AI-powered mechanisms as judges: Breaking ties in chess

Area of Science:

• Sports Analytics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Game Theory

Background:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in sports for decision-making.
• Traditional chess tiebreakers often reduce game quality.
• There is a need for objective and high-standard tiebreaking mechanisms in elite chess.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel AI-driven method for objective tiebreaking in chess.
• To evaluate the quality of players' moves using AI.
• To maintain the integrity and high standards of chess competitions.

Main Methods:

• An AI-driven tiebreaking mechanism was developed.
• Player moves were compared against optimal moves suggested by a leading chess engine (Stockfish 16).
• The method was applied to a dataset of approximately 25,000 grandmaster moves from World Chess Championship matches (1910-2018).

Main Results:

• The AI method provides an objective measure to determine tiebreak winners.
• This approach ensures that the player with higher move quality wins in case of a tie.
• The effectiveness of the AI tiebreaking method was demonstrated on historical grandmaster data.

Conclusions:

• The proposed AI method offers a fair and objective tiebreaking solution for chess.
• This technology can enhance the integrity of elite chess competitions.
• AI can be utilized beyond simple tasks to improve complex aspects of sports.