Author: Dirk Frickenschmidt
Date: 02:22:54 11/04/98
With the new configuration I finally got my game Mchess7 against Rebel10 (after 4 four autoplayer breakoffs in 4 nights in a row!). It was a Caro Cann advance variation, with a sharp white line. Shabalov-Magomedov, Minsk 1990 or Gurevich-Mansoor, Junior wch, Singapore 1990 are good examples for what white human players have in mind when chosing this variation. Whatever critical may be said about the Mchess books, I want to praise Sandro Necchis work for something I like very much about it: the Mchess7 book is full of such interesting, sharp lines, which lead to very dynamic and entertaining positions, some with sharp pawn attacks, some even with pawn sacrifices for rapid development. So Mchess8 with such interesting lines implemented plus a new engine will certainly be worth a look. In this Caro-Cann Rebel was well prepared for surviving the sharp white line, using book/EOC up to move 14, and playing good, when after Mchess' 15.0-0-0 both were out of book. Once more Rebel showed its balanced positional skill, attacking the white center immediately with 15...f6. After the the retreat of the white bishop and the exchange on e5 black's kingside was out of the worst problems (e6 still safe from white rook attacks). 17...Na6 was not only good for fast development (essential with a black king in the centre; other moves which were considered for a wile, like ...Kc8/Nbd7, would have been quite a problem with a rook on a8), but also covering the square c5. After some more exchanges (knights on c5, pawns on the kingside, finally one pair of rooks and then qeens), the game began to look drawish from move 30 on. What followed, was a phase of fruitless manoevering, not finding any plan on both sides, up to move 48. Then Mchess forced decisions with 49. b4 d3, and now after cxd3 the position would probably still have been drawn. But - as I then to my surprise noticed: like other top programs - Mchess rated 50.Rxe7? about as good as cxd3, in this case even some few points better (other programs few points less). Most programs seem to underestimate the mess they will get into then: the black rook is simply stronger against bishop plus two pawns in this position, because white has its pawns on the bishops coulour, blockading the backward manoeverability of the bishop, while it thus also cannot protect all four of them at long sight, and the black king will enter a white sqare in front of the weakest of them soon. 57.d5? was another questionable move, though white's alternatives may be difficult already: if he tries just to keep his pawns on b4, d4 and e5 together with the bishop on c5, this looks like a fortress only at first sight, but the bishop will be missing for defending the white king against mate attacks from the white rook (cooperating with the black king entering the white half of the board: then white pawns will have to move to bring the bishop back into the game and to keep the white king on non-opposition squares, not to get mated). So white really seems to be strategically lost right after the materially balanced, but else bad exchange of rook against bishop plus two pawns. This way Rebel10, after having played a solid defense against the white attack and having gained a draw position, was finally even rewarded with a win, after exploiting the white weaknesses with further good endgame moves, which Mchess did not expect, like the nice manoevre 60Kf7/61.Ke8/62.Kd7. A well played Rebel game, showing how rock solid its positional skill is! Often Rebel's play does not look very spectacular, rather somehow "easy", but in fact its moves are very effective (most times), a little bit like Capablancas playing style was in human games. [Event "welcome tournament"] [Site "Wuppertal"] [Date "1998.11.04"] [Round "4"] [White "Mchess 7.1, MMX200."] [Black "Rebel 10, MMX200."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B12"] [Annotator "DF"] [PlyCount "144"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 Bb4 7. h4 Be4 8. Rh3 h5 9. Ng3 hxg4 10. Qxg4 Ne7 11. Nh5 Kd7 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Rxd3 Nf5 14. Bg5 Be7 15. O-O-O f6 16. Bd2 fxe5 17. dxe5 Na6 18. Ne4 Nc5 19. Nxc5+ Bxc5 20. Nxg7 Qxh4 21. Qg6 Nxg7 22. Qxg7+ Qe7 23. Rb3 b6 24. Qg2 Rag8 25. Rg3 Qf7 26. f3 Rxg3 27. Qxg3 Qg8 28. Qxg8 Rxg8 29. Rh1 Rg3 30. f4 Be7 31. Kd1 c5 32. Rh7 d4 33. a4 a6 34. Be1 Rg4 35. Bd2 b5 36. axb5 axb5 37. Ke2 Rg2+ 38. Ke1 Ke8 39. Rh8+ Kf7 40. Rh7+ Kf8 41. Rh6 Rg1+ 42. Ke2 Kf7 43. Rh7+ Ke8 44. Rh8+ Kd7 45. Rh7 Rg8 46. Be1 Ke8 47. Bf2 Rf8 48. Kf3 Rg8 49. b4 d3 50. Rxe7+ Kxe7 51. Bxc5+ Kf7 52. cxd3 Rh8 53. d4 Rh1 54. Kg2 Rd1 55. Kf2 Kg6 56. Ke2 Rc1 57. d5 exd5 58. e6 Rc4 59. e7 Re4+ 60. Kf3 Kf7 61. Bd6 Ke8 62. Bc5 Kd7 63. f5 Ke8 64. Kf2 d4 65. f6 d3 66. Be3 Rxb4 67. Bd2 Re4 68. Kf3 Re5 69. Ba5 Kf7 70. Bc3 Re2 71. Bb4 Kxf6 72. Kg4 Re4+ 0-1 Games played so far against: Fritz5 1-1 Mchess7.1 2-0 Next opponent will be Genius5. Regards from Dirk
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