How many of you have tried googling a line (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 ... ) to look something up? Perhaps something your Master database couldn't cough up?

If you have ... did you find this useful?

I have, usually it brings me to a wikipedia article as the most relevant link, and no, I rarely find wikipedia useful.

Yep, I do it all the time. Sometimes it takes some refined searching, but I've always found the answer I was looking for.

I've noticed that Wolfram|Alpha has chess support under development.  This could be interesting.  For those of you who are interested in statistics you really should check it out at wolframalpha.com

I've done that many times, but not exactly as a database search, it was to find out the name of the variation rather than finding games with it. I don't remember it failing to return useful results.

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 I have....2. Bf4. Google wasn't very helpful. There was an opening database that wasn't truncated I found that helped a bit.

I've done this once or twice, wikipedia is not any help though, unless you just want to know the name of the line. As far as opening theory goes I don't like this method.

Nope, I don't do this but I shall give it a try.

Only for obscure variations.  For a couple of those, I've found websites I'd never have known existed without the search.  Like any other source of information, the value varies greatly depending on who writes and maintains the site, and most have the typical bias of those who promote the off lines, but many have given me useful information on them, too.

For anything mainstream, my own databases, updated with TWIC, are quite comprehensive.

Yeah I have found loads of useful stuff by searching variations. In many cases it can be useful to find the right opening book, with a specific line you want, for example.

Yeah, I've done that. I use quotation marks around the set of moves to get the exact order. Then, I check the ratings of the players in question to get an informed piece of advice about how a certain opening should be played.

I use to. Now i just use...

http://chessok.com/?page_id=352

very helpful to me (OTB 2000+ player)
-KD