Author: Mark Young
Date: 01:48:42 07/27/98
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On July 27, 1998 at 04:09:38, Ed Schröder wrote: >Hi All, > >South Italy was a great place to be. Ischia is nice island for a chess >holiday. There was a FIDE chess tournament with 150-200 people >with as an extra the Rebel-Anand match. > >The 5 - 3 in favor of Rebel was a big surprise for me as I never >expected such a result. My personal expectation for the match was >that Rebel would gain 2.5 points from the 4 blitz games, 0.5 points >from the 2 semi blitz games and hopefully(!) 0.5 points from the 2 >tournament games. So in total 3.5 - 4.5 in favor of Anand. > >The evening before the match started we had a meeting with Anand >and his staff of 4 people to introduce each other and to discuss the >latest details. > >It was a very friendly meeting in a relaxed atmosphere. In his staff >Anand has a Grand master who has Rebel9 on which he was very >positive about. Still I got the impression Anand had not prepared >at all against Rebel. Of course I can be very wrong about that. > >I was asked some questions about the Anti-GM option of Rebel10. >It was funny to hear that the staff people of Anand had translated >Rebel's "Anti-GM" into "Anti-Anand" :) > The KGB could not have orchestrated a better plan to mess with Anand’s mind. His head must have been spinning, for the first time he has been outplayed by a computer. :) >So I explained to them there is no such a thing as "Anti-Anand" but >a general piece of software that should work against all Grand >Masters and that this is a new development which would be tried >on him first. > >We also discussed the four 5:00 blitz games. Here Anand had >a special wish as he wanted to play the 4 blitz games with a >5 seconds Fischer bonus for each move. We were not happy >by this as this would give Rebel less chances. But it was >accepted by the Rebel-team as you don't say no to Anand. > >So after the meeting I reconsidered my personal prediction >for the match from 3.5 - 4.5 to 2.5 - 5.5 in favor of Anand. How >wrong was I! Rebel won the first 3 games and especially game-2 >is a game to be very proud of. I never could have dreamed that >Rebel after day-1 leading with 4.5 - 1.5 already had won the match >with still 2 games to go! > >On Day-2 the staff of Anand came with demands to the organization. >They wanted a better place for Anand, more space for him to walk, >the computer should be moved from him a few meters. Of course >we accepted his demands as they were reasonable. > >The game itself was an exciting game, very attractive chess as >because of the octopus with Nd3 Anand had to sacrifice and >launch an attack on Rebel's King. But it never came that far as >Rebel attacked Anand's King instead. For me this was the world >upside down! > >Unfortunately Rebel collected the material win too quick and Anand >with some very fine defensive moves assured the draw. > >Instead of 33..Bxb2+ Rebel first should have played 33..Qe6! Rebel >shows the following fine line: 33..Qe6 34.Bc6 Rc3!! 35.bxc3 Qc4! >and Rebel wins. > >33.. Qe6! is found one iteration later with score of about +3.00. > >Although the game ended in a draw I am very proud of this game. >Rebel managed to get world's second best player in a lost position >on tournament level on a normal Pc. As a programmer you can only >dream of that! > >People said that Jeroen offered the draw to Anand much to early. >I have to disagree. The end position is a draw unless Anand makes >a mistake. On this level you simply don't start to play on the >opponents clock. That's against the etiquette. > >The second tournament game on Day-3 was also a very interesting >one. Again it was Rebel who took the initiative with the surprising >manoeuvre 14.Qd3 followed by 15.Qf3! > >Anand took almost 20 minutes for his reply 15..Bd6! >Wonderful chess! > >The remaining ending was very unclear. Although Rebel showed a >score of +2.xx after the Queen exchange I wasn't pleased with the >position at all! > >After the game I asked Jeroen why he didn't offer Anand a draw right >after the Queen exchange. Jeroen said that in his opinion Black was >standing a bit better and that the etiquette says you don't offer a >draw then. > >Although Rebel had the advantage in material in reality all his >connected passed pawns are in fact worthless without an active >King and Rooks. Anand simply got the most out of it and made no >mistake. > >Also here people said Rebel resigned too early. Also here I have to >disagree. You sit across the second best chess player of the world, if >you have a lost position without direct counter chances you simply >resign. No need to wait on a -5.00 (or so) from the computer. Anything >else is an insult if you play against a player like Anand. > >All in all I am very glad with the 5-3 result in favor of Rebel and >what has given me most pleasure is that Rebel was able to set the >rules (or take the initiative) in most of the games even in the 2 >tournament games! > >The press conference with Anand and me was a bit disappointing. Anand >was not willing to answer any question concerning the playing strength >of Rebel instead he gave only evasive answers. > >Personally I got the impression this is standard policy as Anand wasn't >willing to answer similar questions about the strength of other chess >programs like Deep Blue and Fritz too. And why should he as such >statements will be used by commercials and could be seen as an >endorsement. > >Interesting detail, a spokesman of the Anand staff told me, "Vishy will >never play a computer again!" Later Anand said the very same to one >of the present journalists. > >After the match at the press conference Anand was asked about the >possibility about a re-match against Rebel. Anand said he had to >think about that. I wonder if the last game has changed his mind :) > >- Ed Schroder -
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