The nameless Grandmaster “Kontrajako” edged out mutdpro (GM Minh Le Tuan) in final Saturday’s Titled Enviornment with MatthewG-p4p (IM Matvey Galchenko) coming in third (an auspicious end result for the younger Russian Worldwide Grasp). The highest two locations had been determined within the ultimate minute when kontraJako prevailed towards MahammadMuradli2003 while mutdpro misplaced to fourth-place finisher Zhigalko_Sergei.
To ‘zerk or to not ‘zerk
One attention-grabbing side of the Lichess Titled Enviornment is the “berserk” characteristic and the totally different approaches contributors take to it – some “zerk” hardly ever (or solely towards a lot lower-rated opponents), some “zerk” situationally, and a handful, reminiscent of mutdpro, appear to berserk virtually each recreation as a matter of precept. The hows and whys of when to berserk can play a serious function in who finally wins these occasions and is price a more in-depth look. As an example, let’s look at the video games of our fourth place finisher, Sergei Zhigalko. Why Sergei? Properly, primarily as a result of GM Zhigalko streams virtually all of his on-line video games on Youtube but in addition as a result of Sergei’s epic (and extremely entertaining) tilt and restoration halfway by this event had a serious impact upon the final word standings.
Anatomy of a Tilt
Maybe crucial ingredient in a superb catastrophe story is a promising starting, reminiscent of Zhigalko’s first dozen video games on this event by which he went undefeated, rising because the event chief. Amongst these video games was a vital win towards mutdpro:
https://lichess.org/research/BtCgti67/5l3yR0Ry#45
Nonetheless, in spherical 13, our hero lastly meets his nemesis within the type of the mysterious kontraJako who, as we will see later, focuses on spirited protection:
https://lichess.org/research/BtCgti67/R8Hy4jf5#34
Maybe disheartened by dropping this pawn-up endgame, Sergei then drops a recreation to (the properly named) drop_stone however rapidly rights the ship with two berserking victories in a row solely to come across kontraJako for a second time. Sergei sensibly refrains from berserking this recreation and what outcomes is kind of presumably the sport of the event:
https://lichess.org/research/BtCgti67/qgbVAEmY#22
After this second loss, our intrepid Zhigalko, recognizing the necessity for drastic measures to erase kontraJako’s more and more giant event lead, begins a topsy-turvey run of berserking wins and losses to kind of preserve tempo. Nonetheless, after a loss towards PaulfromSPb, Sergei runs into the “Jako” one final time:
https://lichess.org/research/BtCgti67/h6EgAjFE#81
This third and arguably worst loss towards the event chief (and eventual winner) formally begins poor Sergei’s descent into Tilt-City, inhabitants him. 5 extra losses, all while berserking, comply with, resulting in a dramatic pause in his YouTube stream.
One would possibly marvel why Zhigalko continued to berserk all through all of those defeats. The reply is not easy, however maybe partly has to do with delicate nature of how berserking features in high lichess occasions. In some methods, berserking is a type of chess model of the “Prisoners Dilemna”.
| Prisoner’s Dilemma | Prisoner A snitches | Prisoner A stays silent |
|---|---|---|
| Prisoner B snitches | two years jail for each | three years jail for A |
| Prisoner B stays silent | three years yail for B | one 12 months jail for each |
| Berserker’s Dilemma | White does not berserk | White berserks |
|---|---|---|
| Black does not berserk | No benefit | Benefit for Black |
| Black berserks | Benefit for White | Minor benefit for each |
After all a giant distinction between the 2 is that the second participant to berserk is conscious of the primary participant’s irrevocable selection. This may trivialize “Prisoner’s Dilemma”, as presumably few prisoners, understanding that the opposite has already chosen to stay silent, would additionally select to stay silent after they can “win” by snitching. Curiously, this does not maintain for Berserker’s Dilemma for 2 most important causes. First, and doubtless foremost, berserking is not essentially a nasty factor because it provides a number of benefits no matter what your opponent chooses to do: it will increase the reward for successful, it shortens the sport (a significant factor in on-line enviornment occasions), and the drawback of getting much less time than your opponent is mitigated by the very fact you may assume in your opponent’s time and, furthermore, your opponent can not assume in your (nonexistent) time. Second, the choice to berserk exists not within the vacuum of a single recreation however all through the whole thing of the event. What this implies in sensible phrases is that your opponent could resolve that they stand to achieve extra by “encouraging” you to berserk sooner or later by berserking again since, in any case, as soon as you have berserked, all outcomes at the moment are extra constructive from their perspective than if you happen to hadn’t. Thus, it could possibly be that Grandmaster Zhigalko had, throughout his seven recreation skid, hoped for extra “cooperation” from his opponents, however alas, as an alternative fell sufferer to his personal prowess at bullet chess, for none save the fearless mutdpro was keen to simply accept Sergei’s invites to bounce.
In any occasion, our saga doesn’t finish right here, for Zhigalko, being the indefatigable fighter he’s, now picks himself up, stops beserking, and embarks on an unbelievable run of 9(!) consecutive wins, culminating in dashing mutdpro’s last-minute hopes of snatching the event away from kontraJako:
https://lichess.org/research/BtCgti67/uO2TcPtF
To sum up – the event winner not solely went 3-0 vs Zhigalko, but in addition tilted him to the purpose the place Sergei ultimately, like some type of unbelievable chess hulk, started demolishing all of kontraJako’s rivals all through the essential final half-hour of the occasion. Properly performed, Jako. Properly performed.