Freestyle Chess is Coming Home

[Cornfed]

By the way, I do enjoy centaur chess against weaker, beatable engines.

Of course you would!

[carldaman]

By the way, I do enjoy centaur chess against weaker, beatable engines.

Of course you would!

It's a good way to fine tune one's repertoire and learn new attacking schemes.
The top engines cancel each other out. Sometimes it's better to assume and expect
weaker moves instead of near-perfection and the lesser engines provide that.

[Eduard]

How it all started:
The FreestyleChess was held for the first time in 2005 on the Fritz server of Fa. ChessBase. There was a sponsor, so a lot of good players could be won. Some chess grandmasters play along (including GM H. Nakamura, Nick name "Star Wars"). Some Corr grandmasters also played (also an corr world champion). The then Rybka programmer V. Rajlich also played along. The tournaments lasted until 2008. I've safed most of these games.

Here is a download of these games (3023 games) in CBH and PGN format:

https://filehorst.de/d/cEwAnjir

Anyone who analyzes these games, can get an idea of how well or how badly the freestyle players played in the light of today's super engines.

[Eduard]

Upcoming tournaments on Infinity Chess:
http://www.infinitychess.com/Tournaments/Forthcoming

As soon as I have information on how to register for the freestyle tournament, I will point this out. A room for qualification has currently been set up on the server, but information on registration is still missing there. In any case, it is worth checking the "Forthcoming" page (link above) regularly.

You can also register here, please read carefully:
http://www.infinitychess.com/Page/Publi ... tView=true

[Eduard]

Important: The registration deadline is October 21, 2021.

On my homepage there is a new page "Freestyle Chess". I am now writing about Freestyle Chess for German interested people.

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

I will gradually add more graphics and explain basic things about playing on the server. It is important that you learn how engines are installed and started, and how opening books are created and used. When playing online with engines, it is an advantage to use the "IC Engine Reloader" tool so that there is no hang-up. With Freestyle Chess most of it is of little importance because no engine is loaded (except of course Kiebitz Engines).

[Eduard]

I had a request about forfeit money. If you complete the Tour (not missing any rounds or withdrawing) you will get back $50.

[Ozymandias]

Are you part of the organization?

[Eduard]

No, absolutely not. But I love this discipline and I would like chess to become more interesting with Engines. The limited time to think about it as well as human decisions in strategy and book can influence the positive and negative outcome of the game. Every move has to be done by humans. You can't just sit in the armchair, have a few beers and let the engine do the work, and scream hurra I won. There will be no primitive victories due to simple book errors, as often happens with automatic engine games.

[Eduard]

One more note: On my homepage I write about the three most important game servers: Lichess, InfinityChess and PlayChess. First I wrote something about Lichess. Due to current events, it is now the turn of InfinityChess. After that I will also write about PlayChess (and tournaments there), where I also play. The PlayChess page is still blank, but that will change.

[Eduard]

Freestyle Chess League Qualification Tour (starts 13thNovember, 1830 ST)
Invitation: Qualification tournament - - - (changed schedule!!)

http://www.infinitychess.com/Page/Publi ... tView=true

11 rounds Swiss System
60 min per game + 30 sec per move
Centaur mode only

3 Weekends (Sat/Sun):

13.-14. November 2021 (3 matches, 1 Saturday 18:30, 2 Sunday)
11.-12. December 2021 (4 matches, 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday)
15.-16. January 2022 (4 matches, 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday)

Start times 14:00 and 18:30 (Server time)

Registration End: 11/11/2021 11:00:00 PM

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My Opinion:

A number of participants have already registered, but it can be assumed that some players will have difficulties keeping all the dates set for October 2021. So there is a good thing about the shift. There is also a good opportunity for newcomers to familiarize themselves with the mode and the software. I wrote a short introduction (with photos and tips) on my "Freestyle Chess" page:

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

Eduard