Freestyle Chess is Coming Home

[Eduard]

I don't like the new rules either. Whether I'll take part in the next tournament depends on what the rules will be like.

However, I understand that no new changes can be made during an ongoing tournament.

It's unacceptable for players to just stay away. It happened again 3 times.

One of the players was 40 minutes late and apologized. But the next day he didn't come again. His apology was therefore not sincere.

Oliver Evan was late once too. Nevertheless, Arno praised his games in the chat.

Arno deserves to be commended for his behavior. He tries to find the good in everyone. I liked that very much.

I don't know if I'll be at the next tournament. I don't want to play with players who stay away without an excuse.

And yes, the new rules don't do much. They limit the opening repertoire. I also only played with the intention that others should make the mistakes. Not a single game was won, except through gross mistakes like by Dovahkiin recently.

With the new rules, the best strategy is: wait patiently for your opponent to make a big mistake! Such a victory can be enough for a tournament victory. That's how it happened.

I have big doubts that such a style will make freestyle better and more attractive.

[marsell]

You won a game, was that because of the new rules? For me the final position is a draw! What does that have to do with chess?
So far I can not use a single game of this event for my book tuning!

[Eduard]

Nobody did magic. Everyone played risk free, myself included.

Sorry to say! But what should I do differently? You can't take any risks with the new rules. For this reason I have avoided Sicilian altogether. There are some hard-to-play variants because of the new rules. While it's always possible to make a draw, but as you've seen from Dovahkiin, he snagged a small material win with the pawn-stealing variation. Anyone who likes French and Caro-Kann must also expect that White will gain material. That's what I mean when I say that the opening repertoire is restricted. A draw alone is not enough for Black!

Yes, my game was drawn and I was fighting for a stalemate. I saw a little trick when black plays inaccurately.

My opponent had 33 minutes left on the clock at the time. But I waited and waited. Then I saw in the chat that my opponent was disconnected. I wrote that in the chat. When about 20 minutes had elapsed, the TD gave me the freedom to claim victory under the tournament rules. I didn't want that and referred to the opponent's clock where he still had 5 minutes. When the clock ran out, I claimed victory.

[Ozymandias]

And yes, the new rules don't do much. They limit the opening repertoire.

Not true, we've gone from an Italian fest (33%), where the alternatives were at 12% (Sicilian), 9% (Spanish) and 8% (English and Semi-Slav each); to: Spanish (20%), Italian (9%), Semi-Slav (8%), Sicilian (5%) and English (16%). Same repertoire with a more evenly split count and note that these main openings were 70% of all games, but are now down to 58%, leaving more room for other openings like g3, which has gone up from 1 to 4%.

Yes, my game was drawn and I was fighting for a stalemate. I saw a little trick when black plays inaccurately.

From here?


[fen]6k1/6p1/4p3/4b1Np/7K/1R5P/6P1/5r2 b - - 1 44[/fen]

[Eduard]

I don't like discussing tricks, but the main line would have been possible:


[fen]6k1/6p1/4p3/4b1Np/7K/1R5P/6P1/5r2 b - - 0 44[/fen]


[Event "Freestyle"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Solista"]
[Black "Arkhein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "6k1/6p1/4p3/4b1Np/8/1R4KP/6P1/5r2 w - - 0 44"]
[PlyCount "21"]

44. Kh4 g6 45. Nxe6 Bf6+ (45... Kf7 46. Rf3+ Rxf3 47. Ng5+ Kg8 48. Nxf3) 46.
Kg3 Kf7 47. Nf4 Be5 48. Rf3 h4+ 49. Kg4 Rxf3 50. gxf3 Bxf4 (50... Bf6 51. Ng2
g5 52. Kf5) 51. Kxf4 Kf6 52. Kg4 g5 53. f4 gxf4 54. Kxf4

[Ozymandias]

[pgn][Event "Freestyle"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Solista"]
[Black "Arkhein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[FEN "6k1/6p1/4p3/4b1Np/8/1R4KP/6P1/5r2 w - - 0 44"]

44.Kh4 g6 45.Nxe6 Bf6+
( 45...Kf7 46.Rf3+ Rxf3 47.Ng5+ Kg8 48.Nxf3 )
46.Kg3 Kf7 47.Nf4 Be5 48.Rf3 Rxf3+
( 48...h4+ 49.Kg4 Rxf3 50.gxf3 Bxf4
( 50...Bf6 51.Ng2 g5 52.Kf5 )
51.Kxf4 Kf6 52.Kg4 g5 53.f4 gxf4 54.Kxf4 )
49.Kxf3 Bxf4 50.Kxf4 Kf6 1-0
[/pgn]
I don't see the point in advancing the h-pawn, what about exchanging the pieces and gaining the opposition? Am I missing something?

[marsell]

hasn't it always been said that Centaurs play stronger than engines alone. Then why not just have a tournament with Centaurs against as many engines standalone. This tournament is only interesting for the participants themselves. But this is only my opinion.

[Ozymandias]

That was true when engines left some space for human "search", but now it's so narrow that you can't get more than a stalemate. Eduard tried against them before the tour and he obtained much better results than those of centaur vs centaur.

[Eduard]

[pgn][Event "Freestyle"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Solista"]
[Black "Arkhein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[PlyCount "21"]
[FEN "6k1/6p1/4p3/4b1Np/8/1R4KP/6P1/5r2 w - - 0 44"]

44.Kh4 g6 45.Nxe6 Bf6+
( 45...Kf7 46.Rf3+ Rxf3 47.Ng5+ Kg8 48.Nxf3 )
46.Kg3 Kf7 47.Nf4 Be5 48.Rf3 Rxf3+
( 48...h4+ 49.Kg4 Rxf3 50.gxf3 Bxf4
( 50...Bf6 51.Ng2 g5 52.Kf5 )
51.Kxf4 Kf6 52.Kg4 g5 53.f4 gxf4 54.Kxf4 )
49.Kxf3 Bxf4 50.Kxf4 Kf6 1-0
[/pgn]
I don't see the point in advancing the h-pawn, what about exchanging the pieces and gaining the opposition? Am I missing something?

You always play to the last stone and hope that your opponents will make absolutely stupid mistakes, but you see no point in continuing to play in my position. Bravo! There's no point in arguing with you.

[Eduard]

I have a fundamental problem with the tournament. I haven't gotten around to evaluating the other games yet, but mine.

Of my 11 games, I played 6x with white and 1. e4. Another one played 1.e6, which led to an interesting game. 1...e5 was played five times. This is very solid and draws 98% with engine analysis.

With Black my opponents played 1. d4 3 times where I answered with 1...d5. This also ends in a draw in 98%, if you play with engine analysis. Two of my opponents played 1.e4, to which I replied 1...e5.

Why should I play anything else with black? When almost everyone is playing like this, nobody can expect me to be stupid enough to take a risk with Black. Everyone just hopes that the opponent is stupid enough to play weak openings.

This behavior will bring about the death of freestyle chess.

Those who think the new rules are good, should first start playing something other than 1e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 themselves.

Ozymandias was luckier than me. His opponents even played 1.b3. But even then he couldn't win a game.

Take5 (Arno) always played 1...e5 with Black on 1.e4 and 1...d5 on 1.d4.

I had suggested to Arno, to play with given short variants (with swapping colors) where Pirc, French, Caro Kann, Benoni and King's Indian must also be played. He doesn't want that.