Openings vs. Ratings

I'd be curious to see a similar analysis for the Sicilian. When do players start seeing the Open Sicilian predominantly, if ever? Which anti-sicilian is the most common at different levels? Is the Bowdler attack (2.Bc4) as predominant as comment boards suggest, or is it restricted to a very small rating group? And if there is an Open Sicilian, which one does Black go for?

Many people are scared of the huge theory in most Sicilians, but if a given rating range only enters the open 10% of the time, say, then that becomes much less of a worry.

VERY interesting, definitely something I will go back over more! TY!

The London is one of the top theoretical openings, if people find it "contemptible" perhaps you're from a different timeline?

That said, this is why I play the French; I wouldn't play it at GM. But under 2200, people *believe* it is bad. (Not bad, sorry... merely dubious) But they don't know how to create and grind out a positional advantage; they just try to attack my king. In that case, it's solid, if weird. And though the positions may look uncomfortable, once you get used to them they're not.

Also why I *love* the KID from the white side. I don't even know the opening; I just know it isn't bad for white. I play all the lines; push some wood! If my op attacks, well... they don't actually know it well enough. And if they don't, I can just take space and all I have to know is to fight for the pawn break.

Also why when I see Nf3, I play c5. I get either a positional English, where I've had a lot of games (my dad played the English...) or I transpose to the French.

I did this very same project a few years ago, it looks like we have similar results! I'm curious about your methodology, what I found interesting is that the results differ widely by time control. See here: github.com/melgrove/chess-openings

@Aighearach said in #13:
> The London is one of the top theoretical openings, if people find it "contemptible" perhaps you're from a different timeline?

"Contemptible" means that people dislike it, and find it unworthy of its attention.

love it when it comes to scicilian

when u pplay scicilian u should have lots of theory knowledge

Article très intéressant

@loggeek said in #15:
> "Contemptible" means that people dislike it, and find it unworthy of its attention.

Correct. You said nothing, though.

Only resort to, "Gosh, people who I didn't understand probably didn't know what the words mean" after exhausting all other potential explanations.

And I'll repeat it; if people you interact with find the most popular, theoretical openings "contemptible," perhaps you're from another timeline? In this timeline they're... popular theoretical openings.

A simple table would've probably been easier to read. Anyway, My biggest takeaway from all of this is that OP is a d4 player.