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From	Message
ace-of-aces 22-Sep-12, 13:14	What is a book or candidate move? Simply put, what is the best move or moves in chess ? Everbody like to play the best move in each and every moves of a chess game so that you can defeat your opponent or at least to have an equal position. Let me explain about the book or candidate moves in chess. The analogy is similar to a travel. The longer the distance you travel, the more it is complicated and you have to prepare in advance so that you will reach the destination safely and in shorter time. When Christopher Columbus first sail west from Europe, he thought he would reach India by this new sea route. He did not know Americas exist at that time. The sailors with him were scary because they thought the world was flat and the ships would fall over the edge of the world. Thanks to Columbus, America was discovered. Nowadays, it is very easy to go from one place to another because there are maps and ease of travel. All you have to do is look at the maps before /during the travel and plan your travel in advance. The analogy betwen travel and chess moves are not that similar. In the first 1 to 2 moves of chess openings every moves you make either white or black is valid but after few moves it is not that simple. Like maps there are good opening books or software programs. GK has a DB ( data base option ) and if you click on it you will see the book or candidate's move on what other players would like to move and the statistics of winning or losing when you make that move. I am rather lazy to think over about my best move and try to find out quite often in GK-DB but I am amazed to find out often that there are no listed candidate move even after few opening moves. The best chess moves are more valid when it is compiled from GM chess games. The alternative to maps or good opening books is from a good navigator/travel guide and in chess from good coach/GM advice but when you are alone in a desert or in chess game what will you do? Maps alone is not adequate in desert or swamp and you will need a GPS to guide you. In the same way, opening books and game data base cannot provide adequate good chess moves for each and every chess moves in a long chess game. You will need a good chess progams like deep Fritz, Rybka, Houdini, etc. Any thoughts about it. i'll appreciate your input.
tipsyjourneyman 23-Sep-12, 11:22	I disagree Well, AK, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. But this time I'll have to disagree. A map shows one's route from beginning to end. There is no Roman Road to winning chess. I think it is more like wandering out into the wilderness and spying a multitude of paths. If you've just wandered out from a settlement, then the beaten paths close to the settlement are going to be very clear. But as you progress, particularly as you follow your own designs, the paths become less clear till the point where there isn't even a goat-trail left. But, the more time you spend in the wilds, the more comfortable you become in this situation. The less you think and soon you've blazed your own trail. What's more, as you strike out on the well-worn paths, the quicker you deviate to connect with your own private trails. It's like me versus someone playing their first game using the Dbase. The first-timer follows the 1. move religiously. I follow the 1. move until it disagrees with how I play and what I like. And someone like yourself and shamash? I imagine you leave the trail even quicker. And so there are no maps. Only paths, all of which taper out quickly, and people's willingness to follow the paths versus their inclination to go their own way. The more you spend in the wilds, the quicker you'll go your own way and the more skilled you'll become. My problem: I start down my own trail, get drunk, and forget where I am!   -TJ
shamash 23-Sep-12, 12:32	tipsy, it's not a map it's a maze first of all, our universe is populated by so many maps they lack usefulness. what is needed is not a map but a compass. as for how I play, it's more like solving a maze. you know, where begin not at the start, but the finish: where you want to be. And then work your way backwards, from where your pieces need to be to where you are now, to the current position.
ace-of-aces 23-Sep-12, 17:51	a map versus a maze The answer is yes or no. Before Christopher Columbus there were no good maps of the world and he did no even know whether America existed. Nowadays we have good maps for almost every inch of the world ( literally speaking ) including satellite images. One day I looked at the google maps to a faraway place to go in the US. I was surprised to find out in datails including the directions plus pictures of the place I was looking for. So, I typed in my home address in google maps search engine and I was surprised to find out that google has a piture of my house. Let us compare the map and chess moves. In a typical Ruy Lopez, Spanish opening moves, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4Ba4 Nf6 and some other variations, the position is equal for both players as long as both of you follow the book moves in the common opening moves of the chess game but as you make more moves and pass over to the middle game, it will become a maze for you. So the similarity of chess and a map ends at the transition of the opening to the middle game of a chess. That is why you see a lot of draw games in GM chess because GMs have studied more chess opening moves way out into the middle game. Unlike a map where you can see the trodden path clearly, there is no clear path in the middle game of a chess and you will be on your own like in a maze. There are good many chess books and game database for the opening moves and you will have at least equal chances if you follow the book moves in the first few opening moves.

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