Oh for crying out loud.

1.e4 c6

I'm interested in the Wilkes-Barre for a couple of reasons. First, it brings back that old "Hey isn't the Fried Liver attack cool" sense of excitement from when I was rated USCF 1400. Second, I think it would be a good exercise for someone who was really looking to prepare an opening well using a computer.

That being said, the Wilkes-Barre is apparently complicated enough that I would very likely make my first exercise the Budapest. Given a week or so, find the best line to play against the Budapest, and find the typical plans that work in that opening.

The simplicity and moderate lack of adventure is exactly what would make it an appealing "lesson 1" for this type of analysis.

Going in, here is what I would expect to find. The Karpov line leads to a game which has only winning chances for white but is difficult to convert. Studying this one in detail is of paramount importance, because if black can hold the ending he could use this opening as a bit of a drawing weapon against top-level opposition.

Of course, I would have to try to reconstruct XXXXX's analysis here on this site, which more or less stated that white was nearly completely winning in the Nc3 lines, with the doubled pawns. Because that line is actually the one that Budapest players are really aiming for. Down a pawn, but first you neutralize the pawns, then you win white's pawns one by one, then you win the ending.

All of this is mostly theoretical, as a preparation more to how one approaches the asset of a strong program or programs being incorporated into opening preparation.

One side effect I'm sure is that if you really become that much of an expert in this opening, you can use it in shorter time controls to your advantage.

And hey, just because I go in expecting one thing doesn't mean that this is the actual result. Maybe the whole thing is complete crap and the bot-tournaments end up with a massive white score.