How much of chess is luck?

To whatever degree luck affects the players externally, since there's no luck in the game of chess beyond color selection . 

If one player has a heart attack, you can't use that as some example of chess, the game, having luck involved.  By that ridiculous logic, everything that ever happens on the planet every day is pure luck, since an asteroid could have wiped us out in any given moment of any given day...

What about opponent's mistakes? Random events with favorable outcome, aren't they luck?

You're projecting...the one making vague statements is you.  

This statement:

"Luck is anything that happens that I have no conscious control over"

is wrong on 2 counts.  First, we're talking about luck in a game, not general luck.  Second, the game, by nature of its rules, clearly sets up at least two entities to compete, and both of those entities are equal in the "pocket universe" represented by that game of chess.  It doesn't matter that you think that luck is only things that happen to you, because a game of chess is not about you, or your life.  Your PoV is quite narcissistic here.  The game does not exist without both entities playing.  So, your statement, in the context of a game of chess, should more properly be:

"Luck is anything that happens that the players of the game have no conscious control over"

You could still argue against that statement, by the way, but it's far better than yours.

If you consider hanging a piece "unlucky" and something you have no conscious control over, no wonder you moved on from chess.

Of course there is luck in chess other wise an amateur like me would not have a perfect record vs grandmasters.  

Your opponent could be off his best game due to a whole host of possible factors.  

Anyone who thinks there is no luck in chess deludes himself.

No...mistakes are, by definition, a lack of skill.  Otherwise they wouldn't be called "mistakes".  The word mistake implies something that can be corrected (either now or for future occurrences), unless you would care to argue that it doesn't.  Truly random events/luck can't be "corrected" for.  You can't learn how not to roll snake eyes...(well, unless you are cheating, which changes the laws/rules of the game construct).

I also answered your question above in my reply to whoever LadyMisil is...

"Luck is anything that happens that the players of the game have no conscious control over"

...note the plural.  

As if your replies to anything were ever worth reading ...you are the king of the bandwagoneers, never saying anything for yourself.  You are a spectator whose vocabulary is largely limited to "me, too", "yeah, you said it", and "I'm bored".  I mean even Kaynight had more to say than you do, and he posted a whole lot of nothing (it was his specialty).  Must be a chore to just wait for each account to end up closed, then pick a new lolcat avatar and start all over again...

There is no contradiction: lack of skill manifests itself via random events. The higher the skill the lower is the probability of mistakes.

No, chess mistakes can't be corrected - there are no takebacks. But we can learn from mistakes and by doing so we try to decrease probabilities of future mistakes.

And regarding your reply to LadyMisil let me ask you: do you have conscious control over your mistakes?

Lol!  You are getting funny with your incredulous ridiculousness.  If you can’t think about it, don’t expect an answer from me, lol!

Almost means almost.  Look it up in a dictionary.  This is why I say that a game is neither 100% luck or 100% skill.  UNDERSTAND???

Back row or back rank mates, after the first time, is carelessness.  If an opponent left themselves open, you do not consider yourself lucky?  Or do you attribute your win to skill?

And really, another example of you paying more attention to a word than its meaning.  I bet you cannot see the forest because you only see trees, lol!

My view of it is there are many situations which may seem like luck played a part because neither player fully understood the implications of a move when it was made.  However, in practice, when I play a person 100 points lower than me, even if they make no blatant error, eventually their pieces will be misplaced and I will find an advantage.  When I play a person rated 100 points higher than me, even if I make no blantant error, eventually it is my pieces which will be misplaced and they will find an advantage.  And while I can't say exactly where it happened, I can predict that it will happen with pretty reliable accuracy.  And that is not luck.

Sorry, what you are guessing that I am trying to say is clearly NOT what I am trying to say.  I have no control over my opponents.  If my opponent makes very bad moves, I do not feel that I outplayed him.  It was too easy.  I hardly needed any skill to win.  They practically gave me the game.  And nothing to be learned from such games.

So I AM talking about myself as everyone else needs to be.  Only thing that makes common sense.  If you talk about both players under your control, then you are talking about a theatrical play where you are the director.  Sorry, but as much as you seem to want to think that you have absolute control over others, you don’t.  Some control (or influence) but not complete total control.  You simply aren’t God.

Unlike btickler, I enjoy your comments.  They make things fun and enjoyable.  I wouldn’t have even gone to this forum if I hadn’t seen your name.  You’re a cool person.  Those around you must be happy to be there.

Meanwhile, I have met btickler types in my bridge community.  I gave one a chance as a bridge partner, but she became insufferable.  Now she barely has anyone left to play with.  Few people can stomach her attitude.  You are the kind of partner that would make bridge fun!

how is this so complicated? 

If words are defined by consensus and luck is a word then the consensus as of today is defined in the dictionary. Luck: success or failure apparently brought by CHANCE rather than through one's own ACTIONS.  If a move is made in the game of chess then a player has made a CHOICE and taken the ACTION of moving their piece.  If a CHOICE is made to determine an outcome then CHANCE has not determined the outcome.  If a player has made a CHOICE and taken the ACTION of moving their piece then the piece was not moved by luck or fate or any other bullshit regardless of the outcome.  if an opponent has made a move then it was their CHOICE to do so.  if the game of chess includes at least TWO PLAYERS and both players DECIDE which pieces to move then nothing is determined by luck except the selection of the black or white pieces. 

the level of control you have over the outcome of the game has quite literally nothing to do with luck.  it is a measure of your aptitude and experience with the game.  nothing is determined by chance.  if your opponent blunders you can defiantly consider YOURSELF lucky...  because that was out of your control.  but YOU ARE NOT A GAME OF CHESS.  your are part of a whole.  a game with rules.  and two players.

by your logic any single move that your opponent makes that is not 100% optimal is good luck for you.  and any move you make that is not optimal is bad luck for you,  and the game of chess is determined by (throwing out some more bullshit numbers) about 90% luck.  for both players.  does this sound reasonable?  is this really the question we are addressing here?

If somebody kisses enough ass without ever saying anything have they contributed to the discussion.  are they gonna get brownie points?  maybe?  good luck tuna

Come on people, mistakes aren't luck. If my opponent makes a mistake and I don't and I win the game, it is because they weren't skilled enough to avoid that mistake.

Your opponent making more mistakes than you isn't luck. It just means you're the better player so you should win.

Bottom line, chess is a game of decisions. Any decision you make is not luck because you decided to make it yourself, and the entire game is built around those cascading decisions from both players. If you make more accurate moves than your opponent, it is not luck: you are the better player.

I'm a Packer fan, and in the game this week, they dropped many key passes. Are the Washington Redskins lucky the Packers dropped those? No, the Packers were just bad.

oh look you got some since I started typing this.  Good job Tuna its working! 

@btickler,  Don't make me quote myself again.

Here in lies the problem.  In some positions there are clear cut “100% optimal” moves.  But in other positions, it is a choice of style, personality, how complex or endgame-simplified a player is more comfortable with.  Not every move in a game falls under “100% optimal”.  Chess is not quite purely a mathematical problem.  In some positions, it is, just like a puzzle with only one solution, but in other positions it is not.

Once you realize this, things should make more sense to you.

Chess is not luck based in any way. There are factors that you cant control that can hurt your opponent(or you), but they are not directly related to chess (i.e. stress, sickness, poor nights sleep etc.)

Yes you cant calculate every possible line. However one does not need to calculate every possible line. 

When it comes to situations where computers may consider a position to be good while a human position would not prefer it, this comes down to the fact that the computer does not factor in the time it takes to calculate the crucial lines or the consequences of one inaccurate move. A position where you are a pawn up but only have 1 move that does not lose for some long time is undesirable for most (if all) human players. Computers are worried about making mistakes.

If two candidate moves seem equal, either they are both equally good or you made a mistake in your evaluation (as you should consider what it would allow your opponent to do).

Luck will allow itself to come into play if you make your strategy aimed towards it. Playing bad openings/gambits to try to catch your opponent off guard is one way to do this. Another is to play "hope chess". The situations around the chess game may also be favorable (maybe your opponent did not get a good sleep, is stressed etc.).