Unclear does not mean unsound. Don't play unsound lines. By all means, play unclear lines. That's where you even out the odds and put you and your opponent in an equally foggy position where your own skills can shine.
playing an unclear line
Sort:
Playing a line that is too complicated to be accurately calculated in a reasonable time is essentialy gambling. You have to weight in several factors: how risky the variation is, what other alternatives you have and how promissing they are, your and your opponents playing styles etc. Then you have to estimate what are your odds if you play that line and what if something else and act accordingly.
Of course, whenever possible it's best to try to calculate the whole variation accurately.
Sep 26, 2010
0
#4
Gambling? I prefer to call it a reasonable risk. My meager human calculating skills only go so far. At some point, you have to look at what may be the position 3-4-5...moves down the line, close your eyes and move. Chess is a game not a mathematical calculation. If it were, we could just turn on the computers and let them have at it. There is risk in anything we do. Minimizing that risk is important up front, but then you still have to act.
Oh, and yes, the line was unsound. 24 f3 would have stopped everything in its tracks. This doesn't mean you shouldn't look for such shots, but just look for alternative moves by your opponent a little more deeply.
Lately I have gone ahead and played aline where I think that it is good but after winning the game realize that it was infact a mistake. I realize that there are worst problems to have but I fear that I'm developing bad habbits.
My question is should I avoid playing these unclear lines.