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Subject: Re: Book vs. Engine

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 12:29:36 08/27/02

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On August 27, 2002 at 15:17:45, Uri Blass wrote:

>On August 27, 2002 at 14:46:49, Russell Reagan wrote:
>
>>On August 27, 2002 at 07:32:26, Steve Coladonato wrote:
>>
>>>Are these prepared books better than ECO?
>>
>>I think they are just different than books like ECO, NCO, MCO, etc.. Those books
>>are more of an attempt to give us a comprehensive, one volume opening reference.
>
>I think that you are wrong.
>I know that the ECO is not one book but 5 books and it was the case many years
>ago(I do not know what is the situation today because I am not an expert of
>opening theory).
>
>I believe that it has also lines that are bad for one side.
>
>
>>These books, for the most part, have only the good lines. Professional books for
>>computer chess probably have a lot of the same good lines, but also many "trap"
>>lines, maybe some drawing lines, and so on. For example, if the computer is
>>black, and white plays a bad move, then the continuation probably isn't going to
>>be in ECO, MCO, etc., but in a professional book, it may have the continuation
>>because the "trap" might be too deep for the engine to see on it's own.
>
>I think that traps are in the eco but the problem with very big books like the
>eco is that the moves were not analyzed enough because it is impossible to
>analyze every line so there may be a lot of mistakes.

I think it can still be a valuable resource for opening books.  If you have a
line that looks good, and it checks out on computer analysis and ECO agrees with
it, then you probably won't have to worry about it.  If (on the other hand) ECO
points out a problem, it would be wise to check it, even if lots of good players
have used the line and even if computer analysis says it is OK.  Then you can
look at the specific objections and refutations to see if there is a fault in
the original line from the computer book.

ECO is supposed to be an encyclopedia (which is what the 'E' stands for) and
therefore is a collection of general knowledge.  If you get specific books or
more highly focused books you can probably get better details and more accuracy.



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