How much of external reference allowed

Dear chess lovers,

I would like to know the precise rules surrounding, referring to articles, opening theory, etc while playing correspondence chess tournaments. So far I have followed a stringent approach, to not refer to any article and to play from the top of my head, but this has left me with little progress in understanding even the names of some of the openings I played; because I am an amateur, and rarely prefer to study my old game, when option present to play a new one; and these days I can spare just around a minute, average, per day for each game I play.

First I would like to list my current approach while playing online, or in tournamements(multi-day ganes).

1. Do not refer any article.

2. Do not check position in any computer program to find computer reccommended move.

Now I have the following question.

1. Is it fair to explore which opening I played and the best chances for black and white, while the multi-day match is in progress ?

2. Is it fair to check the current position using a computer program, once in a while, or like say once or twice in the opening stage, once in the middle game, and a good reference based reading during the end game?

3. If all the steps in Point-2 are not allowed, how much of it would be the norm, from a practical perspective. I would appreciate it, if these guidelines can be found from a menu link in hcess.com

Best regards,

Manu Francis Mathew.

My Almighty Supreme Truth, lead us all, on the real path of peace and joy, Amen.

It's pretty simple.

You can read articles and look at databases of games- master and others including yourself.

You can't analyze positions with computers- not even once or twice.

I am sure that this is explained on the Chess.com Help page. Have you looked?

Here it is:

No Cheating or Computer Help

• You can NEVER use chess programs (Chessmaster, Fritz, etc) to analyze current ongoing games unless specifically permitted (such as a computer tournament, etc). The only type of computer assistance allowed is games databases for opening lines in Turn-based Chess and Vote Chess. You cannot receive ANY outside assistance on Live Chess games.

Certain articles contain clickable moves depicted like the real game. Is it allowed to watch those... ?

Thank you very much for the answer.

Yes, not analysing your games after having played them will result in little progress.

All the things you propose to do during the game, would take you the same amount of time after the game.