OTHER CHESS TREE TRICKS
Some programs provide tools for you to create your own chess trees. This
might involve creating trees by hand (a move at a time) or by merging
games from a database. Either method works well for creating your own
opening books based on one specific opening. You could manually input
a couple of dozen variations in, say, the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Then
you could load that tree as your program's default opening book to force
your chess engine to play nothing but the Queen's Gambit Accepted;
which is really handy when you're learning the basics of a new chess
opening.
There's an even cooler trick you can try in programs which allow the
merging of database games into an opening tree. Pick a favorite player
and search for all of his or her games playing one color; for example, you
could do a search for all of José Raul Capablanca's games as Black.
Merge those games into an opening tree, load it as your chess engine's
default opening book, and then play the other color; if you've created
an opening tree of Capablanca's games as Black, you'd play the White
pieces. Of course, it's not possible to actually play against Capablanca,
but this is the next best thing: playing against Capablanca's opening
repertoire.
FOR MASTERS AND GRANDMASTERS:
SPYING ON YOUR OPPONENTS
That last tip works exceptionally well for professional players (or even
amateurs who play at the master level). Since many games played at your
level are published (either in print or in Internet databases), you can easily
perform a database search for all of a particular player's games of one
color and merge them into a tree. You'd then step through the tree while
keeping an eye on the opening statistics. You're looking for openings in
which your potential opponent scores badly, or for “gaps” in that player's
repertoire – openings that he or she doesn't play. For example, your
opponent might score badly as White vs. the French Defense, indicating
that you should consider playing it as Black if you face that player in an
upcoming event. Likewise if your opponent never responds to 1.d4 with
the King's Indian Defense, you probably shouldn't worry about playing
against that opening if you have the White pieces.
Of course, none of this means that your opponent hasn't changed his or
her repertoire recently and is waiting to spring something new on you in
his/her next event. So my earlier warning still stands – take what you find
in an opening tree with some measure of salt!
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