A Game of Draw?

A Game of Draw?

Every great game offers an equal opportunity of winning to both opposite players. Let’s look around us, a card game of bridge, FIDE chess, draft etc. are all games of draw, especially when the opponents do everything right. No blunder I meant! Both players have equal chances of winning. That’s fair for both the players with the same level skill of playing to win. In boxing (all kinds of), do you think both fighters have an equal chance of winning. No! Why not? There are many factors but one depends on their skills of fighting. They weigh the same, though. Turn to FIDE chess. This is the same. The stronger player wins. But it’s a game of draw. In these games we can see a stronger player (more skillful) always beat a weaker one. Why? That is because of their skill, isn’t it? Or in another word their intelligence! In FIDE chess does a stronger player always win over a weaker one. This happens too in Thai chess or Makruk. A weaker player has no chance to win. Even the most powerful players of the same level of skill can be beaten easily if he employs a blunder. And one blunder is enough!

Things should not be judged by those who have not been qualified for them. We don’t compare an F1 driver with a rally driver because they are different. Remember both kinds of races are involved with cars, but they are different. Nobody judges which one is better. Makruk is Makruk, where as FIDE chess is FIDE chess. One should not judge them with prejudices!

Every variant of chess is totally different. The goal or objective of game is quite the same, checking mate the opponent's king. Yes, they are chess but different. In chess, results of playing always end in draw, as we find in FIDE chess. This is why a tournament of FIDE chess is composed for opponents with many games, 19 games or more for example. But in a tournament of Thai chess, only three games (with 2 more tie-break games) are available for the final round. This is not impossible for a stronger player to beat a weaker one. I have been playing Thai chess for years. I have been known among friends that no grandmaster of Thai chess beats me easily. But I don’t participate in tournaments. I also can say that Thai chess is not a game of random or luck. It is a game of intelligence. Since the Thai chess men are not so powerful as those of FIDE chess, the players concentrate more and do everything right in each move to occupy the most powerful area of the chess board. In Thai chess, this is more difficult. A great player must learn how to take advantage to occupy the most important squares with the least number of chess men. "Thai chess is much more strategic than FIDE chess. The whole game can be compared to the end game in FIDE chess.", Vladimir Kramnik has said. And so did I say that Thai chess must be played more carefully, but both of them are as good. Neither of them is better. They are both great variants. Besides, the Thai variant is as close as to its forecomers in those days when chess began its legend.

As mentioned above, games of Thai chess always end in draw in every round of a tournament because of there are too few games organized for them. In the last five years, the champions of tournaments win each round in two or three games, or else comes the tie-break of defensive chess. Yes, a small number of games can judge the champions. Comparing to the FIDE chess, in Thai chess a Thai chess player has more opportunity to win than that in FIDIE chess.

Is it fair to judge A superior to B without real acknowledgement? I don’t think it's fair to judge A better than B and prefer A to B because of a prejudice.

A stronger player always wins. (to be continued)

Create Date : 02 ตุลาคม 2550		2 comments
Last Update : 2 ตุลาคม 2550 0:47:51 น.
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