is there anything as luck in checkers?

[champion374]

let me hear your views.

[Danny_Alvarez]

that all depends on how strict your definition of "luck" is
... if i make a mistake and my opponent misses the chance to capitalize on that mistake i wouldn't call it luck ...
or i could call it luck, but it isn't luck. It is a simple case of a double human error.
All players have fortuitous events in their games .... i am not sure how much of it is luck, how much is human error, how much is preparedness and pressure

[champion374]

Good reply

[chipschap]

In a Swiss System tournament, there is a bit of luck in the pairings, especially in early rounds.

[rich beckwith]

Another angle to this where one can experience luck.... Let's say you're playing a game and debating which is the correct move to maintain a win. You make a decision to go with a particular move choice, but after a few more moves are played out, you realize you failed to look at a good counter-idea of your opponent that you momentarily think draws for him. But after even more moves, it turns out your win is still there, simply because either a saving pitch or rebound shot in your favor just luckily happens to appear to foil your opponent's draw attempt.

[Ingo_Zachos]

It is not "luck" if your opponent makes a mistake and you are able to score, expoiting her error.
A blunder or other, minor errors are a sign of a lack of abilty, and is no form of luck.

I can see two ways luck may play a part:

A) the pairing in a tournament may pair one player up and another player down, or may pair one player against nn opponent that is in bad shape on that day, while her opponent is paired against an opponent that is in good shape. This accurs more fequently in swiss system, but may also be the case in round robin events. In a match this influence of luck does not occur.

B) The opening is balloted by chance, so luck plays a greater part in 3-move then in GAYP. In a match this is levelled by the fact that both players play both sides of the same draw. In a tournament however, one may need four points, but the opening she gets is the Inferno or another one-sided opening that allows a comfprtable draw with the strong side even for a much weaker opponent without much effort.

Also it is possible that one player gets only unbalanced openings, while her greastest rival gets GAYP openings in all rounds.

So, draughts/checkers played in GAYP in a match is not in any way a game of chance, but in a tournament even in GAYP the lucky draw comes in, and we have some influence of luck. In a 3-move match the influence is much smaller, but it could be that a player trails in match by one point before the last round and then the Will of the Wisp is the balloted opening... bad luck. If it is the Inferno, she will be pleased this time.

In a tournament in 3-move both the pairing and the balloted openings depend on luck, and here the influence of chance may be highest, but still over the rounds it will peter out to some degree, but may actually influence the outcome in a close contest. Alex Moiseyev may have had a harder draw then Sergio Scarpetta at the QT in Rome, indeed here luck may have played in Sergio's hands, as did the pairing in the 2009 QT and mybe the balloted opening and the lucky draw in the QT 2010. Miki got Michael Shabshai in bad shape and and opening he knew much betetr that allowed him to win both games, while Ron King got Shane McCosker in good shape and opening he could score with.

A way to reduce the pairing luck may be to play a preliminary round and then small matches as a barrage, but this may considerably cost more time.

[tommyc]

The more i studied the luckier i got......