4 ms·

But this hinges on there being a computable best opening, which there isn't for standard chess and there won't be for most(all?) starting positions in 960 (ches

But this hinges on there being a computable best opening, which there isn't for standard chess and there won't be for most(all?) starting positions in 960 (chess isn't a solved game). It's also not just an enum of [starting position, move number, chess move], there's also "why is this move strong in this position" which isn't something scrabble players have an equivalent of with just memorising lists of words. I personally can't imagine any of the current top chess players memorising hundreds of opening lines for all 960 starting positions and then being able to remember them over the board. Only a few players have a mastery of current known chess theory that's just one starting position. I am happy to be proven wrong though when some new chess savant presents themselves.

devit 7y ago
All you need is a method to compute the first white move that produces a significantly better win rate than thinking about it during the match, and then memorizing them becomes advantageous, if doing so is feasible. It doesn't have to be chess engines (although that seems the best approach), it can also be 100 people each spending 10 days analyzing one position per day, or it can be win-rate stats from high-level tournaments once Chess960 is widely played and there is enough data.
- slau 7y ago
  I’m not sure you understand opening theory. It takes years to learn a single opening, and I don’t think any serious player would claim they know all variations/sidelines of a given opening. There’s no single “best” opening because you can always employ a defence for a specific opening. For example, there’s a trap against the London which is to play 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 h5. 3. e3...