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Opening 32 4 ply RO 46k

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Sunday, 17 October 2010, at 5:16 p.m.

In Response To: Opening 32 4 ply RO 46k (Matt Cohn-Geier)

MCG wrote:

Most people don't have any idea how to play an opening 32 or how far back 32Z is. So I doubt you are gaining much "psychological" equity.

I agree with your first statement but the second statement doesn't follow. All that is needed is for the opponent to think that he or she knows how to play the move and to be convinced that I played it wrong. Once I opened with 43Z and got the smug reaction, "That's backwards" [i.e., he thought I should have played 43S].

Hasn't something like the following happened to you before? You respond to 51S with 21$ and elicit smirks. During the game, some tricky decisions arise which you think carefully about and play correctly; your opponent sees this as further evidence that you suck because you don't see "obviously correct" plays even after thinking about them. When you win, they get mad about losing to an obviously inferior player. The next game they're steaming. And so on. You're gaining psychological equity precisely because your opponents don't know how to play well.

Once your opponents know you're better than they are, then you lose the benefit of this kind of thing, but before that I think it's quite valuable. And getting people into the right frame of mind from the very first move of the game is a plus.

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