Freestyle Chess is Coming Home

[Eduard]

I play myself because I enjoy it. And when I play, I always want to show my best game. Same in every game. I am satisfied with myself because I am doing my best. I owe it to myself and to others to play like that. There is prize money. I also play for it. That's why I fight. Most of the others do the same.

That's why it's sad what happens. In addition, Arno pays the prize money out of pocket. He is the only sponsor so far. Also for 2022. One can only hope that some people who do not appreciate this will not qualify for 2022.

[Ozymandias]

That's one side of the coin, and for that I'm grateful to him. He also tries to approach the draw problem with new rules like the stalemate and material wins.

The other side is that he's all for half-measures. When we discussed Lasker rules, there were others with a bigger impact, but he's set those aside and people still complain about the ones which HAVE been implemented. Maybe not realizing that the stalemate was already in effect all the way back in 2015. The same thing goes for approaching player behavior, he always gives them another pass, and they just keep doing the same. This is the 3rd time (at least) for William, countless for Olivier.

You could say it's his money, but so is everyone else's. Half the prize bag comes from the players, more if he were not to return $50 to repeated offenders at the end of the tournament. That would send a message to all players that things are run seriously, basically like any other chess tournament. Sure you would lose some players, but others would return (or not leave) and whether they'd be more or less, I think those are the ones we want around.

[Eduard]

We have to stick together now. And we can't let the fun be taken away from us. I played 3 exciting games and had a lot of fun with them. I had the most fun in round 3 against engine Stockfish. I tried to outsmart the engine in the endgame, but the engine didn't want to sacrifice any material. I do not know why?

I have often seen on PlayChess that engines in the Syzygy endgame prefer to play with less material.

In Game 3 I had the endgame KNp vs KNp on the board. But the engine just moved around and didn't want to swap the knight for a pawn. When Kp vs Kp was on the board, the engine didn't want to give up its pawns either, which I had seen in thousands of games on PlayChess. However, we play on PlayChess so that the GUI automatically moves 6 pieces. This often gives the opponent material as a gift.

The new rule with material win is good. However, if I play blitz games as a human on the Internet, then in the position KNp vs KNp I prefer to sacrifice my knight for the opponent's pawn. His knight cannot do anything, but if he makes a mistake, my pawn can become a queen. In the endgame with very little material, a pawn is worth more than a knight. The new rule is therefore illogical to me here.

[Ozymandias]

Sometimes they'll give material away, sometimes they won't. Larry Kaufman did some testing on how draw rate would be affected, and this is what he found out:

making stalemate a win and/or bare king a loss (or 3/4 - 1/4) only reduces draws a little, while forbidding repetitions (or counting them as less than half a point for the repeater) makes a huge difference

Obviously, that rule change would be difficult for players to accept. Maybe when the tournament is over and only dubious wins (like the one against Olivier) have been achieved, people will see the need for some drastic measures.

[Eduard]

November 15, 2021: Freestyle qualification started!

The first three rounds were played at the weekend. However, I still have to get used to the new rules (stalemate and material win). In the first round a player forgot the new rule and at the end of his game voluntarily sacrificed his bishop for the opposing pawn. That left one Bishop, which means a bonus point for the fine scoring. At the start of round two, one player was missing and the opponent was given a point. In round three there was a very unusual loss at this level, because you can hardly approach the chosen opening (French) worse. The lucky one was the player who was missing in round two. All other games were of a very high standard and ended in a draw. In round 3 I had to play against the Stockfish engine (the engine mode can be selected 4 times). The draw took place just a few minutes before the start (before Round 2, everyone knew at the evening before who they were playing), so I was a bit surprised. I didn't know what hardware the engine was using, nor what book it was playing with. But after 2 moves I knew that the engine would play without a book from move 2 on. At first I also saw the evaluation and calculation depth. However, the player later switched off this function. I guess the engine ran on at least 32 cores. The search depth was impressive. I chose 1.e4 and after 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 everything spoke for Spanish. From my own experience, I knew that after 3.Bb5 the engines either immediately play 3...Nf6 or after 3... a6 4.Ba4 they are very happy to choose open defense or Marshall. A draw is inevitable against 32 cores or more. So I chose 3.Bc4. I managed to keep the position closed for a long time, which was also my plan. I was looking for a way to provoke a material or stalemate win in the endgame. But Stockfish didn't want to trade anything. Even in the endgame with knights, Stockfish did not want to give up the knight for my last pawn. Then I would have KN vs K, which would have meant a draw with material win. The 4th round starts on December 11th. All participants still have very good chances. I have saved the most important games of rounds 1 to 3.

Rounds 1-3.PGN:
https://filehorst.de/d/eltmacvJ

You can also read everything about the tournament on my homepage, here:
https://solista-chess.jimdosite.com/freestyle-chess/

[Steamhammer]

Dear Friends,

I will not comment on everything, but I would like to clarify a few points.

1. It is mainly about individuals. Their behavior is not always predictable, but I generally assume that they have good intentions and are trying their best. For each one could also list many positive things that are largely missing here. Their behavior is not professional and that will affect their chances of qualifying.
I don't think that a significant number of freestylers have decided not to participate in tournaments because of the behavior of Olivier or other players. There are many different reasons for not doing it, mainly because the motivation for freestyle chess is lacking or has been lost. Many consider it "work" rather than a hobby.

2. @Mike
When I asked you whether you would be willing to make up for the game with William, it was out of concern about the tournament, which, given the expected high draw rate, will be affected by non-fighting victories. I did not put any pressure on you and accepted your decision without further discussion. You should know, however, that other players have behaved differently in similar situations because they did not want a point without a fight.
You expect a tournament to start on time. That depends primarily on the behavior of the players, although o-t-b tournaments cannot be used as a benchmark for online tournaments. Starting a freestyle tournament is technically much more complicated. Even so, our delay was only 15 minutes. Btw, in previous ChessBase tournaments, the delays before the first round were often much longer.
You expect games to start even if the opponent has not yet appeared. This is not possible with our server technology. To start a game, both players must be in the room with the correct settings. As I told you, we correct the clocks after a late appearance of a player so that the one who was there on time does not suffer any disadvantage. - You have received your point after 30 minutes of waiting - according to the rules.
Of course we have to work on technical improvements, but we must not forget that this is a free server and therefore requires a lot of patience.

3. About "stalemate wins and "material wins" I added an appendix on the IC website: http://www.infinitychess.com/Page/Publi ... spx?id=348
In the previous games of the first three rounds, no player has managed to achieve one of the two minor victories on his own (not even against an engine). Only in one game we saw a material win due to a black out of one player.
That shows how difficult it is still to gain such an advantage. All in all the games show that normal chess is played and no one plays artificially differently just because he hopes for a minor victory.
I am convinced that we will see many more interesting games and that we will get off to a good start in the league in 2022.
In a few days I will publish an interim report.

[Ozymandias]

November 15, 2021: Freestyle qualification started!

The first three rounds were played at the weekend. However, I still have to get used to the new rules (stalemate and material win). In the first round a player forgot the new rule and at the end of his game voluntarily sacrificed his bishop for the opposing pawn. That left one Bishop, which means a bonus point for the fine scoring. At the start of round two, one player was missing and the opponent was given a point. In round three there was a very unusual loss at this level, because you can hardly approach the chosen opening (French) worse. The lucky one was the player who was missing in round two. All other games were of a very high standard and ended in a draw. In round 3 I had to play against the Stockfish engine (the engine mode can be selected 4 times). The draw took place just a few minutes before the start (before Round 2, everyone knew at the evening before who they were playing), so I was a bit surprised. I didn't know what hardware the engine was using, nor what book it was playing with. But after 2 moves I knew that the engine would play without a book from move 2 on. At first I also saw the evaluation and calculation depth. However, the player later switched off this function. I guess the engine ran on at least 32 cores. The search depth was impressive. I chose 1.e4 and after 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 everything spoke for Spanish. From my own experience, I knew that after 3.Bb5 the engines either immediately play 3...Nf6 or after 3... a6 4.Ba4 they are very happy to choose open defense or Marshall. A draw is inevitable against 32 cores or more. So I chose 3.Bc4. I managed to keep the position closed for a long time, which was also my plan. I was looking for a way to provoke a material or stalemate win in the endgame. But Stockfish didn't want to trade anything. Even in the endgame with knights, Stockfish did not want to give up the knight for my last pawn. Then I would have KN vs K, which would have meant a draw with material win. The 4th round starts on December 11th. All participants still have very good chances. I have saved the most important games of rounds 1 to 3.

Rounds 1-3.PGN:
https://filehorst.de/d/eltmacvJ

You can also read everything about the tournament on my homepage, here:
https://solista-chess.jimdosite.com/freestyle-chess/

Over the past 15 years I've played more competition centaur games than anyone, and unlike most, I never offer a draw. I almost never accept it, and even when faced with a repetition, I usually decline. Knowing that, and facing 50 more moves, and then a pawn move and another 50 moves, he chose to end it then and there. That's what he told me, he thought the bonus will only be important for the top places. I said everyone would be at the top and he didn't believe it. Reading what he later wrote, I guess he had a change of heart and missed the bonus, but it was too late.

Placing that hard won bonus, owed to my track record, in the same bag as a no-show or the equivalent of h4-h5-h6 in human chess, is unfair. You have to build a reputation, when it's time to collect it isn't because of luck, but chance. I've taken the chance of making a mistake of my own in many games, for many moves. Others may not want to face that prospect, that's understandable. What he should be regretting is just how easy it was to keep my pawn from advancing. That's an area were the engine won't help you, you need to understand the position, he probably didn't.

[Ozymandias]

It is mainly about individuals. Their behavior is not always predictable, but I generally assume that they have good intentions and are trying their best. [...]
I don't think that a significant number of freestylers have decided not to participate in tournaments because of the behavior of Olivier or other players.

In the cases mentioned it's quite predictable that William will miss a game, in a minor tournament, on the long run, and that Olivier will give away a game with an extravagant opening, in the not so long run. You yourself implicitly acknowledged the latter, in the quote I posted.

If they keep withdrawing silently it's easy to assume it's for another reasons. I'm not saying there aren't other factors, just that this one is more important than you think. What you see here or on the IC chat is just the top of the iceberg. Most people won't voice their opinion to you, but many have expressed this POV to me in private. You shouldn't really be surprised, Olivier's behavior is appalling. I'll never find it funny.

[Eduard]

November 15, 2021: Freestyle qualification started!

The first three rounds were played at the weekend. However, I still have to get used to the new rules (stalemate and material win). In the first round a player forgot the new rule and at the end of his game voluntarily sacrificed his bishop for the opposing pawn. That left one Bishop, which means a bonus point for the fine scoring. At the start of round two, one player was missing and the opponent was given a point. In round three there was a very unusual loss at this level, because you can hardly approach the chosen opening (French) worse. The lucky one was the player who was missing in round two. All other games were of a very high standard and ended in a draw. In round 3 I had to play against the Stockfish engine (the engine mode can be selected 4 times). The draw took place just a few minutes before the start (before Round 2, everyone knew at the evening before who they were playing), so I was a bit surprised. I didn't know what hardware the engine was using, nor what book it was playing with. But after 2 moves I knew that the engine would play without a book from move 2 on. At first I also saw the evaluation and calculation depth. However, the player later switched off this function. I guess the engine ran on at least 32 cores. The search depth was impressive. I chose 1.e4 and after 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 everything spoke for Spanish. From my own experience, I knew that after 3.Bb5 the engines either immediately play 3...Nf6 or after 3... a6 4.Ba4 they are very happy to choose open defense or Marshall. A draw is inevitable against 32 cores or more. So I chose 3.Bc4. I managed to keep the position closed for a long time, which was also my plan. I was looking for a way to provoke a material or stalemate win in the endgame. But Stockfish didn't want to trade anything. Even in the endgame with knights, Stockfish did not want to give up the knight for my last pawn. Then I would have KN vs K, which would have meant a draw with material win. The 4th round starts on December 11th. All participants still have very good chances. I have saved the most important games of rounds 1 to 3.

Rounds 1-3.PGN:
https://filehorst.de/d/eltmacvJ

You can also read everything about the tournament on my homepage, here:
https://solista-chess.jimdosite.com/freestyle-chess/

Over the past 15 years I've played more competition centaur games than anyone, and unlike most, I never offer a draw. I almost never accept it, and even when faced with a repetition, I usually decline. Knowing that, and facing 50 more moves, and then a pawn move and another 50 moves, he chose to end it then and there. That's what he told me, he thought the bonus will only be important for the top places. I said everyone would be at the top and he didn't believe it. Reading what he later wrote, I guess he had a change of heart and missed the bonus, but it was too late.

Placing that hard won bonus, owed to my track record, in the same bag as a no-show or the equivalent of h4-h5-h6 in human chess, is unfair. You have to build a reputation, when it's time to collect it isn't because of luck, but chance. I've taken the chance of making a mistake of my own in many games, for many moves. Others may not want to face that prospect, that's understandable. What he should be regretting is just how easy it was to keep my pawn from advancing. That's an area were the engine won't help you, you need to understand the position, he probably didn't.

If I'm going to play against humans, I won't make 50 and then 50 more pointless moves. You shouldn't think your opponent is more stupid than he really is. It's different against engines. They don't know what material win is and that stalemate is supposed to be bad. For computers, a draw is always the same and is always valued at 0.00. That's why I played to the last stone against Stockfish.

[Ozymandias]

It's not about being stupid, it's about practice. In the beginning I made three mistakes I can recall: an analysis transposition, a mouse slip and piece drop because of a mouse malfunction, which is by I unbox a new one for a tournament now. Expecting those kind of mistakes is perfectly reasonable, and now you can also expect people falling for stalemate and bare King positions.