Chess research in the 21st century
Studying chess has come a long way since I first started ‘hitting the books’ in the early 80’s. Back then, learning a new chess variation involved memorizing a few lines in MCO or BCO, then playing through as many sample games I could find in my limited chess library. In comparison, the same process today might involve:
- memorizing a few lines in ECO (weak, by itself)
- using ChessBase to search a 5 million+ game database to pull up and play through all available examples played in tournament practice
- using these practical examples from tournament play to make a repertoire playbook that can be saved as an individual ChessBase file
- using Rybka with the Aquarium interface to auto-analyse this playbook and reveal that it is full of mistakes and weak moves (puny humans!)
- running thematic engine tournaments (or use Rybka’s handy Monte Carlo analysis) in the variation of interest, to create a mini-database of high-quality games and to develop a better understanding of typical play in the middlegame and endgame
- further optimizing and enhancing the playbook (incorporating improvements from engine games) resulting in an tactically robust repertoire full of strong moves and improvements over existing theory
- importing the playbook file into Bookup to facilitate training by repetition and review
Here’s a pic of my current gear - from left to right:
- - recent New in Chess Magazine (2008/3) - there is no better (imho) chess journal in print
- 24″ iMac with 2.4 GHz Intel core 2 Duo processor, running Rybka 3 in Aquarium interface (made possible by VMware Fusion, which allows me to run Windoze as an application on my Mac)
- an iPod (8 gig nano), with enough music to rock out for several days without hearing a repeat
- an real aquarium with fish, reputed for its calming, soothing effects
- a beer (Sleeman Honey Brown Lager), also known for calming, soothing effects
- my ancient (2004) Compaq Presario laptop running Rybka 3 on Shredder 10 interface
- board and pieces, to satiate the recurrent need to experience the tactile sensation of moving pieces in 3- rather than 2-D space
Nestled to the right of the iMac is a baby monitor, which amplifies the plaintive wails of 5-month old Natasha, and allows me to integrate my chess study with family life.
In the months to come I shall reveal many secrets revealed to me by the Oracle (Rybka) that are helping me to refine and deepen my understanding of chess. Stay tuned!