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Post by matejst on May 20, 2022 12:26:45 GMT
I have finally finalized my repertoire for OTB play. It was a mess: at the end, I had to get back, as white, to opening and variations I already played and understood. Most of the commercial opening repertoires were useless -- too much, or too few, and I found the free one, created by club players, better than the ones built by GMs. Hopefully, I bought only two, but I had a peak in several, and was quite deceived by the explanations, the variations. I also did not like the proprietary format and online availability only of the repertoires.
Than, the software. Probably the only useful is the free CPT, but one has to be a wizard to install it under new versions of Windows. There is a trial version of the new, commercial one, but it is bells and whistles -- core functions are the same, just a bit different.
Now, I just have to memorize and reanalyze my rep, and to play these variations.
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Post by matejst on May 22, 2022 7:39:22 GMT
To recap: I lost five months making this repertoire.
In retrospect, it would have been better if I had started from scratch, with a good GM/Correspondence database, and a good engine, and did the job by myself, instead of searching for ready to use solutions. The focus should have been in updating the lines I used to play, or to find similar lines, easier to learn. Or simply to start with a repertoire book.
Anyway, I started to do it that way -- I had several good repertoire books and I guess the most logical way to proceed was to chose one, and check/refresh the given lines variations. But which book? Then, most books I had were from the beginning of the century, when I could afford them. I started with one, rejected it after a few days (although it was really good), switched to another, then to a third, and... time flies.
Then, I found some resources on the net, and lost even more time. Grandmasters, in fact, create repertoire for GMs, not for club players. I regret the money I gave for these things, especially since the one that were free, created by masters and club players, at the end were really more useful. GM repertoires, from what I have seen, are utterly useless. I will just mention here that the proprietary format of these repertoire, the need to learn online, is repulsive. I paid for software that I can't even download.
Finally, what is the best way to proceed? I don't have a clue. Probably: search a database to have a overview. Then, play against Maia (a good club player should try Maia 1700-1900) in Lucas Chess. The opening book in Lucas Chess can be set to be used proportionally. Then, fully analyze the games and check the openings. Rinse and repeat.
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Post by matejst on May 22, 2022 8:26:49 GMT
Finally, what is the best way to proceed? I don't have a clue. Probably the only thing I got right in the this paragraph. |
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Post by Ozymandias on May 22, 2022 9:13:34 GMT
[...]it would have been better if I had started from scratch, with a good GM/Correspondence database, and a good engine, and did the job by myself, instead of searching for ready to use solutions.[...]play against Maia (a good club player should try Maia 1700-1900) in Lucas Chess. The opening book in Lucas Chess can be set to be used proportionally. Then, fully analyze the games and check the openings. Rinse and repeat. For sure. With the level SF plays at today, you can easily discard old (or not so old) books and a DB will tell you much more truthfully what's really being (has been) played at a professional/correspondence level. With those tools, just look for what you like, tune and memorize critical lines. I don't think I've ever tried Lucas/Maia, but I just played a nice game, very human like. The only kibble is that it played book moves instantly. I'm OK with it using a book. It's short and not very good (adapted to the Elo bracket?), so it's a better alternative for variability than letting the engine decide, but it should also simulate human behavior. Humans play from memory quickly, but not instantly. [Event "Play against an engine"] [Site "Lucas Chess R 2.01c2"] [Date "2022.05.22"] [White "Maia-1600"] [Black "Ozy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [TimeStart "2022.05.22 10:39:51"] [Termination "Mate"] [Opening "Russian Game (Petroff Defence): Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit"] [PlyCount "98"] [TimeEnd "2022.05.22 10:59:19"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4 4.Qe2 Qe7 5.Qxe4 d6 6.d4 dxe5 7.Qxe5 Qxe5+ 8.dxe5 Bf5 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.cxd3 Nc6 11.f4 O-O-O 12.Ke2 Nb4 13.Na3 Nxd3 14.Rd1 Bxa3 15.Rxd3 Rxd3 16.Kxd3 Rd8+ 17.Ke4 Bb4 18.Be3 b6 19.a3 Bd2 20.Rd1 Bxe3 21.Rxd8+ Kxd8 22.Kxe3 Ke7 23.Ke4 c6 24.f5 g5 25.g4 a5 26.h3 h6 27.b3 Kd7 28.Kd4 Ke7 29.Kc4 Kd7 30.b4 a4 31.b5 c5 32.Kd5 Ke7 33.e6 f6 34.Kc4 Kd6 35.Kd3 Ke7 36.Kc3 Kd6 37.Kc4 Ke7 38.Kd5 Ke8 39.Kc6 c4 40.Kxb6 c3 41.Ka7 c2 42.b6 c1=Q 43.b7 Qc7 44.Ka8 Qa5+ 45.Kb8 Kd8 46.e7+ Kxe7 47.h4 gxh4 48.g5 hxg5 49.Kc8 Qd8# |
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Post by Ozymandias on May 22, 2022 9:24:42 GMT
Also, as much as I look for it, I can't find the clocks (!?). I wanted to play a 5m game, and as you can see from the "TimeStar" to "TimeEnd" difference, it lasted almost 20 minutes. No idea who spent how much time.
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Post by matejst on May 22, 2022 9:35:39 GMT
I had a look at the game. You used the horizon effect in the endgame. Anyway, I advise you to play complicated positions against Maia, even Maia 1900. Positionally they are quite good -- especially Maia 1900 -- but you always have a chance to beat them if you patiently calculate. In general, I find it is a good training: rewarding (you can win), revealing (the engine in general "understands" the positions), but hard enough that you have to be disciplined and work hard; and in LucasChess, you have a wide array of settings at your disposal (about the opening, the time controls, etc.). Since I started last year, the best exercises I did were the tactics in LucasChess and playing against Maia.
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Post by Ozymandias on May 22, 2022 9:42:33 GMT
And the clocks?
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Post by matejst on May 22, 2022 9:42:57 GMT
Also, as much as I look for it, I can't find the clocks (!?). I wanted to play a 5m game, and as you can see from the "TimeStar" to "TimeEnd" difference, it lasted almost 20 minutes. No idea who spent how much time.  |
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Post by matejst on May 22, 2022 9:43:26 GMT
Of course, I messed with the screen capture, like always... I guess I had the "freedom" to make a mistake...
Edit: The clocks  |
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Post by Ozymandias on May 22, 2022 9:50:17 GMT
I took the liberty to edit the images, hope that doesn't take away your freedom.  |
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Post by Ozymandias on May 22, 2022 10:32:30 GMT
I was able to get the clocks and a time control in effect, but I'm not convinced by the way it loses on time. A human would put much more of a fight under time pressure. Two games already where the engine had the better position, but was unable to make more than 26 moves.
Also, it looks like it had no book assigned the first time. I chose the "GMopenings" one with the "proportional random" option, and it played 8 book moves, instead of 4 without the book (I guess Maia has an internal book, which can be distinguished in the notation by a light orange rectangle). In the third try, I deactivated it again and Maia played 4 moves instantly, recognizing up to my 5th move as "in book".
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Post by matejst on May 25, 2022 8:40:09 GMT
I started to check my opening repertoire with a database. I made one from the TWIC database, not too big, but I think it is OK. So far, I am mostly happy with what I have with white -- not too big, easy to learn for an old timer, easy to play. I discarded really a lot of things just to focus on the essential.
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Post by matejst on May 25, 2022 8:42:03 GMT
I was able to get the clocks and a time control in effect, but I'm not convinced by the way it loses on time. A human would put much more of a fight under time pressure. Two games already where the engine had the better position, but was unable to make more than 26 moves. Also, it looks like it had no book assigned the first time. I chose the "GMopenings" one with the "proportional random" option, and it played 8 book moves, instead of 4 without the book (I guess Maia has an internal book, which can be distinguished in the notation by a light orange rectangle). In the third try, I deactivated it again and Maia played 4 moves instantly, recognizing up to my 5th move as "in book". You can also try the Wasp 5.50 engine with UCI_limit_strength. It is a bit weaker than the Elo it shows (I tried against 1680 under the Shredder GUI), or, it could be this is OK but Maia is too strong. Works well. |
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Post by Ozymandias on May 25, 2022 9:41:09 GMT
One I liked for its human like play, was WeakDelfi. An engine included with Aquarium since the start. You surely have it.
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Post by matejst on May 25, 2022 10:13:50 GMT
One I liked for its human like play, was WeakDelfi. An engine included with Aquarium since the start. You surely have it. Yes. I will try it. |
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