Correspondence Players ONLY!!!!!!

How many of you have used chess engines, game explorer, discussed it with a chess mind or open master games whilst playing? ( BE HONEST) 

Those who are honest will get a clandestine prize

Let's see how honest our society is?

Some games I use a database. I don't for most. What is my prize for being honest?

only the best answer will get a prize. 

you are in the running by the end of the 24 hours you will get a prize 

What is your favourite Fischer game? And how often do you use your database?

I have actually used database (I think they are legal if they dont have evalutions within it)only once while playing correspondence and never used my engine. Still I have been accused of cheating because I played the three exact same moves from a game which my he looked up that day. We sorted it out and I may eve have added him to my friend list. I don't remember his name anymore...

that was the last time get the law

im chess.coms new serial killer

I use the Explorer and other databases every game I play.  Since it's legal, why wouldn't I ?  Following master games only gets you so far anyway and then you have to play chess.  Sure it's "training wheels" chess, but so what?  I don't pretend that my rating has any relevance to anything, but I enjoy studying whatever opening is being used and hopefully some of those lines (or at least the ideas behind them) will stick.  You forgot videos and books; yep, I use them too.

so, are you saying that you are going to kill chess.com players?

killing anything and everything i can

Very good answer, you are the frontrunner for this mysterious prize

I used nothing,just my few knowledge about chess.

once I was playing around with a computer looking at some better ideas in a game I just played when I realised that a ongoing game was heading potentially to the same variation. I thought it made no sense to just stop looking for better moves in my last game and if he played the same move so be it. As it happened, the game varied. but a couple of moves different and he'd have been playing houdini for a move or two. 

otherwise, I nearly always use master games for the openings. and books (not that I have many. well, just one). unless I get into a series of games and it just feels better sport to play entirely myself. I use analysis board too, almost every move. That is why I play correspondence. 

"discussed it with a chess mind". where do I get a chess mind?

I use everything at my disposal, except an engine.

In the opening, I watch videos to refresh my memory of the objectives of the opening. Then I follow these steps to determine what my strategy should be.

If I've not encountered the opening before, I create a blog post with some basic material on the opening. If i've already made one, I use it as a starting point for my opening refreshing.

Then, during the game I use an analysis board to look at candidate moves. I will also review the games from the step above to reinforce my ideas about my strategy.

In thick positions, I make notes about the position; weaknesses, strengths, threats and long term goals.

I have not yet begun refering to masters games. But I suspect I will start doing that soon.

BadDog, I remember hearing that phrase 'chess with training wheels' when I first came. It is a silly analogy. This type of chess is respected by most if not all GM's out there as a way to build solid chess skills. 

I use Chess.com Opening Explorer and Analysis Board in every game. Isn't that the point of Online Chess? For Live Chess I never use anything but my feeble mind and blurry eyes.

One game, before I knew the rule against it, I used Stockfish to help me with a critical endgame position. Once I heard the rule I felt really bad because I was losing and hoping for a draw but ended up winning.

I use opening database for openings and endgame books for endgames. Other than that I use myself for the middlegame. These help me out a lot

Snookslayer Total Online Games: 818 (507 W/ 276 L / 35 D)

All my wins are honest. But I suspect I was cheated 276+ times. 

I wish more of my opponents would use the opening database so I could actually see how a mainline plays out every once in a while.