Current status of opening theory?

Are there still people trying to determine the status of main/second lines? I would be interested in some discussions.

The current status is that every half-decent line is winning for white, so people mostly stopped discussing "objective" statuses and mostly started to search for so called "scams", i.e. unusual lines where white cannot realize their chances in practical games :)

Could you please write a line where white plays several times a suboptimal move (I mean if this is what you called half-decent) and is winning at the end?

Lines like 1.d4; 1. Nh3 h6 2. e3 e6 3. Nc3 and 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. Nf5 I mean. Best fairy-stockfish version gives around +1.5, this usually means winning. But in human games these are relatively tame lines when you compare them to Nf3 e3, Nf3 Nc3, e3 Nf3 and Nh3 e4/d4. Those four openings are winning beyond any doubt.

Nf3 d6: Winning for White
Nf3 e5: Winning for White
Nf3 f6 e3 d5 Ng5 fxg5 Qh5+ g6 Qe5 Be6 Qxc7: Probably winning for White
Nf3 f6 e3 d5 Ng5 Bg4 f3 fxg5: Probably winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 Nh6: Winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 f5: Winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 c6 Nb5 cxb5 Qh5+ g6 Qb5 Nc6 Qb6 Kf7: Unclear
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 c6 Nb5 cxb5 Qh5+ g6 Qb5 Nc6 Qb6 axb6 Bb5 Kf7 Bxd7 Rxa2: Probably drawn

Nf3 f6 e3 d5: Winning for White

@Wolfram_EP said in #4:

Best fairy-stockfish version gives around +1.5, this usually means winning.
I disagree, and this is the core of my atomic strategy. A successfully pawnitized endgame is around +3.0, but it is clearly drawn. I encounter this evaluation very often.

Lmao "clearly drawn". I saw many times how stockfish finds ridiculous wins in that endgame even in seemingly pawnitized positions, where only same-colored bishops and pawns on wrong color squares are left. And even rook exchange can be avoided by white.

True, it gives +4 in some drawn positions, so it doesn't formally prove anything, but generally if the position is sufficiently complicated and there are many branches with good evaluation, at least one of those branches works under closer examination.

@NNWill said in #5:

Nf3 d6: Winning for White
Nf3 e5: Winning for White
Nf3 f6 e3 d5 Ng5 fxg5 Qh5+ g6 Qe5 Be6 Qxc7: Probably winning for White
Nf3 f6 e3 d5 Ng5 Bg4 f3 fxg5: Probably winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 Nh6: Winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 f5: Winning for white
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 c6 Nb5 cxb5 Qh5+ g6 Qb5 Nc6 Qb6 Kf7: Unclear
Nf3 f6 e3 e6 Nd4 c6 Nb5 cxb5 Qh5+ g6 Qb5 Nc6 Qb6 axb6 Bb5 Kf7 Bxd7 Rxa2: Probably drawn

you are really defending your opinion on nf3 e3 with all your might hahaha.

understand this nf3 e3 can be good and invincible but you will only understand the complexity of atomic if you play other openings.
understand it's ok to play nf3 e3 as we saw it in awc 2021: just look at wolfram vs lesha matches but you can see that lesha not only knows nf3 but also knows nh3 and other openings. just playing nf3 e3 also makes the game a bit boring. I played a lot of nf3 e3 against everyone when I was 2000-2100, (I was horrible at nh3 always wanted to trap the qb3 no matter what else). not liking the pressure I was under against wolfram vlad and others at nf3 e3, i had to start playing an opening where i played on initiative or at least an opening where there was a lot more than just theory.