Author: JNoomen
Date: 10:02:39 02/11/06
Hi all, After the two postings about the Dieren 1987 tournament I have another interesting story to share. From the beginning of the 80's until approx. 1995, the godfather of the Dutch computer chess, Jan Louwman, played invitation matches with a team of 8-10 chess computers. Teams from Holland, playing in 1st, 2nd or 3rd class could play against a team consisting of the strongest dedicated computers available at that time. Of course Jan not only had the famous Turbokits at his disposal (I believe he had 4 of these things!), but also a fast version of the Richard Lang programs. I believe these versions were playing on 20 MHz. The Dutch teams consisted typically of Elo 1900-2100 players. Quite strong for the computers to handle. I have been at many of these matches and they were always great to watch. In 1988 my own club, Apeldoorn, was giving it a try to take revenge for the 5-3 defeat of 1987. This was a historic match, as it was the first time the 'ROM 84 team' - as it was called - was playing a 1st class Dutch chess team. My fellow teammates were very optimistic about the result. 'These things can't play chess' was heared many times. But Jan Louwman was obviously not in the mood to give the Apeldoorn players an easy day. Not less than 5 Mephisto Almeria's were present, as well as a Mach III, 2 Mega IV Turbo, a Novag Super Forte Turbo and an Academy Turbo. Yes, 4 machines with a Turbokit! I believe Jan had a very expensive computerteam present at that day :-). The match was a clear win for the computers. They won 6-4, a deserved victory. Most memorable of this match, for myself of course, was my match against Richard Lang's new machine, the Almeria 68020. For the first time the modules had hash tables and the new dotmatrix display. Again I was presented with an exchange Slav defence and to my horror I didn't know Almeria's move 11 f3!?. I reacted with the tactical shot 11... Bd3, but I quickly faltered and suddenly there were a lot of pieces pointing at my king. I didn't suspect any danger, until the Almeria uncorked the brilliant 23. Qe1!! viciously threatening to bring her majesty over to the king's side. I thought for a very long time, came up with the move 23... Qa4, but alas: it was expected by the Almeria.... As soon as the operator had moved the piece on Almeria's board, the machine answered instantly with 24.Nxh6+!, announcing a mate in 7! Woops, that wasn't going as I intended..... I played on a few moves, before resigning. My face was turned red, redder, maybe even purple. Well, I had an easy time against the Dallas, but fair is fair: in this game Richard Lang got his sweet revenge.... And a very convinving one! Enjoy the game: [Event "ROM 84-ASG"] [Site "Apeldoorn"] [Date "1988.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Mephisto Almeria 68020"] [Black "Noomen, Jeroen"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D14"] [PlyCount "55"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7 9. Qa4 Qb6 10. Nh4 Be4 11. f3 Bd3 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Bxd3 Qxb2 14. Rb1 Bb4+ 15. Kf1 Qc3 16. Qd1 Qa3 17. Qc2 h6 18. Rb3 Qa5 19. Nf5 O-O 20. a3 Bxa3 21. Rxb7 Nb4 22. Qd2 Nb6 23. Qe1 Qa4 24. Nxh6+ Kh8 25. Nxf7+ Kg8 26. Bh7+ Kxh7 27. Qh4+ Kg6 28. Ne5+ 1-0 Two years later, in the third attempt, Apeldoorn finally beat ROM '84 with a convincing 7-3. This time I could beat the Mephisto Portorose, by playing a very dull opening with a quick queen's exchange. But the game presented above will always hunt my mind....
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