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Is there any luck in a chess game?

Outside of technical / physical issues:

Hero doesn't know what the best move is and plays a random move. It happens to be the best move. The result is better than the expected value of the decision to play a random move, so hero got lucky.

Of course the game itself is completely deterministic, hero only got lucky regarding his own guess.

In blitz it happens that you calculate a line further than your opponent, but he has a ressourceful move just afterwards giving him an advantage.
I call it luck !
Quoting static_shadow because this really bears emphasis:

"People in sports matches often wish the other team good luck. Luck doesn't necessarily have to mean the game involves chance. Wishing someone good luck can mean simply, 'may no unseen forces hinder your ability to play at your best'."

That's exactly what I mean whenever I wish somebody good luck before a game. I consider it the online equivalent of shaking hands before an OTB game.
How about when I play a move that I think is best. After playing the move I suddenly notice a forcing variation that my opponent could play leading to mate...but it just so happens it doesn't quite work and there is a defence. In this case I would feel pretty lucky...
Static shadow said " in Japanese, the phrase used in any case where English speakers would generally say 'good luck' is 'ganbatte' which literally means 'try hard!' or 'do your best!' and I think that's what people are actually telling you if they wish you 'good luck' before a chess match."

Wow, cool piece of info. I'm Japanese and I didn't know that! "do your best" eh? Excellent.
Most people don't count the number of moves in a line, well not more than a few moves, and given the proliferation of potential lines in a game, then I guess 'luck' could appear in the guise of an unexpected configuration of pieces. On the whole, however, as in games like tennis, you make most of your luck.
Here is some more luck.

With my "mikeisapro" account I played thousands of games without EVER going below 1700. I was typically about 1800.

With my "dionysus_god" account, it's hard for me to even get to 1700. My name alone makes decent players challenge me and weak players avoid me.

It's the only possible reaswon I can think of that I am consistenyl 100 points below my other account at all times. This is BS.
Nope. If you win a game, it means that you've played well, you've what it takes to beat an opponent. On the other hand, if you fail to take the points with you, it means that you cannot blame your "lack of luck", but rather your lack of good analysis, or maybe your opponent's ability to play chess.

Greetings from Brazil.

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