Talk:Sicilian Defence, Alapin Variation

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Nf6 main line question[edit]

"The main line in current practice is 2... Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 and can also arise if White offers, and Black declines, the Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5). White has a number of options including 4.d4, 4.Nf3, 4.g3 and 4.Bc4."

This may be a standard thing I'm not aware of, but this makes it sound like the position that arises after 3 ... Nd5 is also reachable via the Morra. In fact that position only arises if 4. d4, so wouldn't the bit about the transposition be more useful as, say, a parenthetical after 4. d4? --Rhododendrites (talk) 16:58, 28 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Deep Blue's logic[edit]

"Deep Blue played the Alapin Variation against Kasparov in their 1996 match in order to avoid a main line Sicilian that would walk into Kasparov's lifetime of experience with the opening". I wonder what logic was involved here. I'm not an expert on chess bots, but from CS experience, I'd guess a chess bot is based on statistical analysis of previous games and deep tactical calculation. A conditional "it's Garry Kasparov, so avoid the Najdorf" is suspect to me. The statement would require a citation independently of that, but I'm sceptical. A quick google brings up nothing, but maybe it's in the famous documentary?Dhalamh (talk) 16:24, 12 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, it seems unlikely that "Kasparov is my opponent" is used in modern chess bot logic. But I think Deep Blue was coded somewhat differently, with the list of possible openings being pre-coded. So it's quite possible that humans (as opposed to Deep Blue itself) decided that the Alepin would be the best response to the Sicilian Defence. For example:

“Humans have been studying chess openings for centuries and developed their own favorite moves,” Campbell told Scientific American. “The grandmasters helped us choose a bunch of those to program into Deep Blue.^[1]

I haven't found any source saying this choice of opening was made specifically in response to Kasparov. Mturg1989 (talk) 17:53, 15 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-institute/ieee-history/how-ibms-deep-blue-beat-world-champion-chess-player-garry-kasparov

[1] ttps://spectrum.ieee.org/the-institute/ieee-history/how-ibms-deep-blue-beat-world-champion-chess-player-garry-kasparov

[1]