Is there such thing as "luck" in chess?

 

Troll. Probably hopeless, too.

Luck is definitely an element of the game. You can get a lucky pairing in a tournament or make a lucky move (you only have 16 pieces so something like a max of around 100 possible moves in a position to consider; if you know nothing about chess other than how to make a legal move, then 1 in 100 is pretty decent odds to select the best one!), but you can't have a lucky career.

 

In this sense, it is more similar to something like golf then something like running. A hobby golfer could hit a single better shot than a pro one in a thousand tries, but they will never have a better round then one. On the flip side, a hobby jogger will simply never come close beating a pro over any distance over say 1k over the course of a race (barring injuries in both cases)

“This is why I don't think you truly believe chess is a sport, and simply say this so parents hire you to coach their kids. “

This is so dumb I don’t know where to start. Parents don’t run around with a thesaurus asking if chess is a sport.

I only want them in my class if the kid is enthusiastic about chess.

Many of the parents want their kids to participate in a tournament, and that is one of my main goals too.

My beginner class teaches them rules and some basics, my advanced class is tournament preparation, though some don’t do tournaments for various reasons.

All the big tournaments for kids are 1 hour long games, usually 5 games, which is a full day of chess. There will usually be one every week or two. No one does blitz tournaments like that, so go organize a blitz tourney for 400 kids if you really want to try it.

what would be funny:

Me:”Yeah I am going to teach the kids slow chess as practice for blitz”

Parent: “Oh…. preparing them for a blitz tournament”?

Me:”No. All the tournaments are slow chess “

Parent:”….? I don’t understand?”

Me: “It’s what some guy on the internet told me. Yeah he never coached before, but gosh it just sounded like good advice. Also, the kids are blundering even faster than they used to. It’s a good thing you hired a coach!”

Coolout I am guessing you have brought precisely zero new people into chess.

How close am I to hitting home?

 

than

"no different"=intelligent and informed and cares about chess and kids

ok, come down to my town, get permission for a large venue like a school, hire your staff, organize a blitz tournament. I am literally not stopping you.

 

Round one started at 11:00 am. It is 1:50 pm and 75% of the round three games are underway. The two weakest players lost in less than five minutes. The time control is g/30.

Well you bring up me and how many kids you think i encourage or discourage from chess.

Why am I fair game in this regard and it are not?

Yes Ziryab I miss the fun!

I always had a sinking feeling when I see a kid come back 5-10 minutes after the start of the round. I try to get them to play a full hour of chess, and write the moves down if they are old enough. I can’t help much without the game!

Because Coolout I look at all the chess tournaments organized here.

And anyway if I saw beginners trying to play blitz I would probably just cry. “Queen en prise…..Queen not captured. Repeat next turn “

Yeas.

 

It's online.

Our state tournament in late April 2022 is still currently planned for in-person. The last time it was at the Tacoma Convention Center, we had more than 1400 participants. This is only elementary and middle school. In April 2020, the event had 1200 on ChessKids and no middle school. I was principle organizer in 2021 when we had only 750 and ran it on this site, opening it to K-12. Three months before the event, we feared we would have fewer than 400, which would have killed us financially.

 

On benefit of online is that I get full and accurate game scores for every game.

 

You think the largest regional tournament in the United States is too small?

 

And that we had almost twice as many as the data was leading us to expect.

I suppose I might mention that to call it the state championship, our rules require g/30, or preferably g25 5

Getting back to chess and luck, I feel if two players are facing each other with ratings of 800 or 900,  and that is their chess knowledge,  scope limit, the winner is going to win not by luck, but finally check mate their opponent. 

I have to say I respect Ziryab in this dispute, and his true  love for the game, and it's future!! Ziryab= 100+    Only people like him will make sure there will always be a future for this wonderful game, especially exercising the brain,  and meeting friends over the board!!  I went to the casino last month and won $88,  gosh that was a lot of skill and made me feel like a winner and it did even though I needed 100% luck still felt good, and used my money to good use, bought a case of beer

there are exactly zero problems getting people to show up for the g/30 tourneys. If I don’t have my kids signed up at least a week in advance there will be no space left.

400 kids in one place is quite a lot to deal with trust me. It needs a small army of officials plus all the parents.

 

In college, we could have bought 40 cases of beer with such a fortune. Rhinelander!

 

It also takes a fairly large space, which is not free.

Yes. Typically it is a school.

I got the school I taught at to host one tournament before Covid, and it was my son’s last year at the school. At this tourney we finally…. finally! knocked off the perennial number one school in the city by taking team first place by half a point.

Those guys were my personal Everest!

Anyway, definitely my proudest couch moment.