M Winther wrote on Wed, Apr 19, 2006 03:45 AM EDT:
Adrian, to unleash their creativity amateurs cannot go on studying openings using a chess database, because then creativity and fun is thwarted. I knew an ambitious amateur (around Elo 2170) who devoted years and years to perfecting his opening repertoire. But, unlike grandmasters, he lacked the capacity to creatively improve the variants, and, by this monotonous activity, he managed to deaden his natural passion for the game. And then it became obvious that he couldn't play those variants because his opponents would prepare against his variations using their own databases. An ambitious amateur cannot afford keeping alternative opening systems, it's too much work involved. On the other hand, amateurs can seldom play small openings systems like Réti, because they lack the capacity to make the most of those small positional advantages that can be utilized in the endgame.
In his upcoming series Kasparov will discuss the 'opening revolution', which had its beginnings in the seventies. For the ambitious amateur, the present development in chess, the advanced level of opening science, is injurious to creativity and phantasy. In Rubinstein's and Lasker's time grandmasters could still play the exchange variation in the French with a good deal of success. But what's the point in feeding 25 moves in the Sicilian Dragon, against another ambitious amateur, and then shake hands since a theoretical drawn position is reached? I see amateurs do this. In orthodox chess you are cooped up in opening lines which you don't really like. You are forced to play against your own nature because there are no good strategical alternatives. Everything else is drawish. This is due to the advancement of opening science. I don't think Fide-chess should vanish, it's just that it's high time that we think about alternatives.
That's why I think that such initiatives like the Circular Chess World Championship are praiseworthy, because it speaks to our phantasy and creativity.
In his upcoming series Kasparov will discuss the 'opening revolution', which had its beginnings in the seventies. For the ambitious amateur, the present development in chess, the advanced level of opening science, is injurious to creativity and phantasy. In Rubinstein's and Lasker's time grandmasters could still play the exchange variation in the French with a good deal of success. But what's the point in feeding 25 moves in the Sicilian Dragon, against another ambitious amateur, and then shake hands since a theoretical drawn position is reached? I see amateurs do this. In orthodox chess you are cooped up in opening lines which you don't really like. You are forced to play against your own nature because there are no good strategical alternatives. Everything else is drawish. This is due to the advancement of opening science. I don't think Fide-chess should vanish, it's just that it's high time that we think about alternatives.
That's why I think that such initiatives like the Circular Chess World Championship are praiseworthy, because it speaks to our phantasy and creativity.
Mats