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Subject: Re: SOMCS [kind of OT]

Author: Anthony Cozzie

Date: 12:14:51 03/15/04

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On March 15, 2004 at 14:30:58, Vasik Rajlich wrote:

>On March 15, 2004 at 13:51:39, martin fierz wrote:
>
>>On March 15, 2004 at 09:12:44, Vasik Rajlich wrote:
>>
>>>One was that only top-level players should study the games of Kasparov. The
>>>reason was that Kasparov doesn't plan, he doesn't play normal proper chess, he
>>>doesn't look at patterns, he breaks all of the "rules" - and he can do so
>>>because he counts everything (or prepares it at home).
>>>
>>>Another interesting claim was about Watson's book "Secrets of Modern Chess
>>>Strategy", where Watson claims that basically there are no such things as chess
>>>rules, chess patterns - it's all just a big myth, used to explain things we
>>>don't understand, and that concrete counting is everything. Kaidanov claims
>>>that, like studying Kasparov, the book is totally inappropriate for all but the
>>>best players. Weak players should generalize, play stereotyped chess, etc - but
>>>only because they can't count.
>>
>>it's nice to see that a strong player reacts this way to watson's book :-)
>>i found the book very interesting and thought-provoking, but i thought about the
>>same as you did: the first thing people have to learn are the general rules, and
>>then, if they get really really good (IM or GM), they have to learn the
>>exceptions to the rules. but for mere mortals a couple of dogmatic rules are
>>like beacons in the sea of variations, and of great help.
>>
>>cheers
>>  martin
>
>Yeah, actually the book was very good - but not for the reason Watson was hoping
>for. You roll your eyes once per page when the "it's all about calculation"
>comment inevitably comes up - and look at the games, conveniently organized by
>the basic patterns ... :-)
>
>Greets,
>Vas

All chess patterns are heuristics, not rules.  GMs have _very_ good heuristics,
but ultimately it is just a guess.

anthony



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