Author: Steve Maughan
Date: 14:43:00 12/06/04
I needed to go on a business trip – so what better use of my home computer than
to play a computer chess match!!
I pitted the new Gandalf 6 against Shredder 8 at “Game-in-60-minutes” time
control in the Shredder Classic GUI. The machine was a 3 GHz P4 with 128 Mb of
ram for each program, no pondering, and each program with their own book and
endgame tablebases. I intended to play only 100 games. However, when I
returned from my trip I wandered past a couple of times and was drawn into the
game so I let the match continue until it reached 238 games. The results are:
Shredder 8: 108
Gandalf 6: 42
Draws 88
This give Shredder +98 ELO +/-36 (95% confidence level)
You can download the PGN here:
http://www.stevemaughan.com/download/Shredder_8_v_Gandalf_6.pgn
My overall impressions are that both engines are wonderful and Gandalf 6 seems
to bring the aggression out of Shredder 8. Look at the scores – there were some
really hard fought games. I haven’t had a chance to analyze all the games but
here are some interesting and critical positions:
Game 12
[d]r1b1k3/p3n1rp/3QP1q1/1p1P1p2/2p2B2/P3P2P/2R3P1/3R2K1 w - -
Gandalf 6 played 37.Be5 {+2.36/12} Rg8 {-0.32/13} 38.e4! {2.84/11} with massive
(winning) combinations
Game 19
[d]4rb1k/1q5n/p6p/3pP3/p1p3Rp/8/1PQ2BP1/1B4K1 w - -
Shredder 8 found Qf5! with a score +4.53. Other moves may win but this is the
most forceful and the score is impressive
Game 27
[d]r3k2r/1p1bbp2/p1np4/q2NpPPp/7P/3QP3/PPP3B1/2KR3R w kq -
Shredder 8 found f6 with a score of +1.98. Despite being a pawn for bishop down
this is a score that demonstrates Shredder’s conviction of a winning attack.
Shredder goes on to follow through with the attack and win.
I’m sure there are many other interesting positions in this set of games. If
anyone finds any of particular interest please do drop me a line!
Regards,
Steve Maughan
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