Lets just take a look at this...even though we all know the answer. But
maybe a little mathmatical info will make a few say wow!
Those ways of starting a a game which become part of opening
practice form a small proportion of those legally possible. White has a
choice of 20 first moves. Black the same number of replies, making
400 different possible positions after one move each. In 1895 C. Flye
St Marie calculated that 71,852 different legal positions after two
moves by each player. This figure is geometrically correct but in 1946
Dawson showed that White might have the option of an en passant
capture in 232 of these positions, depending on which of about 200,00
different playing sequences were chosen. from a chess point of view,
therefore, 72,084 different positions are possible.
After three moves each, more than 9,000,000 positions are
possible. To arrive at every one of the possible positions after four
moves at the rate of one position a minute day and night would take
a player 600,000 years. There are 2 x 10 to the 34th power( didn't
feel like typing out all those 0,s) possible different legal positions on
a chess board, and it has been estimated that the number of distinct
40-move games is 25 x 10 to the 115th power, far greater than the
estimated number of electrons in the universe.
The Oxfor Companion to Chess
Pretty amazing huh?
Dave
Look...openings have been studied since the 1400's and are still
being documented today. There is two different publishings
the "Informant" which comes from Yugoslavia and it contains all of the
GM games played during a certain span...comes out around three
times a year. This is an excellent source for new theory in an opening.
Also Jan Timman's "New in Chess"...which really delves into any TN's
made in an opening.
As for what you are saying...human instincts...well...if you play a wrong
move in the opening...and your opponent knows of the refutation to
that move...then you suffer the consequences.
Just because feel it is right...doesn't make it right.
Dave
