14 March 2015

The Double Kramnik Formation

In the previous post I introduced The Kramnik Formation, which is the traditional setup ('RNB*****' or '*****BNR') with the Rook and Bishop switched on one wing. This leads to the 'double Kramnik formation' (aka the Kramnik position?), SP323 BNRQKRNB and SP339 BNRKQRNB, with the pieces switched on both wings. The following diagram shows the double Kramnik formation arising from the traditional start position, SP518 RNBQKBNR.


SP323 BNRQKRNB

How do the engines treat this position? I downloaded the corresponding file from the CCRL (see the link on the right sidebar) and found 178 CCRL games. I then loaded the file into SCID and used it to count the intiial moves. SCID doesn't know anything about chess960 -- it chokes when it encounters the first castling move -- but it works properly to that point. The following table shows the output from the SCID 'Tree Window'.

Move Frequency Score AvElo Perf AvYear %Draws
1: Nf3 52: 29.2% 60.5% 2622 2723 2010 13%
2: b4 34: 19.1% 61.7% 2853 2907 2011 24%
3: b3 31: 17.4% 50.0% 2659 2640 2010 29%
4: Nc3 22: 12.3% 77.2% 2674 2891 2011 9%
5: c4 17: 9.5% 61.7% 2712 2787 2010 6%
6: g3 12: 6.7% 41.6% 2582 2529 2009 17%
7: d4 5: 2.8% 40.0%     2010 0%
8: e4 4: 2.2% 37.5%     2010 25%
9: g4 1: 0.5% 1 00.0%     2007 0%







TOTAL: 178:100.0% 58.9% 2680 2745 2010 17%

Here is the same for Black after White's most popular move, 1.Nf3.

Move Frequency Score AvElo Perf AvYear %Draws
1: Nf6 19: 36.5% 60.5% 2540 2472 2010 26%
2: g6 17: 32.6% 58.8% 2680 2561 2010 0%
3: c5 10: 19.2% 60.0% 2709 2604 2011 20%
4: Nc6 3: 5.7% 66.6%     2012 0%
5: b6 2: 3.8% 50.0%     2011 0%
6: d5 1: 1.9% 1 00.0%     2012 0%







TOTAL: 52:100.0% 60.5% 2643 2542 2010 13%

The most popular sequence for both sides, 1.Nf3 Nf6, follows basic opening principles. The Knight move (1) develops a piece, (2) prepares castling O-O, and (3) blocks the long diagonal in order to develop the corner Bishop without having it exchanged immediately. A look at the other popular first moves reveals other basic opening principles in action.

As long as I'm assigning random names to positions arising from the traditional setup, let's give GM Kasparov credit for the formation with the Knight and Bishop switched: 'RBN*****' or '*****NBR'. Why Kasparov? I introduced the 'double Kasparov formation' (aka the Kasparov position?) in two previous posts, Dog-Tired from Memorizing Openings and Switching Bishops and Knights.

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