Hiarcs Books - My confusion

[Michael Blake]

Hi,
I subscribe to the Hiarcs books and am trying to figure out which is best for me to study. I am a little confused as to why a move gets an exclamation mark in one book but then gets (for example) ?! in another Hiarcs book.

As an example,
[fen]rn1qk2r/p1pp1pbp/1p2p1p1/8/Q1PPb3/5NP1/PP2PPBP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 0 10[/fen]

Here the following applies to the next move for Black.

GM book gives Qa3!
GM+ book gives Qa3?! and Rd1!
Tournament books gives Qa3 and Rd1!
HRef books gives Bg5!, Qa3? and Rd1?

I understand each book has a different number/selection of games but why should that affect the assessment of Qa3 and Rd1, both of these get ! in one book but ? in another. Perhaps the books have different authors?

Thanks for any help,
Mickey

[Harvey Williamson]

Hi,
I subscribe to the Hiarcs books and am trying to figure out which is best for me to study. I am a little confused as to why a move gets an exclamation mark in one book but then gets (for example) ?! in another Hiarcs book.

As an example,
[fen]rn1qk2r/p1pp1pbp/1p2p1p1/8/Q1PPb3/5NP1/PP2PPBP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 0 10[/fen]

Here the following applies to the next move for Black.

GM book gives Qa3!
GM+ book gives Qa3?! and Rd1!
Tournament books gives Qa3 and Rd1!
HRef books gives Bg5!, Qa3? and Rd1?

I understand each book has a different number/selection of games but why should that affect the assessment of Qa3 and Rd1, both of these get ! in one book but ? in another. Perhaps the books have different authors?

Thanks for any help,
Mickey

Hi Mickey,

Qa3 gets the ! in the GM book because it scores well when just looking at GM games. GM+ includes top correspondence games where it has not done so well. The ref book combines games from various sources and may have some none top level games and the stats with all games together there show Qa3 has had a bad time.

The tournament book combines the best human (over the board and correspondence) with the best Computer games. Therefore if you are looking for something new that is probably good I would go by the tournament book.

[Michael Blake]

Thanks Harvey,
May I ask which you would consider the best book to use for study rather than say choosing moves? I'm drawn to the GM+ book but on reflection perhaps the tournament book would be best if it doesn't include for example sub 2500 players.

Kind Regards,
Mickey

[Harvey Williamson]

Thanks Harvey,
May I ask which you would consider the best book to use for study rather than say choosing moves? I'm drawn to the GM+ book but on reflection perhaps the tournament book would be best if it doesn't include for example sub 2500 players.

Kind Regards,
Mickey

I am not sure of the exact cut off points in the tournament book some gms may dip below 2500 and they are probably included. The correspondence games may go down a bit lower but the games are usually of high quality when both players are say 2300+. The computer v computer games add some very interesting moves particularly in some sicilian lines.

[Michael Blake]

Thanks Harvey