That's good to know. How many games do they show there for 1.e4 and 1.d4? I'd like to know roughly how many games I am missing from my Big Database 2018. Eventually I will update that by purchasing a newer version.

I uninstalled CB-14 and went back to using CB-8, so I don't have access to this online database within ChessBase. I do have a premium account and there is a Live Database, but it doesn't really work for me. It keeps prompting me to login, over and over. In fact all their web apps are similar, I login, but then clicking around I see "Premium required" instead of any content, and then get prompted to login AGAIN. The whole time, my username shows in the top-right corner. Maybe I need to be using Internet Explorer? 

To be honest I don't need up-to-date data for 99% of my study. Recently I have been going through Gligoric (1958) Primljeni Damin Gambit and am about 75% through it, the last game I looked at was Euwe - G.Kramer, New York 1948/49.

I think Lakdawala has form for leaving his readers in move-order limbo.

Not a typo at all, but perhaps an error on my part. When I wrote "ChessBase Online" I was actually using ChessBase's iOS app, which they keep up-to-date with the latest games. But I never checked this against any of their other "online" data sources to see if it was the same games. For comparison, from the start position (today) it has 4.971.847 1e4 games and 3.072.177 1d4 games. Their Big Database 2018 (same games as Mega 2018 but without any annotations) has respectively 3.433.566 and 2.133.184.

So now you know what I meant by "ChessBase Online", and in future I will be careful to say iOS app "ChessBase". Now it's your turn. What do you mean by "ChessBase Online"?

Straggler wrote on 06/25/20 at 18:02:40:

The statistical results in my database are similar to OC's just above.
But even if that weren't the case we should be careful with conclusions; first go a few move deeper, like 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6. Percentages can become quite different.

Lakdawala's move order is 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.e4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 e6 and 6...Ne7. As far as I can see he doesn't mention 4.Nf3, aiming for a Maroczy.

I've just noticed that in Megabase 4.Nf3 scores much worse than 4.d5, whereas in ChessBase's online database it scores much better. Some mistake here, surely?

> But a comparison to the Leningrad Dutch I find surprising.

What I wrote:

>> I usually tried to get some play with an early f5 usually ending up with a very bad Leningrad Dutch.

What I was trying to say:

If you do play f5 as I tried then you get pawn structures which also can arise from the Leningrad Dutch with the difference that 
- White has already played e4 (a typical plan for White in the Leningrad)
- Black's knight is misplaced on e7. 
- Black's e-pawn has been exchanged for White's c-pawn (not something you tend to do with Black in the Leningrad)
- Black's c-pawn is already on c5 (not so typical but not so rare either).

The point I was trying to make was that these differences favor White. 

Leon_Trotsky wrote on 06/19/19 at 02:50:46:


I played the Benoni with the occasional Ne7 for a while (only in Blitz + Bullet games) via 1. d4 e6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 exd5 4. cxd5 d6. My idea was to postpone the decision where to put the knight until Nf6 was "safe". I could not get the positions with Ne7 to work. The problem was that the knight is spectacularly misplaced on e7 (no pressure against e4, e-file is blocked, no good squares to move to.) I usually tried to get some play with an early f5 usually ending up with a very bad Leningrad Dutch.

Thanks.

I found it quite interesting that (if I can understand him correctly) he knows that he write with this weird humour, and then some readers get pissed off at his writing style 

By the way, you can reach such Benoni by delaying development and fixing pawn structure by pawn moves like 1. d4 g6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Cf3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6, then put your knight on e7.

kylemeister wrote on 06/18/19 at 20:53:00:


Is there link to podcast ¿ 

kylemeister wrote on 06/18/19 at 20:53:00:


This is some crazy multi-tasking. If only Chess Stars and Quality Chess authors did this 

kylemeister wrote on 06/18/19 at 20:53:00:


Now this is truly insane.

How a hell he does that so fast, he just wrote 1. d4 2. c4 repertoire book and his Petroff book is still not published 

I guess he meant with ...e6?  (There is also a ...Ne7 Benoni with ...e5.  And with ...e6 there is a possibility of a later ...e5 -- an example of that which stuck in my memory was Polugaevsky losing to the German master Eising in 1974.)