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Questions tagged [statistics]

Questions about game statistics, e.g. the winning percentage of a "line," the probability of some event occurring in a game, or player statistics.

Questions about chess statistics, e.g. the winning percentage of an opening, the probability of some event occurring in a game, or player statistics.

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What is the average length of a game of chess?

I hope this is an appropriate question for this site as I've been wanting a reputable answer. Of course the length of games can vary wildly, but what is the expected number of moves until either a checkmate or trivial draw position is reached?…
Zong
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Do strong players move their pieces with different relative frequencies than weak players?

This question is an offshoot of Ramon Snir's earlier one about how often different types of pieces get moved, on average, in a game of chess. My question: Do the relative numbers of moves for the given types of pieces differ when one looks at the…
ETD
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How often does castling occur in grandmaster games?

May I know how to find in all grandmaster games, what the percentage of each of the following is? Kingside castling Queenside castling Never castled by the end of the game but still has the right to castle Lost the right to castle Note When one…
Zuriel
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Are chess players getting better, given the same rating?

Chess ratings are a relative thing at a particular time, just like boxing. It is not absolute, compared to weightlifting for example, in which the records keep getting broken. How would say a 1700 rated player of say 50 years ago who is no longer…
Autistic
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How do age and initial rating correlate to decline in playing strength with age?

The current Rausis phone cheating scandal saw a player with an initial rating of about 2500 in his 50's improve by about 200 rating points in 6 years. This improvement was remarkable because older players are expected to get weaker with age. It…
Brian Towers
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What openings typify 21st century chess?

What openings are particularly typical of 21st century chess so far? To be more clear, which openings are particularly popular in the 21st century relative to the 20th century? For example, certain hypermodern defenses became a lot more popular in…
Andrew Latham
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Does the first-move advantage for White have real meaning apart from the highest levels of play?

Most games that involve taking turns, with one player going first by lot or agreement, have some sort of advantage to going first. Tic-tac-toe, for instance, is a guaranteed draw for player 1, assuming correct play. Connect 4 is a guaranteed win for…
Jonathan Garber
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Pawn to Queen probabilities chart

Statistically speaking, which white and black pawns are most likely to be queened?
blunders
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Did the Queen's Gambit series lead to an increased popularity of the Queen's Gambit opening?

A number of sources have commented on the impact of the Queen's Gambit series on the chess world, usually referring to online chess: The Queen’s Gambit, the Chess Boom, and the Future of Chess How has The Queen’s Gambit impacted the popularity of…
SecretAgentMan
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Do any grandmasters win more with black than white?

Some statistics indicate white scores 52-56% - but I wonder if that differs according to playing style - e.g. perhaps strong defenders prefer the black pieces. Do any former/current grandmasters have stronger win records with the black pieces than…
stevec
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How often do grandmasters miss checkmate?

Although top players are extremely good at finding checkmate, the number of permutations of moves in just 3 moves can be hundreds of thousands, and the farther out the possible mate (e.g. mate in 4, mate in 5), the more permutations are possible; so…
stevec
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Is the number of possible chess games infinite?

This question is somewhat related to Can the total number of possible wins/draws/losses be calculated?, but slightly different. There is a recent TV show episode that claims that there are "more possible games of chess than atoms in the universe".…
landroni
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Does GM Larry Kaufman's "principle of the redundancy of major pieces" truly exists? Or could this effect be caused by the number of Pawns instead?

The following is an extract from The Evaluation of Material Imbalances by GM Larry Kaufman. I put in bold characters everything that was important for this…
Fate
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Are there statistics on the results of armageddon games at the GM level?

I've tried finding statistics on the results of competitive armageddon games played at a high level (say, GM level), but to no avail. Evidently, these statistics must exist, as for example FIDE changed the time controls in the official rules from 6…
ATLPoly
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Who is/was the lowest ranked World Chess Champion?

Boris Gelfand has just won the 7th of 12 games (all previous drawn) in the FIDE World Championship match against the current holder of the title Viswanathan Anand. This puts him in a good position to take the title. Gelfand is currently ranked 20th…
b1_
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