New in Chess 23/1992 [antikvár]

NIC Stalislics starting with this first volume of the 1992 series the New in Chess Yearbooks present a fascinating and entirely new service to its readers; NiC STATISTICS. Each opening survey will be accompanied by a statistical evaluation of the line or variation at issue, based on data extracted from the large New in Chess Database that contains well over 200,000 games. In this way we hope to provide our readers with even more useful information concerning their opening repertoire. As an example, here are the NIC STATISTICS of the first survey in Yearbook 23, authored by Dutch master and Velimirovic expert Baljon. 72 70 STATISTICS Mil Position after 13 b5 Diagram SI 26.7-26.8 games: 29 164 Each NiC STATISTICS item centers around the survey position represented in the diagram. In this case a position from the Main Line of the Velimirovic Attack (SI 26) after 13 b5. The first bar always shows the exact score of all games in the New in Chess Database featuring this specific position (56.8%). Below the bar you will find the number of games these figures are based on. This allows you to appreciate the numerical value of the line or variation under discussion at a glance. The second bar usually represents the score of a wider opening range related to the survey position. Here we have chosen the entire main line (SI 26.7-8). In 164 games this line scored 57.3%. If we compare the two we can only conclude that there Is no significant difference. The third and fourth bar give information on more specific issues. For instance, what is the overall score with the Velimirovic Attack (54.7% from 713 games), or has the originator been successful with his own brain-child (yes, in 25 games from 1966 till 1991 he scored 72.0%). The solid black line represents White's overall score (55.3%) in the entire NiC Database. Please note that all figures are given from White's point of view even if they are 'Black' systems. So bar 4 in the STATISTICS on the Alekhine survey on page 37 obviously indicates that Alburt, the most persistent advocate of this defence, experiences major problems against 4.'Lif3, given the result of 62.9%. Not for Alburt, but for White! Statistical evaluation of opening lines can often be very revealing. Take the survey by Paul van der Sterren on what is perhaps the most topical opening variation at present: 9.'L\d2 in the Classical King's Indian. The statistics show that whereas the overall score of 9.®d2 (Kl 7) Is quite good for White (58.7% in bar 3), the success rate declines after 9 a5 (Kl 7.3, see bar 2). in the survey position Black even has a positive score out of 105 games (bar 1) and if we count only the examples from the last two years (bar 4) the results become really disastrous for White! Evidence enough for Grandmaster Sosonko to simply reject the very nnove 9.®d2 (see page 102). 8