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 ...
14
votes
Accepted
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 ...
13
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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, ...
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, ...
8
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
7
votes
Accepted
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 ...
6
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
6
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
5
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
5
votes
Accepted
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 ...
5
votes
Accepted
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 ...
5
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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, ...
4
votes
Accepted
4
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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/...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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&...
3
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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 ...
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