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Subject: Bodo @ CCT6....day 1....

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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