Actual FTA Data

[Necrocat219]

(10-07-2012 08:36 AM)Xpander Wrote:  People have been discussing FTA for chess for over a century and the jury is still out on that one...probably until the game gets solved like checkers. I think it's a bit premature to make any conclusions, at the very least until we see some more targeted metrics. More specifically, i'd be interested to see data after patch targeting players who consistently rank in the upper top 100.

The only reason for chess having a discussion on whether FTA exists is because of how different people think. There is FTA in chess. Fullstop. You can see exactly what moves both players do, and white has the tempo. White finishes setting up first. White gets first attack off unless black tries to surprise them (which as you can see each other is difficult) Whilst white has to outplay black once to gain a significant advantage, black has to outplay white twice to do so.

The solution that chess has to FTA is draws; I can't remember where I read this but I think the drawrate for grandmaster level chess is about 30%. This is because the games are so close. now the win % for white is only a few above black, but if no draws existed it would be higher.