Author: Albert Silver
Date: 05:13:10 01/25/00
Go up one level in this thread
On January 25, 2000 at 02:09:35, Jeremiah Penery wrote:
>On January 25, 2000 at 01:58:20, Peter Kappler wrote:
>
>>On January 25, 2000 at 01:13:23, Jeremiah Penery wrote:
>>
>>>On January 24, 2000 at 23:15:27, Peter Kappler wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Kasparov Allowing
>>>>>a position with really no complications and allows an easy draw to Lputian a
>>>>>2605! Lputian is so low rated that he's almost in a category were Kasp probably
>>>>>hasn't played against in 10 years, a sub 2600 player(2500s). It could happen
>>>>>but both in one day!
>>>>
>>>>You are underestimating the advantage of playing the White pieces at this >level.
>>>
>>>But when was the last time Kasparov lost with black? :) I remember the Hoogovens
>>>tournament last year, where he won every(?) game he played with black, but kept
>>>drawing with white. It was quite amazing.
>>>
>>>I think the whole 'advantage' of playing the white pieces is purely
>>>psychological. I think Kasparov once speculated that white may be in zugzwang
>>>in the opening position. (Please, someone, if you can either confirm or refute
>>>these 'facts' I'm presenting, do so. :)
>>
>>
>>It's a *very* significant advantage, especially at the super-GM level.
>
>Well, psychological advantages can be some of the biggest ones. :)
>Just look at Kasparov. He escaped with a draw from Adams the other day, and
>this probably had as much to do with psychology as anything.
>
>I'm trying to speculate from an omniscient point of view - I think if the entire
>game-tree could somehow be searched/traversed, it would be found that white has
>no _real_ advantage.
>
>>I just verified this using ChessBase. I searched on all games in which both
>>players were rated above 2550 FIDE. Out of 21376 games, White won 6035, Black
>>won 3648, and 11689 were draws.
>>
>>Performance rating for white = 2654
>>Performance rating for black = 2575
>>
>>So playing the White pieces is worth 79 rating points.
>
>My stance is really more of a guess, and probably one that will never be proven
>right or wrong. :)
White's advantage is real, though the question as to whether or not this
advantage is winning is another altogether. The advantage is in the initiative,
and the better you are, the more tangible this advantage is as you will better
know how to administrate it, provided the opening is one in which it hasn't been
neutralized. When it has, the opening goes out of fashion. Some openings like
the Italian (Giuoco Piano) are no longer played at the top level, not because
they have been refuted, but because no way can be found to maintain the
initiative (despite Adams's repeated attempts to do so).
Albert Silver
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