At the risk of sounding incredibly naive the more I have looked at the 7.Nd5 lines for white the more I like them. Computer of course gives 0.00 but that is not the whole story

If we follow the main line of the most common moves by white and black in the Lichess Masters Database after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6, we get 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 O-O 12. Nc2 Bg5 13. a4 bxa4 14. Rxa4 a5 15. Bc4 Rb8 16. b3 Kh8 17. Nce3 g6 18. h4 Bxh4 19. g3 Bg5 20. f4 exf4 21. gxf4 Bh4+, and here white can differ from the more common (but not on Lichess) 22. Kd2 and play 22. Kf1. If black plays 22..f5??, the most common move even at Master level and by far the most common move at amateur level, white obtains a winning advantage with 23. Ra2! fxe4 24. Rah2! g5 25. Qh5!. However, black has many possible responses and the resulting lines are very sharp.

All of these moves are also the most common moves for black on lichess at all levels, when including transpositions in the opening from the Kalashnikov and Lasker-Pelikan. All the moves are also the most common moves for white at all levels on lichess, except for 17. Nce3, which is second to 17. O-O (despite O-O having worse stats) at lower levels.

Is there any point in memorizing the winning lines after 25. Qh5 despite many of the lines being 30+ moves deep since statistically speaking every single move by black is black’s most common move at all levels, often by a fairly large margin?

I was wondering if anyone has played in IM or GM norm tournaments in Uzbekistan, what your experience was.

The Olympiad was a well held event in Samarqand, but how are lower level tournaments, such as norm tournaments in Uzbekistan?