POP Quiz

Good afternoon, scholars of chess. Happy Friday!!

Now that that's out of the way....DOWN to business. It seems that the School Board has intervened. It seems that many of the posters in MY topics are not up to par. The Board looks at that as a FAILING of the teacher....ME. It reflects poorly on me. I have a PROBLEM with that.

Many of the posters in my topic are struggling with BASIC chess opening theory. I thought I made it quite clear that Basic Chess Concepts 101 was a prerequisite for posting in MY topics.

I don't want to do this, as it hurts the entire community as a whole, but it's POP QUIZ time. It's time to EXPEL certain individuals.

QUESTION: You are playing as white. You will begin by playing the FIRST MOVE of the Queen's Gambit. Your first move is:

A) c4

B) d4

C) Nf6

D) Nj9

E) 0-0

F) None of the above

G) All of the above

H) There are 2 possible first moves

Please post your response.

Opening Theory MUST be comprehended before anyone is allowed to post in my topics.

2 possible moves

Although you have failed every reasonable test, I'll post another question for you to muff.

What is the name of the opening employed in the game below?

The name of the opening is the QG Refused: Chigorin Defense. Hard one!

Please, don't turn it around on me. I'm the one ASKING the questions here.

I appreciate all your hard work posting the above question and I will go over it for my OWN purposes. But I can see through you Ziryab. Your SOLE purpose is to manipulate this topic, put me on the block, and put me on the defensive. I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS.

Are we including transpositions? We could reach the iconic Queen's Gambit position via 1. d4 d5 2. c4, but then again we also have the option of going the 1. c4 d5 2. d4 route. Both end up in the Queen's Gambit position.

Not so hard, but perhaps difficult for the original poster in this thread.

You've got to be kidding me, man.  Are you going to take your ball and go home?  Bye bye.

I AM a window, and clearer than glass.

I ask you a question in hopes that it will help you create one coherent thought before you leave this site.

Well the answer to the original question is B I believe, just to try to get on topic, but whatever.

Okay, FIRST off, being fond of the CAPS LOCK key does not make you INTELLIGENT.

Second, I get the feeling you're trying to prove a point. The only point I could imagine that you are trying to make is that if you want to play queen's gambit, you must play d4 ( or "D4"), which is directly related to your previous post that the queen's gambit is the best opening.

HOWEVER, (I could get used to talking like this...) your previous post was flawed in many other ways, which were all pointed out to you. I don't see what you expect to accomplish by making me acknowledge that to play queen's gambit you have to play d4, which I don't acknowledge by the way. There are countless possible transpositions. But that's the way logical flawed arguments work: you get people to agree to one thing, then you make an illogical leap to a completely unfounded conclusion.

And finally, quit calling yourself a teacher. This isn't teaching, it's narcissism.

POP QUIZ: What is the name of this opening: 1) Nf3... any   2) Ng1

The fraidy knight?

Stay on task, people.

I just LOVE how people evade the issue. Many posters would make great politicians. The SIMPLE fact remains that D4 is statistically the BEST first move that one can make. PERIOD. I challenge anyone who has some chess experience to dispute that. SO far....NO ONE has.

I warn you, I got over a hundred years of history that CONTRADICTS whatever argument you can come up with. I'm afraid it's insurmountable for the D4 naysayers.

Also, I assume that because NO ONE is arguing the stats that say white has the advantage, that this is AGREED upon. 1 for 2. I can live with that...for now. But, before I close this topic from further comments, I aim to make it 2 for 2.

Is there anyone who wants to CIVILY debate the single BEST first move for white? See, class, we're not talking a popularity contest (E4 wins that hands down). Is there anyone who can come  up with some evidence that can challenge the SUPERIORITY of what D4 means: Pure AGGRESSION, SUPREME positional control, rapid development, and the BEST STATISTICAL %.

I await any legitimate response. Illegitimate responses will fall on DEAF ears.

I don't see how we can debate since you seem to take those statistics for gospel truth. Maybe I'll make a brilliant argument later, if this thread hasn't died yet.

Sorry, just wanted to clear the record here: I did debate white's advantage in your previous topic:

"And as for white having an advantage over black, I would like to point out that your statistics are drawn from human vs. human games. Most people prefer to play white over black. White is not inherently better, it's just that more people feel comfortable playing white. There ARE people who play black better."

You didn't respond.

Well, I'll even cite another source FOR D4. See, I'll entertain any study that has been done on percentages.

E4 stats: White win 39%, Draw 29%, Black win 32%http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Opening_Theory/1._e4

D4 stats: White win 39%, Draw 33%, Black win 28%
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Chess_Opening_Theory/1._d4

Boy I LOVE stats. E4 comes away with 53.5 points per 100 games and D4 comes away with 55.5 points per 100 games.

D4 nets you more points in this study, NOT more wins.

"hands down" implies a degree of superiority that is unwarranted by the data. Take away 1...c5 and 1.e4 scores better than 1.d4 (see link), but the margin of superiority is not dramatic.

When both players are master or above, statistics from games over the past several years reveal that white scores 55% with 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4, 1.g3, and 1.c3. 1.e4 scores a mere 54%.

From such data we can conclude only that all these opening moves have merit.

Spieboy, I didn't repsond because we ARE talking about human vs. human. Statistics vs. a prog are irrelevant. I see no reason to talk about them.

Now, as far as your comfort factor argument, I will AGREE that there are people who play black better than they themselves can play white. Agreed.

However, Let's say BILL can play black better than he can play white, and he has a rating of 1700 and is a very positional player. Now let's say TED is better playing white than black and he too is rated 1700 and is very positional. Assuming BILL and TED played 100 games together (2 very equal players), TED would ALWAYS win more points. ALWAYS.

150 years of stats just don't lie.

My original point was, that since the games were human vs. human, they would naturally be biased toward white. I am not debating that more people win with white than black. I am saying that white is not inherently better than black. Computers would in fact be very useful in this debate since they do not favour one side over the other.