How so? If it’s Jan 4, what exactly would I be preparing with? The last three days of theory about the new row?
If anything it sounds like a way to emphasize how to play positions you’d otherwise never possibly see in classical chess.
If anything it sounds like a way to emphasize how to play positions you’d otherwise never possibly see in classical chess.
Imagine a match in classical chess between a 2600-rated plyaer who has spent time preparing their classical openings and a 2800 rated player who hasn't prepared at all - the 2800 player will still have a large edge. Now imagine the same scenario for a 960 game where the lower-rated player has spent 4 days evaluating the opening with an engine and the high-rated player hasn't - in this scenario the advantage from the engine prep is much bigger. The mix of novelty + opportunity to prepare is such that from a game theory perspective the whole thing becomes prepare-or-lose if their overall chess strength is reasonably close otherwise.
In the comments for this video about netdecking :
(The main issue IMHO is how it can warp non-competitive play.)
It's nice to think of high ranked players playing chess the way my friends and I do: distracted, stoned, and just sort of improvising, but I'm realizing now that for good players it's waaay more about the prep and theory than just playing by "feel".