Author: Anthony Cozzie
Date: 18:41:10 02/01/04
Round 1: Hossa - Zappa 0-1 Zappa's first game was against Hossa. Hossa is an engine that can be very dangerous on any given day, and this day was no exception. The opening featured Zappa with more rapid development and hossa with the central pawn mass. On move 18 Hossa sacrificed a pawn with h5?! Qxa2 [D]2r2rk1/p3ppbp/1p4p1/n2q4/3P1P1P/3BPP2/P7/1RBQK2R w K - 0 18 But for some reason it failed to play Rb1-b2-h2 to follow up the attack. Zappa then sacrificed its a pawn for activity with 27 .. b5!? [D]5rk1/4p1bp/1p1q2p1/p1rP4/Q3BP2/3RPP2/5K2/7R b - - 0 27 Hossa blundered after b5 Qxa5 Rd2 Kg3?? and lost soon afterward. Round 2: Zappa - Frenzee 1-0 Zappa played 1.d4 and got a pretty good position. The book said that White had 7 wins and 14 draws at move 10, so I was feeling good. Zappa rapidly built up a big center, but then decided to give it all away with 18 e5? [D]r2bqr1k/1bp3pp/1p1ppp2/p1nPP3/2PQ1P2/2N2NP1/PP4BP/2R2RK1 b - - 0 18 It turned out that Frenzee's pieces were better placed, but the position was still sharp. Around move 40 both agreed that Frenzee was over a pawn up, but Frenzee blundered with 41. Qc3? and suddenly Zappa had a sharp attack. Zappa got a rook for two pawns and won soon after. Round 3: Hiarcs - Zappa 0-1 This was a Sicilian. Hiarcs did not push especially hard for an advantage, and Schroer commented that 9. Nxc6 probably dissipated White's advantage. Zappa was able to get the standard Sicilian break d5 in, and it looked equal, when Hiarcs blundered with 14. Qe2 instead of Rad1. Quite frankly the tactics in this position are beyond me, but apparently Re8 somehow creates a double threat on the e3 bishop and the h2 pawn. [D]r2r2k1/ppq1bppp/2b1pn2/3P4/2B5/P1NQBP2/1PP3PP/R4RK1 w - - 0 14 After 14. Qe2?: 1... e6xd5 2. Nc3-b5 Bc6xb5 3. Bc4xb5 Be7-c5 4. Be3-f2 Qc7-b6 5. b2-b3 Bc5xf2 6. Rf1xf2 Qb6-c5 7. b3-b4 Qc5-c3 8. Qe2-e1 Ra8-c8 9. Rf2-d2 = (0.34) Depth: 15/25 00:08:13.57 418123kN 1 ...e6xd5++ + (0.59) Depth: 16/28 00:13:11.34 671674709kN 1... e6xd5 2. Nc3-b5 Bc6xb5 3. Bc4xb5 a7-a6 4. Bb5-a4 Be7-d6 5. g2-g3 b7-b5 6. Ba4-b3 Rd8-e8 7. Ra1-d1 Bd6-c5 8. Rd1-d3 Qc7-e5 9. Rf1-e1 = (0.87) Depth: 16/27 00:19:23.20 987680kN This just shows that more depth is *always* better. Maybe not alot better, but better. After winning a pawn Zappa never quite lost the thread of the game, and finally won in a Rook ending in some 80 moves. Round 4: Zappa - Crafty 1/2 This was simply a nongame. It lasted all of 10 minutes. Zappa played the Catalan and Crafty took a repetition draw in some 20 moves. Round 5: Thinker - Zappa 1-0 Zappa played the TMB QGD (where Black plays b6 and Bb7, finachettoing the QG). The big theme of Zappa in this tournament is not understanding pawn structure, and here it played c5 c4, making its queenside pawnstructure very weak. Thinker won a pawn and eventually the game. Sitting through this game took at least 5 years off my life due to nervous stress. Round 6: Zappa - Falcon 1-0 This was a Ruy where Zappa came out of book at +0.5 Zappa got a strong passed e5 pawn, Falcon gave up the exchange for it, and Zappa won. Pretty much a book win. Round 7: Yace - Zappa 1/2 Another nailbiter. Not having had enough punishment the first time, zappa again goes for a TMB. It again pushes the c pawn. It again loses a pawn. I think Yace blundered with 24 Nxd5, when Bxd5 would have been clearly winning. Zappa eventually got a RB v RPPP ending which Yace couldn't quite manage to win. Another 5 years off my life. Round 8: Zappa - Searcher 1-0 This was my favorite game of the whole tournament, although there are those who say I am biased :) Zappa played a London opening and made a positional mistake with fxg3, once again proving it doesn't understand pawnstructure. Searcher won a pawn, but Zappa was still up in development, and Searcher blundered badly with 22 ... Nd6?? (f5 looks much better) [D]r1b2rk1/pp3ppp/3n4/P1qp4/2pN1Q2/2P3PP/1PB3PK/R4R2 w - - 0 23 A few moves later Zappa was able to get a tactical win with Re6! [D]1rb2rk1/4R1p1/1pqn1pBp/3p4/5Q2/1NP3PP/6PK/4R3 w - - 0 30 1. Re1-e6 Bc8xe6 2. Nb3-d4 Qc6-c4 3. Qf4xd6 Be6xh3 4. Kh2xh3 Kg8-h8 5. Nd4-e6 Rf8-g8 6. Qd6-d7 Qc4-c8 7. Qd7xd5 Rb8-a8 8. Qd5-f5 = (3.58) Depth: 15/23 00:03:03.90 174729471kN Round 9: Zappa - Ruffian 1-0 Zappa-Ruffian was a complicated semi-closed game. Ruffian was able to get a decisive advantage by pushing its Kingside pawns, something Zappa never likes to do. Once again Zappa's lack of pawn knowledge led to a horrible position: in the diagram Zappa's bishop on h2 is worthless and Ruffian has two bishops for a rook and pawn, not to mention its outside passer. [D]6k1/1R3b2/p5n1/q2p2b1/2pP1p2/2P5/1QP2PPB/6K1 w - - 0 36 Nevertheless, Zappa soldiered on. I'm not sure where Ruffian's advantage dissipated, at move 90 it played Kg7 with a draw score. Apparently its forward pruning missed something, because Zappa played g5! and the counterattack began. (Bxg5 Ra5 Bf6 Ba3 Bxc3 Rxd5, although its better than what ruffian played in the game). [D]8/6k1/R7/2Bb4/2p2pPb/2P2P2/6K1/2n5 w - - 0 91 Ruffian's knight proved out of place and Zappa ended up with R for N, which it converted into the point in some 100 moves. Maybe I shouldn't make fun of Uri for his long games :) Tiebreak games: Zappa got two bad booklines vs crafty and was crushed. Against Hiarcs it managed 1 win and one loss. Summary: All in all Zappa was very lucky. It had lost positions vs Frenzee, Yace, Searcher, and Ruffian. But, as IM Schroer said to me last CCT, its better to be lucky than to be good. anthony
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