:0)>

We have both.

Hi <truefriends>,

my 8 Mio games DB (almost no doubles) contains nearly all OTB, corr, engine and freestyle games ever played, and available from any public or commercial source - of course I don't have games from closed chess playing systems. The DB even contains games that GMs have played in their dreams, and games of player 'zsoyd' which are quite rare in other game collections. The highlight is of course that I regularly collect from 8 different corr chess orgs and servers.

With this base I could create opening books of any desired depth, variety, quality and precision.

But all this is worthless in my eyes, as I do not belive in any opening theory that I have not analyzed in depth on my own. Only with very accurate opening preparation I was able to win most of my games without any loss.

For the opening lines I play, I knew most of the advertised novelities in the new Noomen book before they were published. Those I did not knew are in sidelines where one of the sides has in my opinion already made an inferior move - no need to waste any time with these.

Nowadays I'm still deviating very often from the Rybka2 book suggestions (i.e I choose the red marked moves!) and still win most of my games.

It seems the programmers realize its main use is CC.

If I were to play the world team, my line against the Naydorf would be Bb5 and follow Kasparov's game against the World.
Without the WCB's white can setup a pawn structure on the white squares and thus safely reaches a draw in the endgame phase.

This is my reason why I prefer Nc6 instead of d6. I know white has also a few simple draw lines. But these lines require a good theoretical knowledge and have a long horizon.
Because they are seldom played they remain hidden, but are used by strong players to obtain a draw if needed.

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 Qa5

click for larger view

5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7+

(6. Qe2 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nc6 8. Nb3 Qd8 9. Bg5 h6 10. Be3 a6 11. Bxc6 Bxc6 12. f3 e6 13. O-O-O Be7 14. h4 b5)

The question remains, will he be satisfied with a draw like I would having the white side?>

I think of the game with Nickel as the second game of a (at least) two game match. The World won the first game, so I'm not giving much thought to picking openings that avoid giving forced draw lines to white.

1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 Qa5 >

If he starts with Nf3, I'd tend to think he really wants to play a d4 game that avoids the more tactical Slav family games and maybe plans Bg2 soon, so I'd play against that with 1...d5.

Subjectively, I believe we maximize our scoring chances by not worrying about Nickel trying to force a draw early in the game as white...>

<3...Nf6> doesn't force the devation from the mainline. White is not obliged to play <4. dxc5>. If he chooses <4. Nc3>, then Black's best option is to return to the usual Open Sicilian with <4...cxd4>. See for example: Opening Explorer

When the game starts there will be a lot of posts arguing that "we must deviate from the mainline as soon as possible before GMAN plays a stunning novelty he has prepared". I disagree with this kind of thinking. It's much easier for us to find <good> sidelines or novelties later in the opening, say, after 10 moves depending on the variation. And if there will be a TN by GMAN, then we simply continue to play chess. Either White or Black has to play a new move at some point.>

<1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Be7 9. Qd2 O-O 10. O-O-O>

click for larger view

If he plays for a win, he will select opening lines which have a proven record ie keep a slight advantage well into the middle game.

It may well be impossible to gain the upper hand for black in such positions. We can not expect to overcome whites edge in development and center control.

Oh yes, I did not suggest that he will play Nf3 in his first move, the position shown was a transposition from Nf6 instead of the normally played cxd4 which is the main reason for choosing sizilien.

I agree to stay with the main lines as long as possible. Let him deviate from them as he quite often does.

I belief that he does not have adequate positional understanding to rewrite theory. He will be guided by Rybka3 and a prepared opening book which can be expected to be about his present ELO rating.

ccGM Nickel vs team

1.e4 c5 -> list
1.d4 Nf6 -> list
1.Nf3 d5 -> list
1.c4 e5 -> list
1.g3 d5 -> list
1.b3 d5 -> list
1.b4 c6 -> list

if the team believes we're better then ccGM Nickel:

play solid with Black, until the position is nearly equal and from move 12 on try to raise the stake

avoid early queen exchange - all such opening lines lead to a slightly better endgame for White

avoid tunnel lines, where one of the sides needs to play a short sequence of nearly forced moves (according to opening theory / resp. engine books)

go into lines where each side has many nearly equally successful moves according to theory (i.e. maximize the search space - we have the advantage of superior hardware power!)

The opening is the most difficult phase for team play.

Many OTB openings aren't adequate for CC. Everyone has prejudices and they get expressed most commonly in the first 8 moves. For example, the Sicilian Dragon doesn't work fo CC.

When playing black, it is very difficult to both equalize and keep winning chances alive.

and

User: Red October