Tactics for Particular Openings

[newlook]

It would be great if CT could categorize tactics based on the game's opening. Then we could create problem sets for the Sicilian or the Queen's Gambit Declined, etc.

I see this being done by the problem generator. I assume that it is working with PGN records, some of which would have ECO codes. Or perhaps Toga can recognize openings and pass that information along to the generator. Opening categorization should be limited to problems that occurred either in the opening phase or the early part of the middle game, when the consequences of the opening may still be evident. Perhaps only problems that occurred before a certain move number (e.g., move 20) would qualify.

[drahacikfm]

Yes, great idea.  There could be the canned unrated problem sets for each ECO code (all 500 of them! ) for problems which are on move 20 or less.  And the search parameters for making your own problem set could allow you to choose a range of ECO codes and the maximum move number in the game (10 or 15 or 20 etc.)

Maybe a better indicator of whether the problem is still related to the opening is not the move number, but the amount of material still on the board.

[angrypirate]

+1 in favor of this wonderful idea

[tama]

Fantastic idea, maby even generate more problems in the opening.

[richard]

This has already been on the todo list for a while, it is relatively easy to do with the current system, but some improvements to the way games are stored is underway that will allow a wider range of categorizing problems and it makes more sense to implement this feature within that framework and there is still quite a bit of time to go before that framework will be ready.

Generating more problems from the opening is also something I plan to do.  At the moment the way the generator works tends to favour moves from much later in games and the set of games I process does not include any games less than 8 moves which cuts out some of the earlier opening traps/blunders.

Regards,
Richard.