Chess and Gambling

Chess can be seen as a competition of skill rather than chance or luck, but let's not forget the idea of betting on games that also require some preparation and analytics.
And speaking of other games of chance, for example, about poker, so even more skills are needed there and luck will already help much less.

[removed -- MS]Ultimately, the interplay between strategy, preparation and opportunity to bet adds depth to the comparison between these two seemingly different activities.

There are openings literally called "Gambits" where you give up a small amount of material (a pawn or minor piece) to try to win big...

Interesting topic, as I have asked my members if they are interested in playing a tournament with a small entry fee. The cash is paid out of 80% of the fees. It is a team event and the teams are made up based on a sort of a players average skill rating so it really is not random. I run it daily on chess.com and they award diamond memberships for the free event but I could add an option to play for cash with a entry fee. You can DM me if you are interested in the name of the event or my club. I will attach some results of recent daily events and last month's leaderboard results which earned diamond memberships for the top 4 players.

this is the leaderboard for August:

8 members on the leaderboard are below 1000 ELO. Two of the top four are under 1000. If that is not equalizing the opportunities for novice players I do not know what is.

I don't understand it either.

The Chinese invented paper, paper money, cards, and gambling.

The Chinese are very smart. The Chinese are not dumb.

Mahjong. A perfect metaphor for life.

You are dealt a hand. You pick up a piece, you discard a piece. You try to make your suits first.

That's a perfect metaphor for life. What do you have first. What do you pick up (friends, interests, things) and what do you discard (same thing).

And winning money is the game of life.

Maybe we are too logical, too grown up.

Think back to our childhood, personal and historical.

Superman, He-Man, She-Ra, Spiderman

Magical thinking. Magical thinking in our own childhood and in the childhood of our history. Ancient stories are filled with myth and magic.

We gained something, but we lost something. We lost that wonder.

My niece and nephew when they were young.

Girl: What's in the clouds? Are there candies?

Boy: Are there toys?

Her father said: There's nothing. Clouds are just water vapor.

I would not say that. I would say, "Let's take an airplane, go up to the clouds and see what's in the clouds."

In our childhood, personal and historical.

To be continued.

"Good luck."

Why do we say "good luck"?

There is no such thing as luck.

There is chance, but it is not always in your favor.

We say "good luck" like we say "goodbye" (God be with you [the orginall]).

We say "Good luck." like a prayer.

Indeed, it is a prayer to a god, Lady Luck.

Interlude.

Luck (chance in modern term) is a kind of magic. The last vestige of magical thinking.

(Previous post. Cinderella. Magic Godmother. Magical thinking.)

Lady Luck is a Roman goddess Fortuna.

Reminds me of Star Trek's first episode, The Cage.

The aliens let Captain Pike go.

The say, "She has her illusions. You have your reality. May you find it as pleasing."

To be continued.

We all know the story of the Cinderella woman.

"The Cinderella Man", James Braddock, was a heavyweight boxing champion.

Kids, hard work is the only real magic, ok?

But still, Cinderella Man

That magical thinking part of our mind still lingers with us.

We need that magic. We need fiction. We need science fiction.

What was once fiction is becoming real, every day.

Around the World in 80 Days was once fiction.

Luck is not a Lady tonight.

Luck is a [bleep bleep] who will [bleep] you up.

hello

just an update on my effort to promote the use of competitions where the result is a payout in cash to the winners, It will also award 35% to worthy causes, like the International Red Cross. so the payout goes 50% to the winning teams, 35% to the worthy causes, and 15% to pay for the operation of the events. Who says Chess can't be used to raise money for supporting the efforts of those who give so much to help others? We are in beta at www.4teamchess.com, check it out to see how it works.

its in beta and I am tweaking the code all the time until we get it right it is free.

Hence why some imams say chess is forbidden

and some imams do not, I would think. I do not know the full history of the game in the Arabic world, it would be nice to understand how the game evolved through the years.