07 May '07 21:36>
Originally posted by !~TONY~!I am a decent chess player, but I am not a grandmaster. Thus, I think it is only natural to take advantage of the wisdom of those who are evidently much stronger than I am. Having a databses pruned to contain hundreds of thousands of games by 2500+ players tells much about the objective situation of a given variation. Adding to that several strong engines with differint strengths (which must be considered during analysis) on top hardware, like the 3100+ ELO Rybka and the dynamic attacker HIARCS, I can get an even better understanding of the variations played. I can experiment with hundreds of different lines to see how they compare to mainlines and to undertand why certain moves were or were not played. Adding to this hundreds of thousands of engine games played at nomral time controls, like from the Rybka opening book (where authors note recommended lines) I often find interesting novelties and inevitably deepen my understanding of certain variations. Sometimes, I find that a line that seems good based on Chessbase statistics has a response in the engine book that changes the evaluation but has been played few times in human games or is just becoming popular. Of course, I also analyze based on my own experience and knowledge and with additional help from lucid explanations in opening books by good authors, like Watson. Thus, the process is much more involved than you realize. I always take statistics with a grain of salt and always ensure that I have an adequate sample size and have adjusted for ELO. Statistics are only initial guides for me.
It's hard to read exigentskys posts anymore to be quite honest. You can only hear about "Well the best GM's play this, and I analyzed this for hours with an engine, and I checked this with chessbase, and this and this...." Chessbase statistics mean very little if you don't check them out right, and engine analysis is really only good in sharp positions. I w ...[text shortened]... 't matter, because neither side will play perfect. THat's chess, that's what's great.
I have to go now. I will post the rest of my response soon.