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BGonline.org Forums
I slightly disagree
Posted By: Timothy Chow In Response To: Summing it up. (higonefive)
Date: Sunday, 6 March 2011, at 8:11 p.m.
When a position like this comes up, I think the most fruitful thing to do is to figure out what it is about 18/15 10/5 that makes it comparable to, if not better than, making the 5pt. Yes, it's true that in this particular position, the pragmatic thing to do is to make the 5pt, because it's unlikely to be wrong by much. But if you're going to argue that way, then why not argue that this exact position is never going to come up again, so there's no point in studying it? This kind of "pragmatic" attitude doesn't lead to improving one's game.
If you completely missed 18/15 10/5, as I did, then that's a sign that you are failing to pick up on certain features of the position. If you don't learn what those features are, then what could happen is that a similar position could arise in the future where making the 5pt isn't an option and anything except (the analogous play to) 18/15 10/5 is a serious mistake. This is what you really want to guard against. I don't care about which play is "best" in this particular position or whether I can brag that I got a play "right" when giants didn't. What I care about is getting to the point where I can perceive that 18/15 10/5 is a close candidate.
For this purpose, I firmly believe (despite what Stick says) that examining variants is important, because it gives one a quantitative feel for how much various factors in the position matter.
Still haven't gotten around to it though...
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