Author: José Antônio Fabiano Mendes
Date: 04:36:11 02/18/04
Please see ==> http://www.chesscafe.com/informant/informant.htm
+++ ECO D, 4th Edition +++
Ivan Markovic
Chess Informant Editor
The purpose of Chess Informant’s Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings is to offer
extensive coverage of all the relevant opening lines (including a myriad of
obscure ones) in sufficient detail to provide end-users with enough information
to employ them in contemporary tournament practice. Since the book should appeal
both to over-the-board and correspondence chess players who often need
exceptionally detailed material that can stand the test of time, this calls for
a rethoric question, “what does it really take to produce a new edition of a
volume of Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings?”
It is generally considered that an opening encyclopaedia should set the standard
for opening theory as a reliable reference manual at the time of its release.
However, the enormity of games available in commercial databases makes the task
extremely difficult, especially in the most fashionable lines, where grandmaster
evaluations (as published in the Informants, for instance) often become overrun
by a multitude of games from recent tournament practice, or even refuted.
Therefore, all the material inherited from the previous edition invariably
undergoes serious re-examination, where critically-minded humans from the Chess
Informant Editorial Board join forces with top computer engines in the process
of rebuilding foundations for the newcoming lines, which often leads to
completely new problems, and chaos inevitably ensues. Alas, a clearcut structure
should be maintained, which calls for tough decisions and painful compromises in
order to fit everything into ECO tables and the accompanying footnotes.
To make a long story short, I should just add that the new edition is expected
to bring 56 pages more than the preceding one. However, the space devoted to
each ECO code is generally in proportion to its popularity in current practice,
with minor exceptions only. During the past five years D 10 (1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6
without Nf3) has reached the peak of popularity, which has resulted in a sharp
(probably the most extreme) increase in the surveyed material: 86 lines and 455
footnotes (24 pages), make a world of difference in comparison with the 16 lines
and 79 footnotes (6 pages) covered in the third edition.
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