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SUMMARY:The complex evolution of chess openings
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260416T193000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260416T195000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260408T095310Z
UID:indico-contribution-305@fisindico.uniandes.edu.co
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Rafael Hurtado (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)\nC
 hess is a board game that demands deep positional understanding from the v
 ery first move of the opening to the end of the game. The initial moves\, 
 by both White and Black\, contain information at the individual level abou
 t each player’s strengths\, knowledge of the adversary\, and personal pr
 eferences\, as well as broader insights into the state of the art of the g
 ame itself. The evolution of chess can be traced back to the fifteenth cen
 tury\, with major transformations linked to the formal establishment of ru
 les—such as Ruy López’s treatise—\, the beginning of organized tour
 naments in London\, the formation of FIDE—Fédération Internationale de
 s Échecs or International Chess Federation\, and the establishment of the
  Chess Olympiads. Several tournaments have been reserved for high-level pl
 ayers\, with selection processes ranging from direct invitations\, such as
  the Hastings call\, to eliminatory systems like the Chess Olympiads and t
 he World Championship Candidates Tournament. Participants in these events 
 bring well-established strategies and techniques\, and innovations that em
 erge from the global practice of chess.\nIn this study\, we analyze the de
 velopment of chess openings over the course of a century\, using the compl
 ete dataset of matches played in the Olympiads from 1924 to 2024. We combi
 ne two theoretical and methodological approaches: on one hand\, we represe
 nt matches and tournaments using graphs\; on the other\, we apply entropy 
 measures and complexity indices to explore and trace the organizational pr
 ocesses underlying the evolution of the game. Graphs are constructed by ad
 ding directed dyads corresponding to the first move of each match\, with n
 odes representing Black’s responses to White’s moves using Descriptive
  Notation (e.g.\, Pawn to King 4 as PK4)\, recorded in a 20×20 matrix. We
  compute the following measures of complexity: Shannon entropy\, Tsallis e
 ntropy\, the Shiner-Davison-Landsberg complexity index\, and the López-Ru
 iz-Mancini complexity index—based on both degree and strength of the nod
 es. These are analyzed across three match outcomes: White wins\, Black win
 s and draws. In- and out-degree and strength are associated with the playe
 r’s perspective (White or Black)\, while outcomes are treated as subsyst
 ems to estimate Tsallis entropy. Our results show that chess has evolved t
 owards increasing diversity\, due to broader explorations and preferences 
 for rare strategies\, reflecting both innovation and adaptation to evolvin
 g winning patterns: While Shannon entropy captures the growing dispersion 
 of opening choices and shifts in player´s preferences\, and complexity in
 dices highlight rising interdependence between moves\, assuming superaddit
 ivity Tsallis entropy parameter (q)\, ranges from 1.1 to 3.0\, signals a t
 ransition toward correlated structures.\n\nhttps://fisindico.uniandes.edu.
 co/event/23/contributions/305/
LOCATION:Universidad de los Andes ML-513
URL:https://fisindico.uniandes.edu.co/event/23/contributions/305/
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