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What constitutes a "tabiya?" (Read 3710 times)

Markovich God Member Offline Posts: 6099 Location: Columbus, Ohio Joined: 09/17/04	Re: What constitutes a "tabiya?" Reply #2 - 08/21/08 at 17:48:57	Post Tools	Print Post
	micawber wrote on 08/21/08 at 17:30:28: Hi Markovich, In general I can agree with your criteria. But just a few remarks to get the discussion started. 1. The criteria can conflict. It's white's move and there are many plausible continuations can conflict. There are quite a few positions where white has an obvious best continuation, and black has many plausible replies (choices of plans) that determine the characteristics of the position. 2. The condition occurs frequently in practice is a bit subjective. There are some positions that occur frequently in my practice, that are perhaps relatively rare in terms of general statistics. Perhaps these could be termed 'personal tabia'. For me it is natural to study these positions with more care than others, based on my opening repertoire, style and taste. I find the concept of tabia specially usefull, where a position can be reached by many move-orders/transpositions. Hey. Broadly I agree. You're probably right that 'White to move' is a mistake. As I said, I think there are degrees and degrees of 'tabiya-ness.' You could call that 'subjectivity,' I suppose. I do think that almost all positions that would qualify under my proposed criteria could be reached by various plausible move orders (for example, the Normal Position of the Evans). I think it would be possible to write a computer program, which would have to be able to evaluate chess positions for relative chances, that would take any given collection of games and identify tabiyas based on some solidification of these criteria. That program thrown at a major game collection could be used to produce a new openings classification scheme. There is a hierarchy among tabias; just to take an example from my recent studies, 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 7.Be3 Bf5 8.Nc3 e6 9.Nf3 is a tabia (a black-to-move one, proving your point about that); so, continuing, is 9...Be7 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 Bxf6; so, continuing, is 13.Qd2 Qe7 14.Rad1 Rad8 15.Qc1 h6 16.Kh1 Kh8 17.h3 Bh2 18.Bg1. There are in fact several plausible move orders that produce each of these, so even in these cases clearly identified with a single system, there is some value in classifying the positions and not the move sequences.

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micawber God Member Offline like many sneaks and skunks in history he's a poet Posts: 852 Location: Netherlands Joined: 09/07/05 Gender:	Re: What constitutes a "tabiya?" Reply #1 - 08/21/08 at 17:30:28	Post Tools	Print Post
	Hi Markovich, In general I can agree with your criteria. But just a few remarks to get the discussion started. 1. The criteria can conflict. It's white's move and there are many plausible continuations can conflict. There are quite a few positions where white has an obvious best continuation, and black has many plausible replies (choices of plans) that determine the characteristics of the position. 2. The condition occurs frequently in practice is a bit subjective. There are some positions that occur frequently in my practice, that are perhaps relatively rare in terms of general statistics. Perhaps these could be termed 'personal tabia'. For me it is natural to study these positions with more care than others, based on my opening repertoire, style and taste. 3. The (relative) completeness of development. I think relative is a good term. I can think of some positions that in my opinion are tabias, but where the positions of the rooks and one minor piece on each side have yet to be determined. Thus giving rise to several competing plans. By the way Hans Berliner has voiced the opinion that sometimes a piece that has not moved from its original square can be thought of as developed. (he applied this concept to bishops on c1/c8, when there is no obvious better field available and the final destionation depends on the oponents plan). I find the concept of tabia specially usefull, where a position can be reached by many move-orders/transpositions.


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Markovich God Member Offline Posts: 6099 Location: Columbus, Ohio Joined: 09/17/04	What constitutes a "tabiya?" 08/21/08 at 16:37:38	Post Tools	Print Post
	"Tabiya" is a useful concept for the study of openings theory, and a case could be made that tabiyas, not move sequences, should be the basis of chess opening classification. I was thinking about what constitutes a tabiya, and I came up with some criteria: (1.) White is to move (some may object, but I think it is worth preserving this analogy with the initial position). (2.) The position has occured relatively frequently in recorded practice (present perfect tense, since one must allow, for example, that the "Normal Position" of the Evans Gambit is a tabiya). (3.) The development of each side is relatively complete (the position after 1.e4 e5 is not a tabiya). (4.) Chances in the position are relatively balanced (otherwise the position is not interesting). (5.) There are relatively many plausible continuations and none is obviously best (otherwise, again, the position is not interesting). In each case I put 'relatively,' since I think that there are degrees of 'tabiya-ness.'

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