Author: Steve
Date: 22:28:38 12/24/00
Go up one level in this thread
On December 25, 2000 at 01:07:23, Bruce Moreland wrote: >On December 24, 2000 at 22:08:30, Steve wrote: > >>On December 24, 2000 at 17:44:30, Roger D Davis wrote: >> >>>They should play a set number of games, say 5 or ten. At the end of that >>>tournament, if the results are not statistically significant, they should play >>>on until the results ARE statistically significant. If you look at all past >>>world champions, it appears that there have seldom been enough games played to >>>make a statistically significant champion. Sad, but true. The world championship >>>is rather like Junior 6 v. Shredder and one program coming out on top by one >>>game. We all know that proves nothing. >>> >>>I do not mind there being someone called "world champion," but I think there >>>should also be a "statistically significant champion." Only the statistically >>>significant champion can be the real champion. >>> >>>Roger >> >>What exactly would be a "statistically significant" number of games between >>closely matched players? 20? 50? 500? Who would sponsor such a match, and who >>would pay to see it? > >Statistical significance has something to do with the number of games played, >but not everything. If you are trying to prove that someone is the better >player, it will take a lot of games if the score is nearly even, and not as many >if the score is close. There is no single answer, it depends upon the score. > >bruce Thank you for the information. I thought that might be the case, which is why I asked about closely matched players. You have answered my real question above, by pointing out that in such a case, the match could stretch out to a completely unmanageable length. And, as you also note, there is simply no reason to require a "statistically significant" result. A score of 3.5-0.5 may not be statistically significant, but as a practical matter it tells most chessplayers a lot about the relative strength of Anand and Shirov at this point.
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.