Author: Komputer Korner
Date: 20:09:09 05/24/05
All the qouted articles in a separate thread do not really explain the tricky
relationship between retro moves, stats, and unplayed transpositions. The trick
is that the retro move stats do not reflect the stats for that retro move. The
stats for the retro move are the total stats for all the option moves at the
previous node where the retro move leads back to. Not only that but the stats
for the retro move are from the opposite colour's point of view in relation to
the colour to move at the previous node. You will notice a weird thing. There
are retro moves for the 1st position. If you click on one of those retro moves,
you will be taken back to a fantasy position before the start of the game with
its own set of retro moves and statistics. Only Chessbase can tell us what this
means. As I have said before, if you click on a retro move that is not in the
game line, you will lose your game score. It is possible to click on retro moves
all the way back to the beginning of the game and to get to a position where it
is black to move for the 1st move. I am sure this has to do with Chessbase
claims about their book's ability to be able to play reverse openings perfectly.
There is a mistake in the Chessbase help manual. In their help
manual it states: " The header displays the total number of games which led to
the current board position." They go on to say that "The N column displays the
number of games in which each move was executed." Only their 2nd statement is
true. In fact the header information displays the number of games in which the
previous move was executed. That is why in most cases the header total N differs
from the column addition of the N. Also don't forget that retro moves are
treated differently with respect to the N. The N represents the total of the
previous header screen when it is referring to a retro move. In fact it is
impossible to tell how many games led to the current board position. You will
notice that unplayed transposition moves can have an N total associated with
them as well. I am sure that this is not the last word on this subject, but what
would be helpful is a separate window that displays all the possible played and
unplayed transposition lines (minus ridiculous fantasy repetition lines) that
could have contributed to the present board position.
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