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Subject: Yace at CCT5

Author: Dieter Buerssner

Date: 11:16:32 01/21/03


Note - crossposted to CCC and the WB-forum.

The comments following are not based on any deep analysis. It were
just the impressions.

We used (of course) a current developement version of Yace. The opening
books were by José Luis Jiménez.

First game was vs. Tao. Yace was white, came with slight positive score
out of book. The same opening was on the board later vs. Arasan. For a long
time, Yace had a triple c-pawn. But it even advance, and later one c-pawn
promoted (to get captured). The position got better and better, and
eventually was won.

Second round with black vs. Baron. The first game I (Dieter) watched. Yace
showed a positive score throughout the game, but I believe it was wrong. Baron
was a few moves longer in book, and aligned up his pieces for a K-side attack.
To me, the scores of Yace looked very naive, and Baron was over +1 soon.
Nevertheless, Yace defended well. Re8 and Nf8 were probably a good idea,
and the attack of Baron did not come through. Yace found its counterplay
on the Q-flank, and succeeded. I was honestly shivering during the first
phase of the game. 13...Qh4 seemed really bad.

Third round with white vs. Arasan. Again the triple c-pawn. IM Schroer commented
about it in the sense, that this looks stupid. In 3 games the second time.
Perhaps, after all, it was not that bad. In the game vs. Arasan, the triple pawn
soon converted to a nice majority on the Q-side with a solid pawn structure.
From then on, the score rised slowly, until it was won.

Fourth round with black vs. Crafty. I think an about equal position for a long
time. Both engines saw a slight positive score in their favor. Crafty had the
B-pair. In the rather close position Yace actually preferred the knight. At move
44 the score of Yace dropped significantly and again the next move. I think, the
game was won here for Crafty.

Fifth round with white vs. Pepito. Yace came out of book in a good position.
Pepito had one more book move, I think. To me, the game looked very well played
for Yace. After some critics, IM Schroer gave a very nice comment:
"Schroer(IM)(64): Yace won with a very nicely played Minority Attack,
culminating in tactics involving the 7th rank, a passed b pawn, and a
potential pin on the h1-a8 long diagonal.  Not so long ago, people openly
wondered if a computer would ever be able to play a Minority Attack!"
Not often, an author will here such a compliment. In fact, it was probably
a bit more prosaic, and some tactics was seen.

6th round with white vs. Ferret. I think an untypical game of Yace vs
a very strong opponent. Somehow everything done seemed very well. Yace
was building up a nice attack vs. Ferret. Sune Larsen gave some comments
at http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?278192

7th round with black vs. Searcher. Again a Spanish game. Both opponents
were in book for a long time. Both came out of book with scores in their
favor. After 19. d5 (first out of book move of searcher) I did not like
the pos of Yace. Looked very cramped to me. But fortunately, Yace found
some chances on the Q-side, and the position totally changed in few moves.
I think, again a good game. Yace even allowed Bxh7 of searcher, but the
missing h-pawn was not a big problem. Later Yace itself got Bxh3, and the
game was decided.

8th round, again black vs. Ruffian. Yace came out of book with negative
score and never recovered. Ruffian did not give it a chance. It seems
to me, Ruffian had everything under the whole time, and deserved the win.

9th round with black again (3rd time in a row) vs. Comet. The opening looked
very strange.
Schroer: "uncharted tactical madness". Uli and me suspected, that this
might end soon in some perpetual check. Fortunately (for Yace) the engines
did not agree, and one or the other saw its chances. I think, it ended
in an interesting endgame, where Comet had more pawns, and Yace had
the B-pair vs. a R. At the start of this phase, still both engines
saw an advantage for themselves. Only few pawns were left, and I think
only Yace could win at this time - but perhaps not very easy. Well, in
the end it succeeded :-)

After this, Yace ended with a split first place. The tiebreak followed.
Yace lost all 3 played tiebreak games ...

A great event, great pleasure and enjoyement. Thanks to all, who made
this possible: the opponents, Volker as the TD and IM Schroer for his
comments.

In a followup, the games with scores of Yace will be posted, in case
anybody should be interested.

Regards,
José Luis Jimenez and Dieter Bürßner



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