I think using opening book theory is fine - if you're naive enough to rely on opening books without looking into alternatives or reasons for such moves then your chess improvement will suffer.
Rule 1 to chess mastery is doubt everything! No wonder so many great players are paranoid and untrusting of others(Fischer!).
A good example is a game I got against whitedderwithhorns at the moment - he's played an opening move which I couldn't find(admittedly I aint got much opening theory resourses) but a move which to my mind seems good - in fact I was thinking of it myself(honest).
Anyone that's interested in it....
simonwells1967 vs whitedeerwithhorns
Yeah, I hope you become really good only to discover that all your opponents will outbook you, and then you will have to start to compete. If you don't like the Correspondence is played, don't play it. That is part of the rules. I think it's funny how people think it's cheating. It's like saying, people shouldn't be able to kick field goals in football. That's a bad analogy, but it's in the rules eh?
Originally posted by BowmannLOL... from what book did you find this opening?
War is war, losers.
Game 1021409
Originally posted by rbmorrisHow do you determine when your opponent is using a database?
I think that referring to an opening database is flat out cheating. I would NEVER do it, and refuse to paly anyone who does. You either know your stuff or you don't.
Do you ask or just use intuition?
Since there are lots of books and db resources out there, why not use and learn from them? Do each of us have to start from scratch?
Just wondering.:😀😀
Originally posted by xsWon the game, didn't it?
LOL... from what book did you find this opening?
Game 1021409
I think that studying openings is invaluable. You can just memorize opening moves. . . There's no reason to use a database. But if you just memorize the moves and don't explore them for yourself, you won't understand what's going on when your opponent deviates from your prepared line. On the flipside, you can be distracted when your opponent doesn't play theoretical lines and makes wacky moves. But I don't find that this tactic works very well. Often, players have just wasted a lot of moves and end up in theoretical middlegame positions, only slightly worse.
At another site where I play, and where there are active forums, one of the top players started a thread looking for help regarding SCID (a popular free database program).
In his post, he mentioned that he uses three primary databases: 1) games from the past five years; 2) games from the past fifteen years; and 3) all games. In one of my games against him, he played a novelty (a move not in my database) on move 24. Up to that point we were following a game played by two super-GMs ten years ago.
The information he posted, and his novelty both reinforce the point that use of chess databases is an aspect of chess skill. He is laboring to construct databases that help him identify fashions and trends among opening choices. What does he do with this information? Does he play the latest ideas? Does he look for abandoned lines that are still sound? Either of these strategies would be just that--plans for using available chess knowledge. Suppose you are following a game that resulted in a win for the color you have. Were the moves sound? You still need a lot of understanding to decide when and how far to follow a previously trodden path.
Originally posted by WulebgrYes , very true. Even if a completely eroneous move was made involving the queen. I am not having a personal jibe here but, would it not be nice just to sit down and have a gameof chess with someone with out any external influences. I can fully appreciate your quest to explore different openings and attacks, and counter attacking play. I am even envious to some extent that you have the patience to sit down and trawl through every possibility with these openings. I myself just ad lib and try to use my own judgement. Openings are a weak part of my game and i would like to challenge you to to games, well perhaps four games, one with the use of data bases, and one without. I have nothing to prove here, I would just like the challenge. If you are up for it, PM me, if not, no worries, it was just a suggestion out of curiosity. Cheers for reading this drivel anyway and good night to you.
At another site where I play, and where there are active forums, one of the top players started a thread looking for help regarding SCID (a popular free database program).
In his post, he mentioned that he uses three primary databases: 1) games from the past five years; 2) games from the past fifteen years; and 3) all games. In one of my games against him ...[text shortened]... ll need a lot of understanding to decide when and how far to follow a previously trodden path.
Originally posted by jimslyp69The only problem with the challenge is that I would need to be remember to actually use the databases in the games we allow. In fact, I rerly refer to them for my games here. I'm typically playing ~40 games on a half-dozen sites, and I use my databases for a fraction of those.
Yes , very true. Even if a completely eroneous move was made involving the queen. I am not having a personal jibe here but, would it not be nice just to sit down and have a gameof chess with someone with out any external influences. I can fully appreciate your quest to explore different openings and attacks, and counter attacking play. I am even envious to ...[text shortened]... just a suggestion out of curiosity. Cheers for reading this drivel anyway and good night to you.
Still, I'll accept the challenge.