Chess Handicap - History

History

According to Harry Golombek, "Odds-giving reached its heyday in the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century." Indeed, it was so prevalent in the 18th century that Philidor (1726–95) played the vast majority of his games at odds. About fifteen percent of the known games of Paul Morphy (1837–84) are games in which he gave odds.

Howard Staunton in The Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) advised inexperienced players to accept odds offered by superior players and, upon improving to the point that they can themselves give odds to some players, to avoid playing such players on even terms, warning that doing so is apt to induce "an indolent, neglectful habit of play". In 1849, Staunton published The Chess-Player's Companion, a 510-page work "chiefly directed to the exposition of openings where one party gives odds". Just over 300 pages were devoted to odds games: Book I (pages 1 to 185) contained games played at various odds, and most of Book V (specifically pages 380-496) discussed various types of odds, including exotic and unusual ones. The late-19th century chess opening treatise Chess Openings Ancient and Modern, by Edward Freeborough and Charles Ranken, included fourteen pages of analysis of best play in games played at odds of Pawn and move, Pawn and two moves, and either knight.

Macon Shibut writes that in the mid-19th century "chess was a gambling game ... . Individual matches for stakes were the focus of organized play. Matches between leading players attracted a wide following so masters often succeeded in finding sponsors to back their personal wagers." However, the available sums were generally relatively meager, and travel was arduous, so the amount of money obtained in this way was not sufficient to enable professional chess players to support themselves financially." Moreover, the first major chess tournament was not organized until 1851, and chess tournaments remained a rarity for several decades after that. With tournaments not a reliable means of making a living, odds-giving became a way for masters to entice amateurs into playing for wagers, since the odds gave the amateur a fighting chance. The odds system even became the earliest rating system: amateurs were graded according to what handicap they needed to compete against a master, and were referred to as a "Rook player" or "Pawn and Move player" as we would today speak of players by their Elo ratings, e.g. "1200 player" and "1800 player".

The playing of games at odds gradually grew rarer as the nineteenth century proceeded. Today, odds games, except for those at time odds, have all but disappeared. Shibut posits that games played at material odds became unpopular for (1) technological, (2) political, and (3) philosophical reasons. Taking these in turn, first, the introduction of chess clocks gave rise to a new way to give odds, one that has today supplanted material odds as the preferred mode of odds-giving. Second, the Soviet Union supported chess masters and sponsored chess education, but expected chess masters "to be cultural icons, not hustlers". Third, chess began to be treated in a scientific, logical way, "with an assumption of idealized 'best play' to underpin all analysis". From this perspective, a game beginning from a "lost" position becomes less interesting, even distasteful. Writings by Wilhelm Steinitz (1836–1900), the first World Champion, and James Mason (1849–1905) are consistent with the last point.

In an interview with Ralph Ginzburg published in the January 1962 issue of Harper's Magazine, future World Champion Bobby Fischer was quoted as saying that he could successfully give knight odds to any woman in the world:

They're all weak, all women. They're stupid compared to men. They shouldn't play chess, you know. They're like beginners. They lose every single game against a man. There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knight-odds to and still beat.

Fischer later claimed that Ginzburg had distorted what he had said. In 2001, London businessman Terence Chapman, a master-level player, played a match against former world champion Garry Kasparov with Kasparov giving odds of two pawns in each game (the pawns to be removed being different each time); Kasparov won the match by two games to one, with one draw.

The very strong chess engine Rybka has recently played a series of odds matches against strong human players. On March 6–8, 2007, Rybka gave Grandmaster (GM) Jaan Ehlvest pawn odds (removing a different pawn each time), with Rybka having White in every game. Rybka won 5.5-2.5. On January 8, 2008, Rybka gave GM Joel Benjamin draw odds, with Benjamin having White in all games. Rybka won six games and drew two, thus winning the match 6-2. On March 7, 2008, Rybka gave pawn and move (removing a different pawn each time) to GM Roman Dzindzichashvili, drawing the match 4-4. On June 8, 2008, Rybka gave knight odds to FIDE Master John Meyer, losing 4-0. On July 6, 2008, Rybka gave Meyer odds of pawn and three moves, winning 3-1.