Data-mining on the game of chess
I wondered what I would find if I examined a lot of chess-games. Not using conventional chess analysis but using data-mining techniques.
For that I retrieved some pgn-files from the web containing 4226520 games of chess played by grandmasters and rookies.
Total number of moves: 243580341
Total number of distinct moves: 7628
Average number of moves per distinct moves: 31932.399187205
Average number of moves per game: 57.63 (white+black!)
27.37% of all games end up as a draw.
Most games are played on a saturday (23.00%) and are mostly won by white on that day.
White wins most games on tuesday, black wins most games on saturday.
White wins most games in September, black wins most games in April.
The games analyzed were played between 98 and 2501.
Most of them were played in 2004 (5.088%).
The games were played at 44855 events at 86398 sites by approx. 346513 players.
Most games (11.21%) were played in August.
The most idle month (6.092%) was February.
Most used openings
4224001 games used a standard opening, in total 5093 distinct openings were used.
Most used openings (ECO codes) with their usage percentage
| Eco | % | Most used on which day | Factor |
| 1 | B22 | 1.829% | saturday | 1.09150991 |
| 2 | B07 | 1.563% | saturday | 1.23868398 |
| 3 | B01 | 1.507% | saturday | 1.23315054 |
| 4 | D02 | 1.332% | saturday | 1.14097035 |
| 5 | B33 | 1.190% | saturday | 1.05051602 |
| 6 | B06 | 1.151% | saturday | 1.13204159 |
| 7 | C02 | 1.069% | saturday | 1.00572394 |
| 8 | D00 | 0.974% | saturday | 1.14044145 |
| 9 | A00 | 0.962% | saturday | 0.98491304 |
| 10 | C01 | 0.926% | saturday | 0.93438863 |
The 'factor' in the table above is how much more often white won then black.
Which color wins most often?
White wins 1.2215 more often then black.
Which moves have the most wins regardless of the piece-type
White
'Factor' is how more often white won then black
| Move | Factor |
| 1 | f6-f7 | 3.4651 |
| 2 | h8-f6 | 3.2662 |
| 3 | f7-f8 | 3.2448 |
| 4 | e5-h8 | 3.2163 |
| 5 | e7-g7 | 3.1881 |
| 6 | g6-g7 | 3.0875 |
| 7 | e6-e7 | 3.0365 |
| 8 | f6-h8 | 2.9871 |
| 9 | f5-f7 | 2.9569 |
| 10 | c6-c7 | 2.9459 |
|
Black
'Factor' is how more often black won then white
| Move | Factor |
| 1 | f3-f2 | 2.6734 |
| 2 | h1-f3 | 2.5719 |
| 3 | f2-f1 | 2.4563 |
| 4 | g3-g2 | 2.3948 |
| 5 | e3-e2 | 2.3821 |
| 6 | e2-g2 | 2.3188 |
| 7 | d3-f3 | 2.2889 |
| 8 | d3-d2 | 2.2648 |
| 9 | e3-f3 | 2.2591 |
| 10 | f3-g3 | 2.2100 |
|
High move-frequency for a certain piece: which one gives a better chance of winning?
White
'Factor' is how more often white won then black
| Piece | Factor |
| 1 | Q | 1.3017 |
| 2 | P | 1.2999 |
| 3 | N | 1.2637 |
| 4 | B | 1.2581 |
| 5 | R | 1.2171 |
| 6 | K | 0.8925 |
|
Black
'Factor' is how more often black won then white
| Piece | Factor |
| 1 | Q | 0.8973 |
| 2 | R | 0.8790 |
| 3 | P | 0.8686 |
| 4 | B | 0.8471 |
| 5 | N | 0.8335 |
| 6 | K | 0.6446 |
|
Which moves with what piece gives the most wins
White
| Move | Piece | Factor |
| 1 | f7-g8 | P | 6.3797 |
| 2 | a7-b8 | P | 6.0968 |
| 3 | b7-c8 | P | 5.8899 |
| 4 | f7-f8 | P | 5.8325 |
| 5 | f7-e8 | P | 5.6647 |
| 6 | g7-g8 | P | 5.6357 |
| 7 | c7-c8 | P | 5.4406 |
| 8 | e7-e8 | P | 5.4158 |
| 9 | a7-a8 | P | 5.3556 |
| 10 | b7-b8 | P | 5.2106 |
|
Black
| Move | Piece | Factor |
| 1 | a2-b1 | P | 5.1277 |
| 2 | g2-g1 | P | 4.8847 |
| 3 | f2-f1 | P | 4.7445 |
| 4 | a2-a1 | P | 4.5302 |
| 5 | e2-e1 | P | 4.5246 |
| 6 | f2-e1 | P | 4.5169 |
| 7 | d2-d1 | P | 4.3709 |
| 8 | b2-b1 | P | 4.3610 |
| 9 | c2-c1 | P | 4.3344 |
| 10 | h2-h1 | P | 4.2792 |
|
A conclusion might be that getting a pawn to get promoted gives you a big chance for winning the game.
What object is moved most?
White
| Piece | # moves |
| 1 | P | 32843601 |
| 2 | N | 21841280 |
| 3 | R | 19858128 |
| 4 | B | 19551292 |
| 5 | Q | 15120406 |
| 6 | K | 13405660 |
|
Black
| Piece | # moves |
| 1 | P | 32966178 |
| 2 | N | 21798577 |
| 3 | R | 19173198 |
| 4 | B | 18390028 |
| 5 | Q | 14737494 |
| 6 | K | 13894499 |
|
Which move was performed most?
White
| Piece | Move | # moves |
| B | c1-e3 | 953690 |
| K | e1-g1 | 2374090 |
| N | g1-f3 | 2703855 |
| P | d2-d4 | 2530838 |
| Q | d1-d2 | 596590 |
| R | f1-e1 | 919784 |
|
Black
| Piece | Move | # moves |
| B | f8-e7 | 1100486 |
| K | e8-g8 | 2390768 |
| N | g8-f6 | 2716605 |
| P | e7-e6 | 1723075 |
| Q | d8-c7 | 621168 |
| R | f8-e8 | 860767 |
|
Interested in datamining in general? Then have a look at MiningCO.
|
|