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euro_pop_legend 12-May-23, 09:33	Opening books/tree's/Stats and more.... I will begin this thread in basics and general information and then add more critical/complex info in time. An opening book can be a paperback book,an MCO book,a specific opening DVD and any other opening informational sources like the one's I will specifically mention here in this thread in more detail....Hiarcs,Rybka,Houdini and others.So,this is the area of concentration in this thread,not discussing a specific opening paperback book or DVD,but the better opening books/tree's(like Hiarcs,Rybka) that many of the strongest players use in their analysis....more than other sources. Here is one opening book source that is NOT Hiarcs but represents stats on an overall lesser qualitative level: www.365chess.com his thread may not be designed for beginners who may be studying the endgame's and midgames first,tactical puzzles and more,but it does not hurt to take a peek once in a while or see what is in store for you as you climb the rating ladder later on. The advantages of playing with these opening books are that you can test your own moves against the opening database of moves and see how you par against the best moves of the masters and GM's.Then analyze,go back and try again with another move or the one supplied in the book and learn "why"it is or was a better move by the stats supplied in that book.You can do an infinite amount of study using a good book like Houdini or Hiarc's.You may want to see how quickly your move's go "out of book" which may be an advantage for you if your opponent is also using a book!This way,you are both playing from the "gut"rather than using an opening tree 30 moves long from move #1.It may not be the strongest way to play or the best way,but it is your way!As you climb the rating ladder,however,you will find that moving out of book too early usually spells a disadvantage or disaster!Keeping "in book"and staying with more tournament style lines usually spells advantage or at the very least "equalization"especially on the black side. Other advantages to using an opening book like Hiarcs and others are that you can customize the book and "force it"to move with only one specific variation like the advanced variation of the Caro-Kann and test what you have learned against that book.You can then study your moves in COMBINATION with a computer program like Fritz.Notice I said study with the computer program.....NOT play the program against your opponent!This is illegal! I will choose Hiarc's book to start off with.But Hiarc's is basically set up the same way the other major opening books/tree's are designed...but those others like Rybka,Houdini,GK's and a hundred other opening books or book sites are generally not considered as superior to most or all other "commercially available" books.Why?Well,Hiarcs,for example,is "updated"every 3 months,improved and has other stats,tree info from tourney games with players mainly from master to GM levels,but also from games as low as 1800 levels.Many other opening book sources are NOT updated on a regular basis.This makes the difference with cutting edge advantages and pure up to date theory as opposed to other opening sources. Please note with respect to many of the better opening books like Hiarcs and others: HIARCS Chess Opening Books are for software download only. They require either the HIARCS Chess Explorer GUI (direct access), a Chessbase/Fritz GUI for CTG, HIARCS chess engine for HCS or HIARCS Chess on iPhone/iPad for HBG. Statistics are only available for direct access, CTG & HBG format books. The HCS format book can be used by HIARCS 14 engines on Mac and PC. So,basically,most players use a Fritz GUI or other engine to analyze their own moves within the opening database on the engine chessboard,make comparison moves and then store their analysis in the "file"of that engine GUI for future reference. The ultimate and strongest opening books are the ones that are "custom designed",programmed and implemented by the individual chess player through past experiences,win results,opening style...and can be designed and custom molded to fit the player like that perfect suit and tie.This specific subject I will not get into,at least not for a while,since it involves complex issues that take too much time and effort to unleash.I have a custom book designed,but it took many months to complete and with help from a software expert from my chess club in NYC. So lets get back to opening books/tree's: So what is an opening book,with respect to Hiarcs,Rybka and others? In basic terms it is a compilation of initial and sequential white opening moves of a chess game and defenses for black.These are divided up manually from the user into options of tournament level games which have a "narrower" level of opening variations deemed stronger by millions of game tests or by "variety of play"levels which have a wider area of openings but are deemed statistically weaker(many times) and are not played as frequently therefore in regular tournament play.A Basman Defense,Sokolsky,Grob and a Trompowski are some examples that are not played very often in high level competition,thus will be focused in more "varietal play"options rather than "tourney"levels. What is an opening tree? This is basically the opening variations of that specific opening that "branch off" and resemble a tree in configuration.Many variations/tree's can branch off to as high as 50 moves or more(Like a Ruy Lopez) where the moves have been exhaustively analyzed through millions of games and the best and better moves are listed in the Hiarc's book(or others)through win stats,average performance and more.The Symmetrical Variation of the English Opening is one example.You could begin to play the opening moves of the Symmetrical as white or black and begin to get a book read through Hiarcs as to which would be deemed the next best moves or "unclear"moves that are open to further research.Those unclear moves or less statistically stronger moves are listed in red color usually near the end of the book tree and the stronger more tournament moves are listed in green color. What is "out of book"move's relative to my opening Hiarc's book or other books? This is when you plug in your move or your opponents move and there is no further book move response from Hiarc's or any other book that you can observe.Now you are on your own,and you must play the game from your own knowledge and theory that you have learned from your strength of rating ability.You will see a black "blank"bar in the opening table when this occurs. In "irregular"type games like a Basman or Sodium Attack,even the best opening books can move out of book very quickly,sometimes in less than 5 moves. Is using an opening book legal,moral and ethical in my correspondence games on GK? Absolutely! Any source of an opening study,book read(Like MCO-15),Opening DVD's and DVD's like Houdini,Rybka opening book or the Hiarcs opening book are completely legal to use.The difference with Hiarcs and a paperback book are that the opening move knowledge can simply be referenced more quickly and the results pop up immediately,rather than you searching page for page through other sources. When does it become illegal,immoral or unethical then if using these opening books? Answer:Never when using the opening books BUT IF/When you move "out of book"and begin to use a chess engine to analyze moves BEYOND your books or other source abilities to play the moves for you.As long as your book source "responds"to your opponents moves,you are simply using an "in book" response that has been generated from some game source of a master,GM or other player from recent games,decades ago or even centuries ago. This makes it completely legal to do so.You may not understand "where"the source came from or what GM or master made that book move,but this still does not make it illegal to use the book source!Many books do have what is called a PGN source that is in addition to the book,like Hiarcs does have.But this is NOT necessary to open up.But nonetheless is an interesting read showing many GM sources that can be used in your opening moves as well. Also,take note that opening books like Hiarcs in DVD or downloaded internet format have "transpositional" moves embedded within the tree's that can move you instantly from one opening or variation to another.This is typical without setting up the book to stay strictly within a specific opening variation.I may get into this at a later date,but not now.This good video will help explain things in more detail: www.youtube.com A typical opening setup in Hiarcs's illustrating "statistical performance in an opening tree": N % Av Perf fact Prob % 1.e4 6671 51 2258 2267 0 96.7 96.7 2.d4 289 62 2233 2168 0 22.6 22.6 e4 above starts out with 6671 games in database and 289 for 1.d4 then for move # 2,it could change radically with N equaling 224,090 games played as 2.Nf3 and "perf" going as high as 2904(example).So,the stats will change for every move as you proceed through the game. N= Number of games played above in the opening database for that specific move "at the moment" %=Percent result from whites side per game.To get a % view from blacks side,see the video link above.The higher the %,then the better the move was for white.So,in other words...if that move scores 54%.This means that it was statistically advantageous 54% for white and 100%-54% or 46% for black. Ave= Means the average rating of the players making that move.Again,this stat can change move for move as you advance through the book moves.So,you can have an average of a 2100 player making one specific move,then you can plug in your move and find it has an average of a 2600 rating for that specific move you plugged in.So that may be a strong advantage to make that specific move! Perf=How well in a rating advance the player did after playing the amount of games listed in that line or how much less in rating the player did after playing that move overall. Fact= waiting factor for the moves. Prob=The given chance in % that a computer program like Fritz will play a given move if you were playing against it,even though you are NOT actually playing against it.But for analysis,you may wish to play against Fritz(example). %= probability % equal to "Prob"above(redundant) So what does all this boil down to????????? These databases are a necessary study for those who want to get much better in rating and competitive play on GK,other chess sites or OTB.By closely examining the moves of the variation tree's,studying which moves are the better or worse moves,cross analyzing with a computer program like Fritz,Houdini or others,seeking out of book moves(if desired)early on or later and a thousand other avenues of comparison or stat study,you can definitely improve your game play in mega ways!! Again,I am NOT recommending advanced study of book opening stats and computer program cross analysis research for those players south of say 1500 in rating,but it is something you must be concerned with if/when you conquer the "other"areas of theory first like chess endings,middle game,point value flux of the pieces and many other avenues of study listed in this clubs posts or elsewhere.Again,regardless of the opening book being loaded along side a chess engine,you are not "cheating"using an opening book!You are only cheating if/when you use the actual engine(not the book)against your opponent. In unrated games on GK,you actually CAN use an engine against your opponent,as long as you inform your opponent ahead of time that you are using assistance.Check here: gameknot.com But putting "engines" aside.Using any book and at any length is not forbidden,even if you and your opponent makes 60 book moves from some opening database without even one move of your own!Not likely,but it happens sometimes in Ruy Lopez games and a few others.So do not get confused between engine usage and opening book usage...there is a BIG difference! Again what is mentioned above is just the tip of the iceberg!!!! But TA has to start somewhere!
euro_pop_legend 12-May-23, 09:36	Hiarcs.One of the top opening books to buy www.hiarcs.com In the Hiarcs link above you can get a clear idea of the update patterns.The latest book is the 14s book containing 18,156,517 positions 1,511,490 variations and 4,362,240 statistics from top quality games.And the database is updated every 3 months. Kaufman,five time World Chess Champion Vishy Anand and other GM's use Hiarcs on a regular basis.So,is it worth the price?Absolutely! Simply content with GK opening database?That is fine if you want to eat your spaghetti with a toothpick!But I prefer to consume my pasta with a gold fork.Get my drift? Why do I write like this?Am I being sarcastic?No,not at all.I am here to guide you to higher pathways of learning and insight.If you truly want to improve at any level,having the best opening database is critical.You may not be using it right away,especially if your rating is very low.But having the correct tool now,not later can be beneficial,not harmful.
euro_pop_legend 12-May-23, 09:38	Older free versions of Hiarcs: In the following link,you should be able to get an excellent free download(from the Hiarcs site)with older versions of the Hiarcs opening book.Make sure you down load the correct one.Some downloads are for a PC,others are for iphone/ipad.The Hiarcs12 in CTG format is what most users will download,but that all depends: www.hiarcs.com If you guys download the book properly,then place it in your GUI/engine as a new book.If you have no GUI,then download arena: www.playwitharena.de If you manage to do all of this,you have a very powerful free tool that can be used for extensive analysis...along with my help!Older versions of Hiarcs look similar to the newest versions,but the newest versions just have more positions/games added every 3 months....no big deal,unless you are a senior master! But the best Hiarcs costs money.Its now about $69.00 for a years subscription and updates. Komodo 10.3 engine is expensive as well....$60.00 for a year which includes updates.But the following year you get about $15-20 dollars cheaper if you reorder. Don't want to shell out that $$ for the top of the line?Ok then,just download the free stuff above!!! Hey,invest once in a while!Does not matter what your rating is! Your not the guy that buys those cheap margaritas for 4 bucks are you and ends up with a headache the next day?I'll sit aside of you and shell out 10 bucks for a superb tasting margarita with Patron silver or possibly Alquimia Anejo,a bit of orange liqueur topped with some expensive Chambord Raspberry liqueur,triple sec,fresh key lime juice,salt and have a beautiful tasting margarita...with no headache that ones gets from the cheaper Tequila in those crappy cheap margaritas that taste like a box mix or those horrible tasting premixed ones you find in state stores!Absolute turd tasting! Whats the hidden motto here? Once in your life,buy something that is quality and worth the $$!Not saying all the time,but at least once! And that may include investing in your chess tools to better improve yourself over time!Go first class,if even for 1 year!Hiarcs and Komodo!Or at least the newest Hiarcs and the Free Stockfish8!Then you will have at least a half glass of the best margarita!If you want me to help,how can I do that on any higher levels of success for you if you remain blind and have dull tools that are equated to dug up old dusty fossils?Kapish? TA

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