Talk:Sicilian Defence, Alapin Variation

Nf6 main line question
"'The main line in current practice is 2... Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 and can also arise if White offers, and Black declines, the Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5). White has a number of options including 4.d4, 4.Nf3, 4.g3 and 4.Bc4.'"
 * This may be a standard thing I'm not aware of, but this makes it sound like the position that arises after 3 ... Nd5 is also reachable via the Morra. In fact that position only arises if 4. d4, so wouldn't the bit about the transposition be more useful as, say, a parenthetical after 4. d4? --Rhododendrites (talk) 16:58, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Deep Blue's logic
"Deep Blue played the Alapin Variation against Kasparov in their 1996 match in order to avoid a main line Sicilian that would walk into Kasparov's lifetime of experience with the opening". I wonder what logic was involved here. I'm not an expert on chess bots, but from CS experience, I'd guess a chess bot is based on statistical analysis of previous games and deep tactical calculation. A conditional "it's Garry Kasparov, so avoid the Najdorf" is suspect to me. The statement would require a citation independently of that, but I'm sceptical. A quick google brings up nothing, but maybe it's in the famous documentary?Dhalamh (talk) 16:24, 12 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree, it seems unlikely that "Kasparov is my opponent" is used in modern chess bot logic. But I think Deep Blue was coded somewhat differently, with the list of possible openings being pre-coded. So it's quite possible that humans (as opposed to Deep Blue itself) decided that the Alepin would be the best response to the Sicilian Defence. For example:

"“Humans have been studying chess openings for centuries and developed their own favorite moves,” Campbell told Scientific American. “The grandmasters helped us choose a bunch of those to program into Deep Blue."
 * I haven't found any source saying this choice of opening was made specifically in response to Kasparov. Mturg1989 (talk) 17:53, 15 March 2021 (UTC)