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Subject: Junior5 as strong blitzer

Author: Dirk Frickenschmidt

Date: 00:17:02 09/08/98


Hi all of you,

to get some more impressions of Junior5's blitz strength, I played
some games on ICC against strong human and computer opponents (the
latter often running on much faster hardware).

I used a simple 200MMX and 24Mb Hash, having to play manually by
switching between Junior and "Blitzin" (the ICC chessboard interface)
in Win 95. As I am a comparably slow switcher (I saw others do that
with considerable speed) I lose at least 3-4 seconds/move for manual
switching, leaving only the rest to Junior, thus slowing the program
down additionally compared to programs answering automatically as well as
against humans who have the whole time just for thinking and giving in the
moves on *one* board.

In spite of these somewhat difficult conditions Junior5 achieved an
ICC rating of 2762 meanwhile, which looks to me to be the best ICC
rating of a program on 200MMX (not counting manual operating) at the
moment. Bob Hyatt or Bruce Moreland (whose Ferret on a fast Alpha
running automatically seems to be top there) can correct me if I am
wrong...

(ICC ratings are not comparable to usual Elo ratings: the highest ICC
ratings are around 3000 by some bullet [game in 3' or 1 '] specialists
who seem to have concentrated on either winning or winning on time :-)
against anybody else, anyway by playing faster than others even
move... This does not reflect real chess playing strength though in my
eyes. GMs are usually blitz rated between 2600 and around 2900 there,
as far as I could see).


Some samples against two different programs and one GM may demonstrate
some of Junior's very versatile playing style (anything from King
attack to switching to won endgames) already on Blitz level. I have
omitted all names of opponent's, because I don't want to shed any
shadow on them, but just show some samples for Junior's play.

I hope I walk on nobody's nerves by being more and more enthusiastic
about Junior5.

For me Junior5 has become the most impressive computer program
surprise since Hiarcs6 and Rebel8/9 - not speaking of Fritz5, a
program I always regarded as very strong and which I use to defend
against unqualified critical verdicts, although it does not quite
reflect my favorite playing style.


ICC Program1 on PII-450 - Junior 5 on MMX 200 [C07]
Blitz 5 5, 29.08.1998
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6
8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Bd7 11.Be3 Rc8 12.Bd3 Qxd4 13.Bxd4 Bc5
14.Rfe1 Bxd4 15.Nxd4 g6 16.c3 a6 17.Be2 Rd8 18.Bf3 Bc8 19.g3 g5 20.Re5
g4 21.Bg2 h5 22.Rc5 Kf8 23.Rd1 Kg7 24.a3 Kg6 25.Bf1 Rd5 26.Rxd5 Nxd5
27.Nb3 h4 28.Rd4 f5 29.Bc4 hxg3 30.hxg3 Nc7 31.Rd6 Kf6 32.Nc5 Ke7
33.Rb6 Na8 34.Rb4 a5 35.Rb3 b6 36.Na4 Bb7 37.Kf1 Bf3 38.Ke1 Rh1+
39.Kd2 Bd1 40.Rxb6 Nxb6 41.Nxb6 Kd6 42.Ba2 a4 43.Nc4+ Ke7 44.Nb6 Bb3
45.Bxb3 axb3 46.Nc4 Kd8 47.Na5 Kc7 48.Nxb3 Rb1 49.Kc2 Rf1 50.f4 gxf3
51.Nd2 Rf2 52.Kd1 e5 53.a4 e4 54.Ke1 e3 55.Nc4 Rc2 56.Nxe3 Re2+ 57.Kf1
Rxe3 58.Kf2 Rd3 59.a5 Kc6 60.Ke1 Kb5 0-1

Junior5  200 MMX - ICC Program2 PII 400 [B81]
Blitz 5 5
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 Nc6 7.g5 Nd7 8.Be3
Be7 9.h4 0-0 10.Qd2 a6 11.0-0-0 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 b5 13.Rg1 Bb7 14.h5 e5
15.Qd2 b4 16.Nd5 Bxd5 17.Qxd5 Kh8 18.Qb7 Rb8 19.Qxa6 b3 20.axb3 Ra8
21.Qc4 Rc8 22.Qd5 Ra8 23.Kb1 Qc7 24.h6 Nb6 25.hxg7+ Kxg7 26.Qb5 Rfb8
27.c3 Na4 28.Qc4 Qb7 29.b4 Nb6 30.Bxb6 Qxb6 31.Qd5 Ra7 32.Bc4 Bf8
33.Rgf1 Qc7 34.f4 Rc8 35.Bb3 Re8 36.fxe5 Rxe5 37.Qd4 Qb8 38.Qf2 Kh8
39.Qf6+ Bg7 40.Qxd6 Qxd6 41.Rxd6 Bf8 42.Rdf6 Rxe4 43.b5 Ree7 44.b6
Rab7 45.g6 hxg6 46.Bxf7 Bh6 47.Rxg6 Rxf7 48.Rxf7 Rxf7 49.Rxh6+ Kg7
50.Rd6 Rf1+ 51.Kc2 Rf8 52.c4 Rb8 53.c5 Kf7 54.c6 Rxb6 55.c7 Rxd6
56.c8Q Rf6 57.Qd7+ Kg6 58.b4 Kh6 59.b5 Kg6 60.Qc6 Kf5 61.Qxf6+ Kxf6
62.b6 Ke5 63.b7 Kf4 64.b8Q+ Kf5 65.Kd3 Ke6 66.Ke4 Kf6 67.Qe5+ Kf7
68.Kf5 Kg8 69.Kg6 1-0

The following game is a short win against a GM who made only one
single questionable move without too much thinking after leaving an
opening he seemed to know quite well (he answered very quickly nearly
as long as Junior was in powerbook). Junior5 immediately punished this
by very sharp play and the GM resigned short after:

Junior5 - Grandmaster on ICC [B90]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6
8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.f3 Rc8 10.g4 Nb6 11.0-0-0 Be7 12.h4 0-0 13.h5 h6 14.g5
[Junior's first move out of book and an excellent answer to h6] hxg5
15.Bxg5 d5 16.h6 g6 17.Qh2 d4 18.Qxe5 black resigned 1-0

These are just some of many impressions I had. They prove nothing but
they tell some to those able to read games with some sense for
chess...


Just enjoy the games and don't discuss Junior's possible rating with
me :-) ...


Kind regards
from Dirk



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