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Subject: Re: Are Trends and Schaack any good?

Author: Laurence Chen

Date: 12:14:30 03/01/99

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On March 01, 1999 at 14:23:31, Tim Wiegele wrote:

>I have seen a catalog that has these products and would like to know if they are
>worth the money and effort.  I am looking for information on the Caro-Kann
>advanced variation ECO b12.  Any hints on where to find the best info?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Tim Wiegele
Guess nobody has volunteered to answer your question.... :(
I am not an expert in chess openings, so the following is my procedure that I
use to study and master an opening. It works well for me, and I learned from the
Power Play! Series which is now currently out of print. GM Henley uses such a
procedure, and he advocates it. The following is an extract from the book, "Over
the years I have had many human Grandmaster and International Master training
opponents but the beauty of using Fritz or KnighStalker as a 'sparring partner'
is that I have an opponent of comparable playing strength at my beck and call to
play any position that I wish to 'discuss'. The following four game selection
illustrates the Power Play! technique, employing the CBU250pp #30 Power Play!
Position. I chose a position that had very few examples from Grandmaster praxis.
As a direct result of these games, I became familiar with the tactical and
strategical nuances for both sides. With Fritz's help I unearthed many resources
for both sides. Ultimately I became convinced of the correctness of the
counterattack with 10. ... Qh4." (The Archangel! (Power Play!), by GM Henley,
1993).
GM Henley suggests to find several critical positions in an opening and then
play it out against a chess engine for both sides. Afterwards, one can use the
chess engine to go over the game and analyze the game. I am not sure what's your
ELO rating, and perhaps a general book describing the Caro Kann Defense would be
helpful to point out the strategic plans for both sides. Remember that chess
openings books contain mistakes in analysis, and one should not always believe
in everything unless one checks everything to be correct first. So getting a
good database of games for a particular opening is very important, from these
games you'll find the critical positions. I know that you probably asking what
are the critical positions. Answer: they are the one's which ECO stops and gives
an assessment, either +=,=,=+, etc. Or any position in which one feels to be a
critical one.... :) (This is my opinion).
Laurence






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