Originally Posted by JacksonWShowalter
Indeed. I have a collection of Shirov's games and most of the time I'm just baffled. Reshevsky's games on the other hand are are much easier to comprehend. Even Botvinnik's. Or Capablanca's. If they can get dynamic compensation today's players are more willing to accept positional weaknesses that would have been totally unacceptable to the players of a generation ago
When I learned to play chess I had some books where ...e5 in the Sicilan was condemned as inferior. Then along came Boleslavsky with his variation and today it's the Sveshnikov. Each generation builds on the knowledge of their predecessors.
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You are absolutely correct. The newer players also take their concepts for granted as well.
Although it is easy and accurate to discuss the effect of databases (usually Chessbase but certainly Chess Assistant) and chess engines; it is entirely appropriate to note the changes in middlegame and endgame theory.
I read a story where Kasparov was looking at the gallery proofs for John Nunn's
Secrets of Pawnless Endings. He was mesmerized and almost forfeited a game for being too late. He was so inspired by what he found to be new, he won that game.