Author: Joel
Date: 03:08:36 02/03/04
Hey All, First of all, thanks to Volker for organising the event. Bodo ended up being quite lucky this tournament, and achieved a result which it really didn't deserve. I had the pleasant misfortune of playing some quite strong engines on the first day, which combined with some good moves, and even more good luck on the second day, which turned a 2.0/5 score into a 5.0/9 score! Secondly, it was great having a chance to chat with some people whose names I had seen about, but never really spoken to before. Everyone was very pleasant and friendly. This was quite important to me, since the event started 1am Sydney time, and went through to midday. I bought a case of Strongbow for the occasion, which came in quite handy, as watching my programs evaluation fluctuate between -1 and 1 for a good hour or so doesnt hold my attention as much as it probably should, unlike my kibitzing, which was often complemented throughout the course of the event! :) Game 1: I remember the draw being posted and thinking 'damn, Quark...'. I didn't know much about this engine other than I had knew it was a good bit stronger than Bodo. I was chatting away to Thomas, and not really watching what was happening, thinking Bodo wasn't losing as bad as it could have. After conferring with Thomas, he pointed out that I was a pawn down, which brought me back to earth. I thought the game might go either way when this position was reached: [D] 6k1/1p4pp/1p1rpp2/3p4/1P6/PR3N2/5PPP/2r2BK1 w - - 0 26 but Quark had no troubles being down a minor piece, and won quite easily. Game 2: Next game was against NoonianChess, another engine I didn't know too much about, except I had a sneaking suspicion it was weaker than Bodo. I cannot really comment much on this game, I think there were some quite poor moves by both sides at times. NoonianChess had it's queen often near Bodo's king, but it never looked like being able to pull off anything decisive, and Bodo slowly gained the upper hand until finally a tactical shot was found, and NoonianChess was mated. Game 3: The win meant I was in for a harder opponent, and I got this in the form of PostModernist. Andrew was a really nice guy, and was interesting to talk to. Bodo had an amazing first 40 moves, and clearly outplayed Postmodernist to reach this position: 3r4/1R2p2k/2n4p/6p1/3b4/3P1q1P/1P1B1P2/2Q1R1K1 w - - 0 37 However, it was all downhill from there. Bodo has pathetic scoring of passed pawns, especially connected ones, and ruined the advantage by walking it's king towards the centre of the board. PostModernist pounced on the mistake, and came back, crushing my hopes of scoring any points this round. Take a guess at what knowledge I will be adding soon! :) Game 4: ChironX was my next opponent. Ulbado was a friendly chap, but since I was now very tired, I wasn't at my most talkative. Chiron made some bad moves which opened it's king up for attack, and Bodo was up to the task of coverting the advantage into a full point. Game 5: My win the previous game was rewarded with another overly strong opponent, Rebel 12. I must confess that I barely watched any of this game, I just checked that it started correctly and then crawled into bed as it was 10am and I had not slept. Bodo never really had a chance in this game, and was simply out-searched and out-evaled at every move. 2.0/5 so far, but I I knew that my next couple matches would be against engines not as strong as either Quark, PostModernist or Rebel. More coming tomorrow... Joel
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