Roll up, roll up for the OTF chess tournaments

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I got my 10 year old a chesskid.com gold membership last week, and she has spent hours on it already, some games against friends and strangers, but mainly on lessons and puzzles. It's a fantastic site.

[Bored Of Education]

After a couple of pub Zoom quiz beers last night, I thought, "I will just finish off the night with a couple of chess moves" and I leave my queen open for TPC. Great.

[The_Purple_Cow]

Chess and red wine is a bad combination.

[The_Purple_Cow]

Well thanks again guys, that was fun. I had my usual share of inconsistencies and idiocies, but let me know when the next one starts.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

A bit of shameless boasting coming up: I just won a match of Chess 960 on chess.com, my opponent resigning after my 7th move (unable to escape losing his/her queen for a minor piece), and the site's computer analysis rates ever single one of my 7 moves as "best move" - an accuracy score of 99.7%. To be fair, I only had to spot one thing really, and execute it. Still, I don't think I will ever match that stat again. (A quirk of the particular 960 starting line up in question is you can open by diagonally attacking an undefended end pawn with your queen, and capturing a rook if your opponent doesn't immediately shield it. My opponent made the crass error of thinking that, instead of shielding that pawn, which is easy enough, he/she could just do a mirror queen attack on my corresponding pawn. Unfortunately for him/her, my first mover advantage as white applied rather starkly.)

My opponent has the handle Cinderella. I am one bad-ass ugly sister. [Edit: and no doubt by the time our second match has finished, I'll have been thoroughly tested on the slipper fit and duly found wanting....]

[Wouter D]

the site's computer analysis rates ever single one of my 7 moves as "best move" - an accuracy score of 99.7%

Wtf... how is that an accuracy score of 99.7%? What does the computer want from you in the remaining 0.3%?

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Yes, it doesn't make any sense, does it? I've been through the analysis move by move and it has no alternative suggestions for any of my 7 moves.

[Levin]

Congratulations ad hoc on winning OTF 24 on Christmas Eve.

Games are still getting tighter I think, compared to the early tournaments.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Yes congrats as hoc, we shouldn’t just take your titles for granted! Ditto Ettienne on 2nd place.

A cracking win by Bored was a worthy climax to the tournament.

[Bored Of Education]

Thanks for that. I did wonder whether Sam had given it to me as an early birthday present but he kept me pinned back right to the end. Enjoyable game though even if I hadn't won.

Congratulations to ad hoc and Ettienne and thanks to Wouter for organising.. Does anyone have the stats for a year/decade end all-time winners' table? I am thinking tournament winners rather than overall games wonners although it would be interesting to see the two compared and contrasted. No pressure, like.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

You think there's someone on here who's a sad enough statto type to put the effort in to pull that together? Astute character assessment, I'm on it.

I'll kick off by posting the tables for all 24 tournaments, in groups of 4. (The first 16 I can just copy from the statto posts I made for the first 16 tourneys in December 2018, on p92.)

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF (max 16pts)
1. IT 16
2. Matt 12.5
3. EEG 11
4. Et 9
5. W 8.5
6 ad h 8
7 Kev 5
8 Sam 1.5
9 BoE 0.5

OTF 2 (max 18pts)
1. ad h 17
2. EEG 12.5
3. Et 12.5
4. W 12
5. Matt 11.5
6 L 10.5
7 Sam 5
8 Kev 5
9 R 4
10 BoE 0

OTF 3 (max 22 pts)

1. IT 21
2. ad h 19.5
3. Matt 15
4. Et 15
5. EEG 14
6. W 12
7. Alex 10.5
8. L 10
9. Kev 9
10= R 3
10= Sam 3
12 BoE 0

OTF 4 (max 12pts)

1. EEG 10.5
2. Kev 9.5
3. W 8
4. L 5
5. R 5
6. Sam 4
7. BoE 0

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 5 (max 16pts)

1. Alex 15
2. Kev 14
3. W 11.5
4. Et 10.5
5. L 8.5
6. VT 5.5
7. Sam 4
8. R 2
9. BoE 1

OTF 6 (max 20pts)

1. IT 19.5
2. Alex 15.5
3. Kev 14.5
4. Et 13
5. EEG 12.5
6. L 8.5
7. W 8
8. Matt 7.5
9. VT 7
10. Sam 4
11. BoE 0

OTF 7 (max 18pts)

1. ad h 14.5
2. Alex 14
3. Et 13
4. VT 11
5. EEG 9.5
6. Matt 8.5
7. W 8.5
8. L 7
9. Sam 4
10. BoE 0

OTF 8 (max 18pts)

1. Alex 15.5
2. ad h 15.5
3. VT 13.5
4. EEG 11
5. Et 10.5
6. Matt 9
7. W 8
8. Sam 4
9. L 3
10. BoE 0

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 9 (max 14pts)

1. Alex 14
2. EEG 9.5
3. Et 9
4. W 8.5
5. Matt 6
6. L 6
7. Sam 2
8. BoE 1

OTF 10 (max 10pts)

1. Alex 10
2. L 7.5
3. EEG 6.5
4. W 4
5. Sam 2
6. BoE 0

OTF 11 (max 12 pts)

1. Et 11
2. L 9
3. W 8
4. EEG 7
5. Sam 5
6. TPC 2
7. BoE 0

OTF 11 extra round (max 4 pts)

1. W 3
2. L 2
3. Et 1

OTF 12 (max 14 pts)

1. Alex 14
2. Et 11
3. L 9
4. W 8
5. EEG 5.5
6. TPC 4.5
7. Sam 4
8. BoE 0

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 13 (max 14pts)

1. Alex 14
2. Et 10
3. L 8.5
4. EEG 7
5. W 7
6. TPC 5
7. Sam 4.5
8. BoE 0

OTF 14 (max 14pts)

1. L 11
2. VT 10
3. Et 10
4. W 7.5
5. EEG 7
6. TPC 5
7. Sam 4.5
8. BoE 1

OTF 15 (max 14pts)

1. IT 14
2. Et 10
3. W 9
4. EEG 8.5
5. L 7.5
6. TPC 4
7. Sam 3
8. BoE 0

OTF 16 (max 12 pts)

1. EEG 8.5
2. L 8.5
3. Et 8
4. Sam 7
5. W 6
6. TPC 4
7. BoE 0

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 17 (max 12 points)

1. L 11
2. W 9.5
3. Et 7.5
4. EEG 6.5
5. Sam 4
6. TPC 3.5
7. BoE 0

OTF 18 (max 8 points)

1, TPC 7
2. W 6
3. L 3.5
4. Sam 2.5
5. BoE 1

OTF 19 (max 10 points)

1. Et 7
2. VT 6
3, EEG 5
4. W 4.5
5. L 4
6. Sam 3.5

OTF 20 (max 14 points)

1. Et 14
2. VT 11
3. EEG 10
4. W 6
5. TPC 6
6. L 6
7. Sam 3
8. BoE 0

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 21 (max 12 points)

1. ad hoc 11
2. Et 11
3. L 7.5
4. Sam 5
5. VT 3.5
6. EEG 3
7. BoE 1

OTF 22 (max 16 points)

1, ad hoc 15.5
2. Et 14
3. W 10
4. L 9
5. TPC 7
6. VT 6
7. EEG 5
8. Sam 4.5
9. BoE 1

OTF 23 (max 12 points) - particularly affected by time-outs/resignation without playing etc.

1. ad hoc 9
2. L 8
3. W 8
4. Et 6.5
5. EEG 5.5
6. Sam 3
7. BoE 2

OTF 24 (max 14 points)

1. ad hoc 13
2. Et 11
3. W 8
4. TPC 7
5. L 6.5
6. EEG 5.5
7. Sam 4
8. BoE 1

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Just posting all that, before I get to the stats, shows me how rubbish my memory is. I'd almost forgotten about Sam's all-conquering friend Alex, and I'd forgotten how long ad hoc was absent for (12 tournaments in a row, nos. 9 to 20 inclusive). Ad hoc has won every tournament he has entered since that long break (i.e. the most recent 4), though of course OTF21 went to a tie-break with Etiienne, and quite a few of us - not me I hasten to add - have taken a rare ad hoc scalp or half-scalp at some point in those 4 tourneys (edit - not counting his OTF 23 time-outs).

[Edit: don't hold your breath for my statto analysis by the way, I'm taking a break from this now - family time and all that. Hope to post some of it later today.]

[Etienne]

Yes, congratulations to ad hoc, much too good for me again.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OK, first stat topic from the above is the title numbers:

Alex has 6 titles (from 9 tourneys) - including max points in 4 cases
ad hoc also has 6 titles (from 9 tourneys) - still to achieve a max points haul, getting closest in OTF 22 but dropping half a point to Sam
IT has 4 titles (from 4 tourneys!) - including max points in 2 cases
Etienne has 3 titles (from 21 tourneys) - although the chess.com site won't have recognised his OTF 11 title, as it treated the tourney as if it were a first round. Includes one max points haul (OTF 20)
EEG has 2 titles (from 22 tourneys)
Levin has 2 titles (from 23 tourneys)
TPC has 1 title (from 11 tourneys)
... and Wouter has an "extra round" title from OTF 11.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Next, tables of points percentages (win = 100%, draw = 50%) over matches played in groups of 4 tournaments at at time (for the corresponding tables for the first 16 tournaments in 4 groups of 4, see page 92 of this thread):

OTF 17 to 20 inclusive:

1. Etienne 28.5/36 = 79.17%
2. VT 17/24 = 70.83%
3. EEG 21.5/36 = 59.72%
4. Wouter 26/44 = 59.09%
5. Levin 24.5/44 = 55.68%
6. TPC 16.5/34 = 48.53%
7. Sam 13/44 = 29.55%
8. Bored 1/34 = 2.94%

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

OTF 21 to 24 inclusive:

1. ad hoc 48.5/54 = 89.81%
2. Etienne 42.5/54 = 78.70%
3. Wouter 26/42 = 61.90%
4. Levin 31/54 = 57.41%
5. TPC 14/30 = 46.67%
6. EEG 19/54 = 35.19%
7. VT 9.5/28 = 33.93%
8. Sam 16.5/54 = 30.56%
9. Bored 5/54 = 9.26%

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

... and finally, the all time (OTF to OTF 24 inclusive) total points leaderboard - obviously a function as much of how much one has played as of one's win percentage, though the number of games played in brackets will enable anyone to calculate the points percentages:

1. Etienne 224.5 (from 316 matches)
2. Wouter 189.5 (from 334 matches)
3. EEG 181 (from 318 matches)
4. Levin 177 (from 330 matches)
5. ad hoc 123 (from 146 matches)
6. Alex 122.5 (from 146 matches)
7. Sam 91 (from 342 matches)
8. VT 73.5 (from 138 matches)
9. IT 70.5 (from 72 matches)
10. Matt 70 (from 126 matches)
11. Kev 57 (from 104 matches)
12. TPC 55 (from 144 matches)
13. Rogin 14 (from 68 matches)
14. Bored 9.5 (from 332 matches)

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Compiling those numbers made me realise that it's been quite recent that my relative form has fallen off a cliff - my points percentages for the six groups of 4 tournaments each, in chronological order, rounding down to the nearest whole number, have been 70. 58, 57, 57, 59, 35, so it's really just the last 4 tourneys - the last 10 months - where I've been relatively much weaker than historically. Partly that's because y'all have been playing better, but I hope the rest of the explanation is that I've been trying less intensely, rather than suffering significant brain deterioration.

Edit: actually, one obvious correlation occurs to me: the last few tournaments are the first ones which I've had to play wholly on a mobile phone, as my ancient privately owned desktop PC gave up the ghost and left me dependent on my (work) smartphone, as my work laptop won't run the chess.com site software. I do find it harder to deal with info displayed on a small phone screen compared with a computer screen. It could be that, rather than any mental health issues.

[Bored Of Education]

We have discussed before on here how much worse we play when we are on phones rather than computers.