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16 votes

Why aren't early opening moves generally given exclamation marks?

Wikipedia says the following: Exclamation points ("!") indicate good moves—especially ones which are surprising or involve particular skill. Hence annotators are usually somewhat ...
Glorfindel's user avatar
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14 votes
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Is there any position where giving checkmate by En Passant is a brilliant move on Chess.com?

No. Delivering checkmate via en passant is not a sacrifice, and "sacrifice" is part of chess.com's definition of a brilliant move. From their support pages: We replaced the old Brilliant ...
L. Scott Johnson's user avatar
13 votes
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Can sacrificing a Queen be considered a brilliant move?

Yes, if by brilliant you mean how Chess.com annotates the move. Some examples from GM Hikaru Nakamura,[1, 2] though there are many more both from him and from other players. Example 1: 17...Qh3 ends ...
SecretAgentMan's user avatar
12 votes

Why is the !? annotation so rare?

The !? annotation indicates that the move is interesting. "Interesting" is obviously subjective, and it suggests that the move deserves more analysis. But these days with superhuman engines, ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 29k
9 votes

Why aren't early opening moves generally given exclamation marks?

To try to give a concrete example consider Sax-Seirawan, Brussels 1988 [Event "World Cup"] [Site "Brussels"] [Date "1988.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Sax, ...
Ian Bush's user avatar
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8 votes
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Is there a way to get blunders, mistakes and inaccuracies using Stockfish?

Common methods for engine annotation include a strict evaluation model or the expected points model. In the strict evaluation model, engine annotations require user-defined parameters to classify ...
SecretAgentMan's user avatar
8 votes

Is there any position where giving checkmate by En Passant is a brilliant move on Chess.com?

The criteria for a move to deserve a double exclamation mark have to be more than just being the best option in the position --- that's merely not making an error. So there must be some criterion ...
Rosie F's user avatar
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7 votes
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Is this how to annotate your own chess games properly?

I think you did a great job there of annotating your game. If you have a coach (or an analysis buddy) and you were to show them that then they would get a big head start in identifying problems in ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
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6 votes
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Unfamiliar with this move notation

de and fe are normal pawn captures. There is no contradiction in writing de and NxB and Nxe5. The "x" is optional. It would be unusual and inconsistent to write 4. BxNc6 and 4. ... Nc6 in the ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 100k
6 votes

Benefits of studying annotated grandmaster games

Tal vs Botvinnik 1960 is very good as Tal is quite verbose in commentary and what he was thinking about during the game. In addition to the benefits you mentioned, the annotations help you understand ...
CognisMantis's user avatar
  • 5,091
6 votes
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Why is this move into a simple forced mate annotated dubious and not a blunder?

A blunder is a game-changing move. Nb8 does not change the result of the game which is utterly and completely lost regardless of black's move. Earlier in the game black did blunder when it gave away ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 100k
6 votes

What’s the origin of “!” & “?”

The earliest that I can find both "?" and "!" in a book is in James Mason's "Principles of Chess" published in 1900. Here is an example from page 242 from the second half ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 100k
6 votes

What’s the origin of “!” & “?”

The following is from Edward Winter's Chess Notes, and reprinted in his Chess Explorations, p.116. I haven't checked the works cited. (!) might be intended for "[sic]". (!) is still used for ...
Rosie F's user avatar
  • 6,640
5 votes
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What is an "artificial" move?

An artificial move is one that does not fit in with what would be typical of the plan. It means "unnatural" given the position. In the game above, Bg4 is unusual, and only played 5.5% of the time in ...
PhishMaster's user avatar
  • 32.7k
5 votes

Penalty for violating FIDE rule 8.1.2 - writing moves in advance

Should it be a verbal warning and loss of the game on a subsequent attempt or something else? It depends entirely on the circumstances, although a player would never be defaulted for the specific ...
Brian Towers's user avatar
  • 100k
5 votes
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Chess Annotation Software

Chessbase meets all your criteria and more. For example, it also allows you to look up any position in a reference database, see the main moves other people have analyzed, etc. The downside is the ...
Inertial Ignorance's user avatar
5 votes
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How are chess variations meant to be read

Visualization usually improves as you get stronger, and there are exercises that can be done to improve it. When following lines in a book, most players use a board, and sometimes two. The second ...
Herb's user avatar
  • 4,291
5 votes
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Why is Tal talking about 10. Qf7 when 10.... N5f6 is possible?

You made a mistake when transcribing move 7. It is 7. Qh5+, not 7. Qf3+. Move 10 is then Qh5f7, which is not blocked by the Nf6. [FEN ""] 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 ...
wimi's user avatar
  • 901
5 votes

Why is this move into a simple forced mate annotated dubious and not a blunder?

Computer annotations these days commonly use ?! to indicate moves which are noticeably worse than the best move, but not bad enough to warrant a ? or ??. There's not necessarily any merit to the move, ...
D M's user avatar
  • 20.3k
4 votes
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Enter non-game moves in ChessBase

Enter a null move by ctrl+alt+0.
Fred Knight's user avatar
  • 3,142
4 votes
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Delete annotations in pgn games

In Chessbase, copy the games to a temp database, right click the file, go to tools and select Unannotate db, then copy to the games to a pgn file. Edited to note Unannotate doesn't work on pgn files ...
Jerry Snitselaar's user avatar
4 votes

Java Library for PGN parser

You could use chesslib. In the README file there is an example of how to load and walk through all the moves from all the games in the PGN file: PgnHolder pgn = new PgnHolder("/opt/games/...
Ben-Hur Langoni Junior's user avatar
4 votes

Good resource for annotated games

The best annotated PGN game collections I found were added to my website after searching for days, see Annotated PGN file download page I added 950+ annotated games and every world championship ...
Norman's user avatar
  • 221
4 votes

Good resource for annotated games

I'm glad some have found the downloadable annotated PGN game archives at Path to Chess Mastery - https://pathtochessmastery.blogspot.com/ - useful. Although the individual game analyses (my own ...
ChessAdmin's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

Comment/variation with different starting position

You can't do this in PGN, not the way you want it. There are some tricks that publishers (especially Everyman) use to create their "PGN ebooks": They split the book over many different PGN games. ...
RemcoGerlich's user avatar
  • 28.7k
4 votes

Chess Annotation Software

I agree with @InertialIgnorance Chessbase is very useful and good. I have also used chess database software which have the advantage of being free: Scid ("Shane's Chess Information Database") is a ...
Kortchnoi's user avatar
  • 3,535
4 votes

Why aren't early opening moves generally given exclamation marks?

Exclamation (!) is a highlight in analysis. Either it indicates strong move, or it is also possible to indicate unexpected move. Something to which opponent is totally unprepared. Something which will ...
sanaris's user avatar
  • 199
4 votes

Can sacrificing a Queen be considered a brilliant move?

This is one of my favourite games of all time [FEN ""] [Event "Bundesliga 1997/98"] [Site "GER"] [Date "1997.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "2&...
cmgchess's user avatar
  • 2,798
3 votes
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Sites which provide annotated openings (preferably interactive)

Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has similar aims but I don't think it quite meets all of your requirements. Still, it's the website closest to meeting them that I can think of, so I hope it helps. Being ...
itub's user avatar
  • 10.6k
3 votes

Why aren't early opening moves generally given exclamation marks?

Not many moves in the opening deserve exclams. A classic example was Morphy-Allies, Paris 1858: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. dxe5! and Black will lose a pawn, or lose bishop for knight while ...
friscodelrosario's user avatar

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