Hierarchical analysis of behavior in competition: Prediction in chess

Our purpose in this chapter is to explore, through an example, the roles of technical competence and of behavior in predicting the outcome of a competitive situation. Of course, factors arising from uncontrollable natural events (such as bad weather) and from human intervention (such as referee error) could have a marked effect on the outcome. In most competition, however, an effort is usually made to minimize the effect of natural causes to avoid unfair outside intervention.