years old (still beating me) and none came with a tablebase.  I did buy a tablebase as an addon and it took some 5 CD's compressed.  I should note that I've never had call to use the tablebase but maybe someday.

Those are the old Thompson Tablebases. The Nalimov Tablebases require less space.

What if I have a book of opening traps where the author found the majority of the tricks with the aid of a computer? Can I use this opening book, or does it embody the calculation of a chess engine, making it against the rules?

A book is a book!

I could just as well say a database is a database, why does it matter if it's endgame or opening? Well, the answer has been given in this thread that the endgame databases are generated from engine calculation. So what if a book is generated from engine calculation. Then simply saying "a book is a book" doesn't address the question.

Nope, mine was the Nalimov bought from the good people at Convekta.

Well don't buy the book then, happy?

Theory is worked out over hundreds of years, not in a split second.  And reading a book that has used engine calculation to make is NOT cheating as it uses no engine to calculate the best move from a given position.

Try the rules.

OG