Freestyle Chess is Coming Home

[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?

The point is that maybe the opponent follow the computer move that say it is a draw and does not know the new rules.
You also won games when the opponent did a mistake only because the opponent did not know the rules or played the engine move without thinking about them.

Eduard is right and I see no difference between playing in the hope for a mistake and the fact that you continued and won by material or by stalemate in games.

The main difference is: I won nothing, I won no game, bonus points are meaningless if people get free points. I got no free point.

Another important difference is that I never said it's wrong to try and trick your opponent. It's wrong for Eduard to say that's what he was waiting for when in fact he should know by then the only chance he had was that of his rival not being able to make his move because of computer problems. He said so much in the chat, Arno acknowledged the message, Eduard said nothing. It's also wrong for him to do so on the basis of previously stating that

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.

and then going and saying to be doing the very same thing he criticized.

Now, another question would be: would you pocket a free point? You can be sure of it, but not on the basis of it being ethical or justified, but of being fed up with my opponents cashing over the years. At first, I even rejected a favorable result won in this fashion, and asked for the game to be repeated. I wouldn't do that nowadays and say so, I'm not a hypocrite.

As it stands, the TD should have decided on a win for me, without asking me whether I wanted to win like this or not.

Poor you.

[Eduard]

Did I make these rules? When Arno asked me if I wanted to claim the win, my opponent still hadn't come back, he was still disconnected. I waited for him for about 30 minutes. That's a lot more than the 15 minutes allowed. Arno should have ended the game, he made this rule so he should stick to himself afterwards.

As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to change this rule. I would be in favor that each player having enough time to come back until their game clock runs. Arno made the rule differently. Why are you insulting me about this?

[Eduard]

And one more thing, freestyle is stressful. You have to analyze a lot in a short amount of time. I always go to my own limits, I don't make a draw in the middle game like a lot of players did. And then I sit there and wait and wait, at some point it will be over. In fact, freestyle requires extreme concentration, I don't want to deal with other people's problems, I struggle enough to maintain my own connection to the server. I had a transmission error from PC to PC in round 8 and even two errors in round 10.

Against Arkhein I had a wrong position at move 22 on my analysis PC, his queen was on the wrong square. That's why I almost only drew computer moves in round 11 without analyzing! I was totally tired, I'm 64 years old.

[Ozymandias]

And I've been having debilitating injuries in my left knee for six years now, but I don't use that as an excuse to criticize someone for tricking his opponents and then saying I'm trying to do the same thing while achieving a "win" by disconnect (not that different from all the other "wins" by forfeit, which you also criticized). On that last point, I would do the same, but wouldn't pretend to be sister mercy.

[Eduard]

Here's a example from Round 10. I was level on points with my opponent, but he was ahead of me in the table. So it's clear that I didn't want to play a quick draw. But:

[Event "Freestyle Chess League Qualification To"]
[Site "Infinity Chess"]
[Date "2022.01.16"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Solista"]
[Black "ChessLion"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2609"]
[BlackElo "2469"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. h3 h6
9. Be3 g5 10. Nbd2 g4 11. hxg4 Nxg4 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. d4 Rg8 14. Re1 h5 15.
Nc4 Be6 16. Qa4 Qb8 17. Qxc6+ Bd7 18. Qd5 Be6 19. Qc6+ Bd7 20. Qd5 Be6 21. Qc6+
1/2-1/2

I never wanted to play Be3?! here. It was a transmission error (A variant tree with further moves on my analysis PC).


[fen]r1bqk2r/1pp2pb1/p1np1npp/4p3/B3P3/2PP1N1P/PP3PP1/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 1[/fen]


Analysis by Stockfish+ 120122:

9.Re1 0-0 10.a3 b5 11.Bc2 d5 12.Be3 Qd6 13.Qc1 g5 14.a4 b4 15.Nbd2 Rb8 16.a5 Rd8 17.d4 bxc3 18.bxc3 exd4 19.cxd4 dxe4 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Bxe4 Nxd4 22.Bxd4 Bxd4 23.Nxd4 Qxd4 24.Qxc7 Qd6 25.Qa7 Rb2 26.Rad1 Rd2 27.Bf3 Kg7 28.Qb6 Qf4 29.Rxd2 Rxd2 30.Qc6 Qd4 31.Re3 Bf5 32.Qxa6 Qa1+ 33.Kh2 Rxf2 34.Qb5
White is slightly better: +/= (0.41 ++) Depth: 44/50 00:02:37 2916MN, tb=18

I even had this move in the book.

After my mistake, Black was able to attack immediately:

r1bqk2r/1pp2pb1/p1np1npp/4p3/B3P3/2PPBN1P/PP3PP1/RN1Q1RK1 b kq - 0 1

Analysis by Stockfish+ 120122:

9...g5 10.Nbd2 g4 11.hxg4 Nxg4 12.Bxc6+ bxc6 13.d4 Rg8 14.Re1 h5 15.Nc4 Be6 16.Qa4 Qb8 17.Qxc6+ Bd7 18.Qd5 Be6
The position is equal: = (0.00) Depth: 39/33 00:00:11 200MN, tb=7

Maybe I'm already too old for freestyle? If I can just focus on my game, then maybe not. If other factors come into play and distract me, then I have problems. I would therefore like to distance myself from the problems of others. I don't feel responsible for other players' problems!

[Eduard]

I have briefly commented the three winning games, as well as three of my games (with diagrams), here:

https://solista-chess.jimdosite.com/freestyle-chess/

[Eduard]

By Arno Nickel:

The qualifying tournament is history and it's time to take stock.

Final table (if not yet seen): http://www.infinitychess.com/Page/Publi ... spx?id=354

Outlook on the Future of Freestyle Chess:
http://www.infinitychess.com/Page/Publi ... spx?id=355

[Eduard]

The new rule with 3/4 and 1/4 points now demands even more uncompromising defense from the black player. This will make for even more boring draws. The prospect of a 3/4 point seems interesting, but it must not be forgotten that the other side (Black) knows how to prevent it, if he radically plays for a draw.

I personally suggest the following (I wrote about this idea to Arno a few weeks ago, but he is not interested): the rules with stalemate and material wins are used for the tiebreak, just like in the qualification.

Predetermined variants are played, as practiced at the TCEC Engine Tournament. The superfinal there is followed online by several thousand fans.

Variants will be randomly drawn after the pairings are available. 2 games are played per pairing, with a break in between (everyone has 1x white and 1x black).

Whoever wins the duel gets one point, if there are two draws both players get 0.5 points. If both win with Stalemate, no one gets this bonus, if only one wins, he gets the bonus point for the fine evaluation.

Before each new round, the new starting variant is randomly drawn.

All common openings (including gambit) are used, with a length of 4 to 8 moves: Caro Kann, French, Sicilian, English, Grünfeld Indian, King's Indian, Benoni, Pirc, King's Gambit, etc..

Whoever wins this in the end is a real champ, and certainly no longer a random one!