Hi there,

I've just finished school and am off for a year or two or random travels, hitchhiking wherever I think it may be fun to be (with maybe a ryanair plane here and there). I have a lot of time and freedom, and am looking for ways to make my life more fun. I'll be following the EPT trail till december (at least, that's the initial plan). Have little money but as I couchsurf and hitchhike I can survive on little. Anyway, that's the context. I'm looking for some fun little prop bets to spice things up a bit. I've not been very creative so far. Do you have any ideas?

The rating prop bet has not taken off so far, for pretty obvious reasons. I think I better one could be : a bet on the rating performance in a given tournament...

It's easier to monitor, it's more fun to follow, etc.

My intial idea would be something like :

I bet I participate in a tournament and play at a level of 2100 F.I.D.E for ex (I'm 2000 FIDE and have been stagnating for years). Maybe we could spice it up with you guys deciding on the tournament or something, and me not knowing till a week before (have me hitchhike across europe!). Hm. Actually we could spice it up by making me have to do a number of things, like sacrifying a piece in a certain number of games, a pawn in a certain number of games, having to play given moves in my games (Na1), certain openings....

I could post games results+analysis+game sheets on a blog or something.

What do you think?

Jeff

Or we could gamble on OTB games... For ex, you live somewhere in Europe that's not to far from my route, and I stop by one day for a game/match....

I will definitely be in the Ukraine (Kiev+Lviv, maybe Odessa) at the end of the month, Romania a fair bit, Moldova, Poland, Germany (probably most of the time in Berlin), Barcelona at the beginning of september for the EPT, Paris, Dublin for the IPO mid october, Portugal, Prague and Poland for the EPTs, but would be glad to visit any place in Europe basically (have good friends in need to visit in slovenia, serbia, etc.). If you give me a couple of days, I can be knocking at your door, you can destroy the tired hitchhiker in 20 moves and have me on my way.

Where are all the gambling chess freaks?

Busy gambling.

I like Ba8 as a prop bet move.

That would totally depend on which color has to accomplish the task. I assume you are talking about white, cause otherwise that would be way too easy.

Have any of you guys ever played more than one rated game simultaneously? Some events will have quick side events going on at the same time. I managed to talk one tournament director into letting me play the odd man out in an extra rated game at the same time as my regularly paired tournament game. It was awesome.

I remember seeing a game where the stronger player had to play Bh1 checkmate to get the win.

I guess the opponent wasn't aware of the bet? Seems like a difficult thing to achieve, even against a guy who has just learnt the rules...

Well, such a bet should be combined with a performance requisite, such as playing Na1 and actually winning the game against a higher rated player.

I don't think many people have played two tournament games simultaneously.... sounds like a weird tournament director. I would be pissed off as a player if my opponent were playing two games at the same time, feels like a lack of respect IMO

not really, just make sure you leave a couple of heavies or pawns to promote so you can set up a discovered check with Bb7-h1 or something like that. and that bishop or a pawn on a right file ldo. over/under on what rating difference this really gets difficult, for, say, a 2200 player is interesting though.

No way, just like smiling said. All you have to do is force the king to some file and then use discovered check to win. You could even promote to an extra light square bishop if you really had to give yours up - unless that isn't allowed.

Yeah, you have no idea. It was a very small tournament where I out-rated everyone by hundreds of points except for my friend who I was travelling with.

If they know about the bet, 600 points would still be pretty easy imo. 400 or so would probably make it difficult.

It was a 2500 against a 2000 I think, with a time handicap like 2 min vs 5. The other guy did know, and you were allowed underpromote. The short time is what makes it really difficult, you have to not only crush the guy so you still have some heavy pieces + a light squared bishop but also do it in the least possible time.

I remember a Na1!! move from a Rowson book (I think 7DCS, but might have been Chess4Zebras) which occurred on the White side of a Yugoslav Dragon. If you know your opponent plays the Dragon then taking this prop bet may be +EV... (depending on odds of course).