[Cyrus]

(A match is series of games.)

- I don't know if you are allowed to "past post" and how many moved deep into a Chess game. But know this: in Chess, Bayesian rules are to be used very, very cautiously as they apply to the opening. Say, Kramnik has the edge over Leko by 11-7 (Kramnik has won 11 games and lost 7, in their lifetime meetings, with draws not counting). Say, also, that Kramnik has a 100% record against Leko when playing White and the opening is Opening Variation A. They have played some 4 games with that and Kramnik won them all. If in the game you are betting on, you see Leko as Black going into Opening Variation A, then you are NOT to assume that Kramnik now has some huge advantage. What you should assume is that Kramnik will probably face difficulties in the early stage of the game, at least, because Leko has some "opening surprise" in store, i.e. he would not go into A unprepared!

-- Specific conditions of the games to be played are more important than people realize and particularly the rules on time. Players gain (or lose) on their strength according to the time limitations. Look for older people to be more comfortable with extended time and young people the opposite. (Remember to make an exception for "eternal youths" such as Karpov, Korchnoi, and others, here.)

-- ELO ratings are not to be taken lightly. They provide a solid rating of a Chess player's strength. ELO is also very good (it is actually designed for that) in indicating what is the likely result of a match or a game. Google for how ELO is computed and what are the ELOs of the two heroes.

That's it for now.