Canal Attack Stockfish Indication Apparently, Stockfish on depth 22 states that the Canal Attack is the best opening after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6. Is something wrong with Stockfish?
First of all, stockfish and other chess engines don't have the best reputation of being good at openings, often misevaluating this particular phase of the game. Second of all, Canal attackis perfectly respectable opening. After e4 c5 Nf3 d6, at depth 30, I get
0.53 d4
0.44 Nc3
0.40 Bb5+(canal)
with these three constantly changing positions at different depths. Just so happens that at depth 30, d4 was the most favored, but on 31, my engine switches to Nc3, for example. They are all perfectly reasonable moves, but its not like you can just turn on the engine and expect it give you a verdict about which of the three moves I mentioned are the best.