Author: Bob Durrett
Date: 12:33:09 01/11/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 11, 2004 at 14:57:15, Ed Trice wrote:
>Hi Bob,
>
>>
>>But wouldn't you miss winning combinations and positional sacrifices that way?
>>Many a game having a position in the game where one side is a rook down still
>>won the game!
>>
>>Perhaps your last sentence is to materialistic?
>>
>
>Depth cures all things, of course :)
I cannot argue with that! : )
>
>When you have an infinite sea of positions to examine, at some point you have to
>stop and make an evaluation. That evaluation is basically a "0 ply search" --
>you are counting up the material. In the statistical sense, you should spend
>more time finding positions where you are a rook ahead rather than a rook
>behind.
>
>Material is still the dominant force in every evaluation, with the exception of
>some of the so-called "Trojan Horse Attacks" that are identified in the Crafty
>code.
Well, respectfully, I don't think thats right. It may be true that "that's the
way it's done in modern chess engines," but your comment does not correlate well
with what I've been reading in the printed books.
Admittedly, I am "cheating" a little since I only read chess books written by
GMs [or the older top players]. Those authors often do point out tactics but
most of the commentary I'm noticing is about strategic &/or positional.
[Event "Karlsbad"]
[Site "Karlsbad"]
[Date "1923.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "153 Alekhine, Alexander"]
[Black "Maroczy, Geza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D55"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r1b3k1/pp1nq2p/8/3p2p1/3pP3/2QB4/PP1N2PP/5RK1 w - - 0 19"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "1923.04.??"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
19. Qc7 $1 {Alekhine: "Immediately paralysing all the opponent's pieces;
Black's position becomes hopeless"} (19. Qxd4 $2 Qc5) 19... Kg7 20. Rf5 $1 dxe4
21. Nxe4 Qb4 (21... h6 22. h3 {Gufeld: "to be followed by Kg1-h2 and Ne4-d6"})
22. Rxg5+ {Black resigned} 1-0
Alekhine's comment after White's 19th move is typical. He was concerned about a
positional issue and not at all concerned about the sacrificed pawn.
[D] r1b3k1/pp1nq2p/8/3p2p1/3pP3/2QB4/PP1N2PP/5RK1 w
Bob D.
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