Ostravský Koník 2010 is the Czech men and women's chess championship
in the city of Ostrava, the third largest city in the Czech Republic.
The high quality black coal deposits discovered in the locality have given
the town a
look of an industrial city and a nickname of the “steel heart of the republic”
[photo Wiki]
Pick a colour: David Navara at the start of the tournament
The top Czech GM in action at the national Championship
Top results after seven rounds
A note on 100% scores and rating performance
David Navara's 7.0/7 is evaluated by most rating calculations – including
the one built into ChessBase 10 – as a 3241 performance. When Alexei Shirov
was leading Wijk
aan Zee 2010 with 5.0/5 points and a 3474 performance we wrote:
"This performance was assigned by the table generator of the ChessBase
database program. Such performance calculations are not fully meaningful for
players scoring 100% (or 0%). Mathematically Shirov's performance is infinite
– we could expect a player rated 4000 or even 40,000 for that matter
to achive no more than he has done. To obtain a practical value the program
assumes he has scored 99% and adds up to 800 points to his nominal rating.
If Shirov does not win a game then the performance will be more realistic."
To this our friend and long-time advisor Ken
Thompson at the time wrote:
"fred, when i did 0%/100% calculations, i threw a draw in with himself,
and did the normal calculation. it is not as phony, gives more realistic numbers
and rewards lesser rated players less than higher rated players. (eg it depends
on his own rating.) anyway, i think it is a much better algorithm and since
you expect an even score playing yourself, it seems well founded in theory."
In spite of his orthography – he abhors capitalization – we have
learnt to always listen to what Ken says. We consulted Albert Frank, an International
Arbiter and retired Professor of mathematics, who had previously criticized
the traditional 100% performance calculation:
"You (the mathematicians/staticians of Chessbase) should know that,
when a player has 100% after a few games, the calculation/estimation of his
performance is a total nonsense: The program gives something from the Normal
Gaussian tables, and arbitrarly adds a few hundreds points. I knew Dr. Arpad
Elo well – we were laughing about such things. Please, in such a case
– and at the begining (less han six games) of a tournament, just don't
publish "performances". The mathematicians will thank you for that."
After leaning of Ken's proposal above Albert wrote: "I think Ken Thompson's
idea is excellent! It could be used everywhere. I'll make a few simulations,
using it. I trust him: this idea makes sense." That's it – we are
implementing Ken's system in ChessBase 11.
David contemplating his performance at the Czech Championship?
In action at the board, where he has won every game so far
GM Pavel Blatny, rated 2409
GM Vladimír Talla, rated 2505
GM Eduard Meduna, rated 2443
WFM Tereza Olšarová, rated 2269
WFM Karolína Olšarová, rated 2191
Anna Bálková, rated 1889, playing in the FIDE Open
The tournament hall
Veteran GM Vlastimil Hort gives a simultaneous exhibition
Links
The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the
chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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