Author: Paul Massie
Date: 22:34:29 07/13/99
Go up one level in this thread
On July 13, 1999 at 22:47:18, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>
>On July 13, 1999 at 21:33:59, Phil Dixon wrote:
>
>>On July 13, 1999 at 20:19:30, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>On July 13, 1999 at 19:26:56, Phil Dixon wrote:
>>>
>>>>On July 13, 1999 at 00:23:03, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Earlier tonite, Crafty was involved in a match with GM Loek van Wely on
>>>>>ICC. 5 3 time control, and crafty was winning about its normal percentage
>>>>>against him (about 80%, match was 9 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw at the point
>>>>>where the following game was played). In this game, Crafty was
>>>>>in book until move 23. As we passed move 20, I was counting pawns
>>>>>and pieces and concluded white was probably lost. At move 23,
>>>>>Crafty's first search said -4.00, and I thought aha, book learning
>>>>>to the rescue as this is dead lost. But without spoiling anything,
>>>>>this was the result. :)
>>>>>
>>>>>Actually, I will spoil it. At move 40, it announced a mate in 38 moves.
>>>>>
>>>>>:)
>>>>
>>>>Did GM Van Wely know that Crafty had announced a mate in 38? Do you think it is
>>>>demoralizing to the GM when computers announce mates in a large number of moves?
>>>> In analyzing the game with Fritz, move 18 for White, and move 31...?? for
>>>>Black are not looked on favorably. Would you agree with that assessment?
>>>
>>>Crafty was in book until approximately move 23. I haven't played over the game,
>>>but I know that the opening is well known.
>>>
>>>bruce
>>
>>After searching the "Big 98" database from ChessBase on position, I find a total
>>of 46 games out of 875,000. I think this hardly qualifies as "well known". No
>>less than 15 had the move 18.c4 instead of 18.Nxf6+. With the move 18.Nxf6+,
>>White won 32% of the games and Black won 25%. The move 18.c4 has 26% wins for
>>White and 40% for Black. While it appears that 18.Nxf6+ is the more playable
>>move, Black did make several errors in this game.
>>However, on move 32...Kb5 is the only move.
>
>OK, perhaps "well known" is a bit much. But this is in Nunn's book ("The
>Complete Najdorf: 6 Bg5" out to move 22 before it gets into a side-note.
>
>There are probably over a hundred games cited by Nunn in his ten pages of
>analysis after 18. Nxf6+.
>
>bruce
In the case of this particular variation, move 23 and beyond is still considered
"opening theory", despite the apparent absurdity of that description. That's
one of the things that makes this variation so difficult to play - to be
successful you MUST memorize reams of opening theory out to moves 25-30. One
slip anywhere along the way and you're dead. And even if you make it, you still
have a position that is incredibly difficult to play. On the other hand, if you
do know it all and can play the resulting positions well, Black is doing quite
well. Playing this as White or Black is something of a crapshoot unless you're
Kasparov. You're gambling you know it better/deeper than your opponent, and
will be better at handling all the tactics. Not a good gamble against a
top-level computer, but it works beautifully against weaker opponents, who come
out of book to find themselves seriously down in material and without a clue.
The strongest computers have books that go VERY deep, so only a real specialist
is likely to know it better.
Paul
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