Author: martin fierz
Date: 16:01:48 10/18/02
Go up one level in this thread
On October 18, 2002 at 06:45:29, GuyHaworth wrote: >Yes re the games: thanks - g hi guy, here are 3 games i consider to be "highlights" of computer chess in recent times. the reason i think these games are better than others is that the computer actually outplays it's (strong!) GM opponents in these games, rather than just winning by blunder, which is much more common. RebelCentury(C) - van_Wely(GM) [C04] GM Loek van Wely vs Rebel Century 4.0 Maastricht, Netherlands (3), 21.02.2002 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Sd2 Sc6 4.Sgf3 Sf6 5.e5 Sd7 6.Sb3 Le7 7.Lb5 Scb8 8.0-0 b6 9.De2 a5 10.Le3 La6 11.a4 c6 12.Lxa6 Sxa6 13.Tfc1 0-0 14.c4 dxc4 15.Txc4 Sdb8 16.Sbd2 Sb4 17.Se4 S8a6 18.Sfd2 Sc7 19.Dg4 Kh8 20.Ta3 Sbd5 21.Lg5 f6 22.exf6 gxf6 23.Th3 De8 24.Dh4 Tf7 25.Lh6 b5 26.axb5 cxb5 27.Tc1 a4 28.Tg3 a3 29.bxa3 Txa3 30.Sf3 b4 31.Dh5 Txf3 32.gxf3 Lf8 33.Kh1 Te7 34.Tcg1 White wins 1-0 Ilya Smirin (2702) - Hiarcs 8 [A30] Internet challenge, 24.04.2002 [Frederic] 1.c4 c5 2.Sf3 Sf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Sxd5 5.Lg2 Sc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Sxd4 Sdb4 8.Sxc6 Dxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Sxc6 Evan: Eureka, open game!! Mig: Not a bad idea against a comp. Get the queens off the board and you almost never get mated! 10.Sc3 Ld7 Mig: Symmetrical pawn structure, equal material... Are they just going to agree to the draw now? :-) 11.Le3 e5 Mig: White has chances to do something with his minimally better development, but I'm not sure he will. A weak pawn on c6 is one thing, but giving the computer the advantage of the bishop pair would not be good. The bishop pair in an open position is worth as much as an isolated pawn or two. Smirin has to count on HIARCS making mistakes in this simple position. 12.Tc1 Td8 Mig: Since computers can't plan as such, they often wander into trouble when they can't find a clearly superior line of analysis. But this position may be too simple for that to happen. Time: 54:1. 01 13.Ke1 Ardee: The most boring game of the series by far. Mig: Other ways computers can lose these positions include getting overextended pawns. For example, f5-e4 or something, then the pawns could be lost in an endgame. And we all know how HUMANs can lose these positions to computers. Fine, good, okay, fine, OOPS, MY ROOK! White's bishops create a lot of pressure on the black queenside. The black rook might have been better left ona8 in the long run. 13...Le7 14.f4 Mig: f3 would just lock up the g2 bishop, but the white king needs to make way for the h1 rook. So f4, which also challenges black in the center. Time: 53:55 14...exf4 15.gxf4 Twinzen: Why not Bxf4? Mig: It's not so much why not Bxf4, but why. It wouldn't do much at all, and would leave an isolated e2 pawn. 15...0-0 16.Sd5 Mecking: Mecking says Bd6 also. 16...Ld6 17.Kf2 Mig: Note that gxf4 created a potential passed e-pawn. Far, far away, but it's an imbalance that a human understands, while the comp can't imagine that e2 pawn becoming a queen on move 48. 17...Le6 18.Thd1 Mig: White would like to 'encourage' black to give up the bishop pair. Then the black a and b pawns will be hard to defend in the long run. 18...Td7 Time: 45:50. Ardee: Nc3 followed by Rg1 for White? Mig: HIARCS tries to set up some tactical tricks on the d-file. I like the plan. White must either double on the d-file himself or leave it to black. b4 looks risky for ahuman! 19.Sc3 Mig: Protecting d1 with the knight, but losingtime. Any advantage white had is gone now. 19...Tfd8 GM Mecking: I agree with you Mit. Black is ok in this position. 20.a3 Se7 Mig: White still has queenside pressure with his bishops and isn't panicking here. But black is headed for f5. Bxa7 Bxf4 doesn't look like much fun for white, but at least the pressure on the d-file would be broken and Smirin could probably draw that ending. 21.Rd3 would also block the black pressure on the d-file somewhat, but doesn't do much about ...Ng6, hittingthe f-pawn. Playing the king up is another try. Mecking: I have to go. I enjoyed my first visit to the Fritz server. Time: 41:47 [ 20...Se7 21.Txd6 Mig: That's an interesting exchange sac, but I think it's a bit early to panic. The two bishops would provide some compensation, but white has a few 'normal' tries first.] 21.Le4 Sf5 22.Lxf5 Lxf5 Mig: It was either give up the bishops or give up a pawn. Time: 32:45 23.Td4 a6 Mig: Now White has the goal of winning a bishop for his knight, even if it costs a pawn. If he can get rid of the black dark-squared bishop then he will have very good drawing chances thanks to the opposite colored bishops. We'll see if HIARCS knows to avoid this. In general the computer will try to keep the bishops anyway. The rooks are destined to be swapped thanks to their placement on the d-file. He played Rd4 to play Ne4, and a pair of rooks will go after Be7 Rxd7. 24.Sa4 Mig: Hmm, what about Bxa3? 24...Le7 Mig: avoids back-rank mate tricks. 25.Txd7 Lxd7 26.Sc3 Mig: HIARCS didn't take the bait! I asked earlierif it would understand the opposite colored bishops drawing potential. It just might! 26...Lh4+ Mig: Always attacking chances with the bishops on theopen board. And excellent endgame winning chances because pawns on both sides of the board. 27.Kg1 Time: 25:42 27...f5 Mig: Black has two pawn islands versus white's three, Black has the two bishops in an open positions with pawns on both sides of the board. That's two small advantages that are pretty big when combined. 28.Td1 Lc6 29.Txd8+ Lxd8 Mig: The remaining question is if HIARCS has the technique to win this without a Smirin blunder. Human praxis says black should keep the rooks on the board and make sure the white knight has no advanced posts. 30.Ld4 Kf7 31.e3 I thought black had a serious advantage a few moves ago, but it's going to be harder to win this in my opinion. TheVish: h6 and g5, Black should be much better. Time: 23:40 31...h6 32.Se2 Mig: Black has to find an entry point for his king and then give up one of the bishops at the key moment to penetrate. It will be interesting to see if HIARCS can do something so far-sighted. So far black is 'planning' well. Kingside pawn-push coming. 32...g5 TheVish: fxg5 is forced, otherwise g4 must be seriously good for black. 33.Kf2 Lc7 TheVish: Why not g4? Why would a computer not play g4, Fred? 34.Lc3 Time: 19:39 34...Le4 35.Kg3 Mig: Another chance to play ..g4. I don't see how black can hope to win without playing that eventually. 35...g4 36.Ld4 Mig: Smirin is saying, "Nyah nyah, stupid computer can't figure out a winning plan if I play prophylaxis." 36...Kg6 Time: 19:35 37.Kf2 TheVish: ...h5 37...h5 Sith: Oh the Humanity!! 38.Lc3 TheVish: Smirin wants to just wait eternally after h4 38...Ld8 Mig: So here we arrive at one of the traditionallly weakest areas in computer play. Endgame planning. If the computer can't find a solid eval gain down one line it will just maintain the status quo. 39.Ld4 TheVish: Bd4 and Nc3 is a fortress. Maybe black can play h4-h3, force the knight to g3 and then take the king to d3 39...a5 40.Lc3 a4 Shay says Simirn is gazing at the monitor. Mig: At least black can never lose with the white king stuck defending the kingside. Otherwise I'd be worried black might lose with all these pawn pushes.. 41.Sd4 TheVish: Bh4+! 41...Lh4+ 42.Kg1 Time: 16:30 42...Le7 TheVish: This could go on for ever! 43.Kf2 Ld5 44.Kg3 h4+ 45.Kf2 Le4 46.Kg1 g3 Time: 14:19. TheVish: It's still a long way to resign. 47.h3 TheVish: Black has to play Bc5, then White can play Bb4, followed by Ne2-c3 and it's a fortress. Bc5 Bb4 is adraw 47...Lc5 time: 11:28 48.Lb4 Mig: Smirin has avoided the blockade before. He seems to be daring the computer to find a win. Of course if the pieces come off the pawn endgame is completely lost for white. 48...Lxb4 49.axb4 TheVish: if Bd3 then Nf3, otherwise Ne2-c3 and Black's king can never enter 49...Kf7 Mig: This is why I always say comp evals in endgames are worthless. They should be binary. WIN or DRAW. None of this -2.39 junk in an endgame. TheVish: It's over! 50.Sb5 TheVish: well, ok all roads lead to c3 50...Ke6 51.Sc3 TheVish: phew! Mig: That's what always drove me nuts commentating when people in the audience are saying, "but ChessSpank 9001 says it's +2.31!" in an endgame that was a book draw. 51...Lc2 52.Kg2 Time: 11:25 52...Kd6 53.Kg1 Kc6 54.Kg2 Mig: Hmm, a variation of the dreaded Kh1-Kg1 attack: The Kg1-Kg2 Attack! 54...b5 55.Kg1 Ld3 56.Kg2 Time: 11:22 56...Le4+ 57.Kg1 Lc2 58.Kg2 Ld3 59.Kg1 Mig: Hmm, this position looks like lunch to me. 59...Le4 60.Kf1 DRAW AGREE D. Alpha: Bravo Smirin. Mig: Next time someone starts talking like their computer eval is God Jr., show them a game like this one :-). Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. I'm happy to be here at ChessBase. I hope my comments weren't too useless for the 2000+ crowd. I'll be in Prague next week for the semifinals and final with comments from Garry in my next article at www.chessbase.com. ½-½ Hiarcs 8 - Gulko,B (2601) [A43] Internet Match (60m+10s), 25.03.2002 [Boris Gulko] 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Sf6 3.Sc3 g6 4.Sf3 Lg7 5.Le2 0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.d5 Sa6 8.Te1 Sc7 9.Lf4 Compared to our first game, the computer looks very well prepared in the opening. I believe Karpov played it against Korchnoi in Baguio. Now it's clear that my choice of opening was wrong, but for this conclusion I first had to play this game. 9...b6 [ Korchnoi played 9...Sh5 which is better.] 10.Dd2 Te8 This wasn't necessary. 11.a4 Lb7 12.Lc4 a6 [ Here it was interesting to play 12...e6 13.dxe6 Sxe6 14.Dxd6 Sd4 but I was afraid to sacrifice a pawn against the computer. 15.Tad1] 13.Ta3 A very strong plan. 13...Tb8 So this was a mistake. [ Maybe here I also had to play 13...e6 14.dxe6 Sxe6 15.Dxd6 Sd4 16.Sg5 with an unclear position. 16...Dxd6 17.Lxd6 Sxc2 But this kind of playing I tried to avoid with the computer.] 14.Tb3 La8 15.e5 Sh5 16.Lh6 f5 it was a usual reaction in this type of position, but here it is bad. [ 16...dxe5 17.Sxe5 Dd6 18.Sxf7 Kxf7 19.Se4 Dd7 20.d6+ doesn't look better.] 17.Lxg7 Kxg7 18.Sg5 Here I don't see a good way for black, maybe here black is already losing. 18...h6 19.exd6 exd6 20.Txe8 This was very strong. [ I had hoped for 20.Se6+ Sxe6 21.dxe6 Sf6 22.Lxa6 d5 with good compensation.] 20...Dxe8 21.Se6+ Sxe6 22.dxe6 Dd8 [ 22...De7 23.Ld5 Lxd5 24.Sxd5 and white wins.] 23.Lxa6 d5 [ Now stronger was 23...Sf6 and it still was a struggle.] 24.a5 This is very strong, now I'm losing. 24...Dd6 [ If 24...d4 25.Sa4 and I don't see a good move. 25...Dd5 26.Lf1 b5 27.c4] 25.Sa4 Sf6 [ 25...Dxe6 26.Sxc5 bxc5 27.Txb8 Dxa6 28.De3 looks like mate.] 26.Txb6 Txb6 27.Sxb6 Dxe6 28.De2 Now it's over, I could have resigned here. 28...Dxe2 29.Lxe2 Lc6 30.Lf3 I'm losing a 2nd pawn and can't stop the a-pawn. 30...Lb7 31.c4 La6 32.Lxd5 Sxd5 33.cxd5 Lb5 34.Sa8 Hiarcs played very strong today. 1-0
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.