Author: Christophe Theron
Date: 10:47:58 09/16/02
Go up one level in this thread
On September 15, 2002 at 17:10:00, Jim Monaghan wrote:
>Hi,
>
>Here's an interesting game played in Leo's AmCom tournament. Although Gandalf
>won the match 3-1, Zarkov had the satisfaction of taking the last game in pretty
>fashion with a positional queen sacrifice where Zarkov's pieces overcame
>Gandalf's lady.
>
>
>[Event "AmCom_2"]
>[Site "DUAL-P3-1266"]
>[Date "2002.09.05"]
>[Round "1.4"]
>[White "Gandalf 5.1"]
>[Black "Zarkov 4.5y"]
>[Result "0-1"]
>
>1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4
>O-O 7. e4 a6 8. e5 b5 9. Qb3 Nfd7 10. Be3 c5 11. dxc5 Nxe5
>12. Nxe5 Bxe5 13. Rd1 Qa5 14. Bd2 Be6 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Bh6
>Nc6 17. Nf6+ Bxf6 18. Rxd8 Rfxd8 19. Qa3 b4 20. Qa4 Bd5
>21. Qc2 Nd4 22. Qc1 Rac8 23. Be3 Rc6 24. Rg1 Rdc8 25. Qd1
>Rxc5 26. Bxa6 Nc2+ 27. Ke2 Nxe3 28. Kxe3 R8c6 29. Bd3 Re6+
>30. Kf4 Be5+ 31. Kg4 Rf6 32. Kh4 g5+ 33. Kh5 Kg7 34. f4
>Rxf4 35. Qg4 Rxg4 36. Kxg4 Bxa2 37. Ra1 Be6+ 38. Kf3 Bxb2
>39. Rb1 {White resigns} 0-1
>
>There are two interesting decision points. The first one is here:
>
>[D] rn1q1rk1/4pp1p/p3b1pB/1pPNb3/8/1Q6/PP3PPP/3RKB1R b K -
>
>Most engines will want to play 16...Qa5+ here with a possible line of 17.Bd2 Qd8
>and a repitition. Not Zarkov, 16...Nc6 is an enterprising move. I've found some
>engines will play this move as well.
Yes Tiger 15 on PIII-733, 96Mb hash tables, plays Nc6 in 2 seconds.
>The next position is even more intriguing.
>
>[D] r2R1rk1/4pp1p/p1n1bbpB/1pP5/8/1Q6/PP3PPP/4KB1R b K -
>
>Here most engines want to play 16...Bxb3 with this idea: 19. Rxf8+ Rxf8 20.
>Bxf8 Bxa2 21. Bh6 Bxb2. Black has a N+2Ps against a WR. The two pawns are
>connected passers on the queenside. White's c-pawn is safely blockaded and is
>way behind in development. Rooks can wreck havoc in the endgame however. Can
>White untangle himself in time or is the position a win for Black? (Rhetorical
>question.) Black looks clearly better, whether it's a win or not ... is another
>matter.
>
>I guess it's a question of style as to how to proceed. Zarkov's 16...Rfxd8 is
>certainly strong as well only in a different way. The game is kept in the
>middlegame and turns into an uneven battle between Black's well co-ordinated
>forces against Gandalf's queen. The eval slowly creeps up as one progresses
>through the game and only then do most engines realize that Black is better here
>in this second line.
>
>Only Crafty, of the freely available engines I tested, like Zarkov's move. The
>others all perfer the more prosaic endgame alternative which seems a strong line
>as well, if not as enterprising.
>
>In the second position, does any other program, besides Zarkov and Crafty perfer
>the middlegame approach?
>
>Cheers,
>Jim
Tiger 15 considers Rfxd8 for a very long time but does not play it. I stopped
the search after 5 minutes.
Christophe
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