The Campbell Report - Future of cc?

_	The Campbell ReportCorrespondence Chess	_
	The Future of Correspondence Chess?

The following was my response to discussions about the impact of computers on correspondence chess and first appeared in my column "The Campbell Report" in the July-August 1991 issue of APCT News Bulletin. -- J. Franklin Campbell

The Future of Correspondence Chess?
by J. Franklin Campbell

Once there was a postal chess player who got a computer. After buying a chess-playing program he started letting the computer suggest moves occasionally. Then he began relying on the computer to find all of his moves. After purchasing a scanner, several megabytes of memory and some Artificial Intelligence software it was possible for the computer to directly read his opponents' cards. Another program was able to make some sense of the correspondence and make 'reasonable' replies. With the addition of a 24-pin printer with cut-sheet feeder the computer system was able to do it all.

Now when friend postal chess player receives a card he scans it into his computer. The computer (with the appropriate sophisticated software) then deciphers the message and moves, computes the proper response, composes a reply, and prints the post card. All our friend has to do is pick up the mail, feed the chess cards into the scanner, and load the proper blank post cards into the printer. And he can now lean back and really enjoy his postal chess games to the fullest.

Added on 8 Jan 1999 at the suggestion of Jyrki Heikkinen:
"Friend postal chess player started to play e-mail chess... and was able to sell his scanner."

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