Uri Blass wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2019 7:07 amThe target of contempt is not to play better but to beat weaker engines.
Thanks to Contempt I started to beat stronger opponents in correspondence games.
This turned out to be the other way around as to what Dann says: before Contempt I was playing like a coward, I was playing safe, with a draw in hand, sound moves, positions I was certain I could handle. And my elo and strength were stuck for years with most games ending in draws, even against weaker opponents.
But after I had the bravery to go into complex positions where an engine would like both sides and where finding he best moves was difficult for me and my opponent, then my rating started to rise, I started to win more games, and the curious fact is that I can no longer tell the difference between opponent's strengths.
2400 rated players seem to play like 2100 rated players once you use Contempt, but 2100 rated players seem to play like 2400 rated players. What I mean is that I don't see the difference between their ability to deal with complex positions and they seem to fail to play them properly regardless of their rating.
I still don't know at what point one should stop. Something funny happened in the friendly match against Japan, where I have to play 2 games against the same opponent, one as white and one as black, and this Japanese guy played an opening as white similar to the one I played against him, and I reached on the board the most complex positions I could find.
After the dust settled I came out in a winning position in the game I was white, but on a losing position in the game I was black. If I win one game and lose the other not using Contempt would have given me the same score (2 draws instead of a win and a loss.) I hope I can win one game and save the other, but perhaps the lesson is that you should have Respect for opponents that have the white pieces, and that it's only a concept that works if you're white yourself.