Ligon, Scott   (USA)       [FICGS member # 12964]



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Scott Ligon


I run Stockfish in a deterministic configuration and play the move it suggests. My opponents can know in advance how I will respond to any given move. For upcoming games I will use Stockfish 17.1 with a 50 million node search. Previously I used Stockfish 17 at 10 million and 15 million nodes, then Stockfish 17.1 at 10 million and 20 million nodes, but winning strategies for white have been found against each of those settings. Games already running will continue at the setting I started the game with. See forum posts in my thread "Stockfish unbeatable at modest settings?" for details. If you want a quick draw as black against the 17.1 @ 50 million nodes strategy, I recommend the following line where white's deterministic strategy gets caught in a repetition: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6


Scott Ligon has currently 1 running correspondence chess game(s), won 77, lost 0 and drawn 438 other games against an average elo of 2246, does not play advanced chess (fast time controls), does not play big chess, does not play Go (wei-ch'i, baduk), and does not play poker, finally Scott finished a total of 515 games and is still playing a total of 1 games.



Correspondence chess statistics :

vs. Herbert Kruse (2363) :   50%   (42 games, 0 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Bahadir Ozen (2253) :   50%   (36 games, 0 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Ilmars Cirulis (2246) :   51%   (28 games, 1 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Janusz Swiatek (2261) :   60%   (25 games, 5 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Aniruddha Duttagupta (2308) :   58%   (18 games, 3 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Stanislas Gounant (2287) :   53%   (15 games, 1 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Theodore Mirra (2305) :   50%   (13 games, 0 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Matt LaDuke (2312) :   53%   (13 games, 1 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Sergey Kireev (2289) :   50%   (12 games, 0 wins, 0 losses)
vs. Garvin Gray (2344) :   50%   (11 games, 0 wins, 0 losses)



Scott's favorite game is : Chess

Style of play : deterministic

Uses engines : always

Favorite chess player : Stockfish




Search posts and games by Ligon in FICGS games server     (only for connected players)


Last messages by Scott Ligon in the forum :


Next thematic tournament    (2026-07-30 16:47:06)

After 1. e4 d6 2. d4 f5 3. exf5 Bxf5 4. Nf3 it does appear that white is just winning. With Stockfish 17 (still not SF 18 because the Mac Stockfish GU (...)


Too many groups for tourneys    (2026-07-28 17:34:22)

So what I'm really describing is the death of correspondence chess, which I think everyone can see by now. My suggestion to make the game somewhat int (...)


Too many groups for tourneys    (2026-07-28 17:23:30)

About the top rating group. Under current conditions, there is no meaningful difference in playing strength between any of the players rated above 220 (...)


Next thematic tournament    (2026-03-01 19:25:51)

It does look like black is skating on thin ice in this line. These are exactly the kind of lines that might still be interesting to play in the Stockf (...)


no engines    (2026-01-22 23:22:11)

In the Special Tournaments section there is a No Engines Tournament, looks like anyone can join the waiting list. (...)


Too many groups for tourneys    (2025-12-04 18:31:57)

I agree, though I may be biased. My rating has never been high enough to get into the 2400+ tourneys, and currently isn't high enough for 2350+, unles (...)


a 2300-player tried the Budapest    (2025-10-31 12:46:50)

To make things just slightly interesting. There's no challenge at all in holding the draw with black while playing a standard opening. Modern engines (...)


a 2300-player tried the Budapest    (2025-10-31 00:49:54)

I don't know if you're talking about the Budapest in the context of correspondence games, but it's playable for black, just barely. I don't think it l (...)


Stockfish unbeatable at modest settings?    (2025-07-08 12:59:43)

You might still find a winning line as the game progresses. But if you think you have better things to do with your time than trying to refute these s (...)


Stockfish unbeatable at modest settings?    (2025-07-05 18:11:53)

For anyone looking for a quick draw with black against the 17.1 @ 50 million nodes strategy, I recommend the following line:

1. e (...)