Author: Anthony Cozzie
Date: 14:30:24 02/13/05
Game Summaries: Game 1: Fafis - Zappa (0 - 1) (Forfeit). Rafael either slept in or had internet problems. I was a bit disappointed at not getting to play, but at the same time I was happy not to have to play Fafis, which by all accounts is quite strong for its seeding. Game 2: Zappa - Hossa (1 - 0) Hossa played the French defense, and Zappa accumulated what it thought was a good position before missing something and dropping to a draw score. Hossa blundered with Kh6 [I have to admit that Zappa expected this move :(] and Zappa was able to win with a nice combination in the following position: [D]8/p2Q3p/1p4pk/4q3/3p1NP1/1P3P2/P6K/8 w - - 0 43 Here white wins with the (simple for computers) Qxd4 Qxd4 g5! and white gets the Queen back by knight fork with an easy ending. Game 3: Amateur - Zappa (0 - 1) A sicilian. Amateur's mistake was probably a5 instead of h4, and after that Zappa was never really in any trouble and gradually increased its advantage until getting the full point. Game 4: Zappa - Fruit (1 - 0) Zappa foolishly traded its dark squared bishop on move 10 in the Nimzo, but Fruit recaptured with the g pawn rather than the Queen (=). Zappa then managed to open the f file and line up ever single major piece against Fruit's King. [D]4b2r/3q3k/r3p2p/2p1pp2/p1P1P2Q/P4RR1/1P2B1PP/6K1 w - - 0 34 Fruit realized the trouble too late, and was forced to give 2 pawns. The endgame was still not trivial to win until Fruit dropped into a lost KRPPKR ending. It was actually quite instructive to watch the tablebases play it out and grind out the mate in 40. Game 5: SOS - Zappa (0 - 1) A closed Sicilian, where SOS played passively and Zappa took control of the open files and won behind its strong heavy pieces. Not much to report here, aside from the fact that I had serious trouble sleeping after this game due to an excess of nervous energy:) Game 6: Zappa - Pharaon (1 - 0) This and the game against Movei were by far my favorite games of the tournament. Arturo decided to play a sideline here (6. g3) rather than Be2, because after Be2 Pharaon had scored very well in recent games. Zappa played correctly (g4, e5) but I think Pharaon blundered with f6 instead of g6+Ng7: [D]r3nrk1/1pqbbppp/p3p3/3pP1P1/Pn3P2/1NN1B3/1PP3BP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 15 This allowed Zappa to open the position with gxf6 and f5! while Pharaon's pieces were still badly placed. [D]r4r1k/1pq1b1np/p7/4pb2/Pn2B3/1NN1B3/1PP4P/R2Q1R1K w - - 0 24 Here Zappa sacrificed the exchange with Rxf5!?, but by move 33 it had won back the exchange with a superior ending due to Pharaon's weak pawnstructure: [D]5r1k/6n1/p1pb2p1/4p1B1/P7/1N6/1PP4P/6RK w - - 0 34 Pharaon then gave the exchange for 2 pawns leading to the following position, which I believe is won for white: [D]8/8/p1p3pk/4pn2/P7/1Nb2K2/7P/1R6 w - - 0 42 But Zappa misplayed it, and came to the following study like position: [D]8/8/6R1/pKp5/Pb5k/8/8/8 w - - 0 53 Now Zappa was happy due to Black's offside king, but the question is whether or not White can win here. The straightforward Rg6-c6xc5 fails by one tempo. The question is whether or not white can win by moving the K to the Kingside, making mating threats, and winning a pawn, while still not allowing the Black king to escape. I personally believe it is a draw, but Pharaon blundered and Zappa was able to win. Despite some errors, I think the game itself was one of the most entertaining of the tournament. Game 7: Movei - Zappa (0 - 1) Another Sicilian. Movei blundered with axb4, and then Zappa sacrificed an exchange with axb5: [D]r1b2rk1/2q2ppp/p2bp3/1N1n4/1n3PP1/1N1BBQ2/1PP4P/R4RK1 b - - 0 17 Zappa got a lot of pressure against movei's King, and the game was over quickly. Game 8: Zappa - Thinker (1/2) Zappa's only draw; it again played Bxf6 in the Nimzo and got closed position where both engines were clueless. A draw after another 70 boring moves or so. Game 9: Ikarus - Zappa (1 - 0) Scotch Game. Ikarus played well, while Zappa overestimated its counterplay against the white king. I spent most the time talking to Dan Heisman on the phone, so I missed most of the game, which is perhaps just as well :) Zappa tried to slip its way out of the net but Ikarus brought home the full point. I think it will do quite well in Paderborn; we shall see. The competition there is a bit tougher :) Despite the loss in the final round Zappa managed to win clear first place by a slender 1/2 point. Notes: I will update the website and the version of Zappa pretty soon. Arturo wants to create a public book for Zappa, so when that is finished the tournament version of Zappa (1.0) will be released. I will also compile a version of Zappa with Cygwin so that it will run on an Athlon. I think a lot of you will be quite disappointed, as the public version A) won't run on a dual opteron and B) won't include Arturo's excellent tournament book. A number of my predictions turned out pretty well: Chepla, Spike, and DanChess did much better than a lot of people expected, and I knew Ikarus was going to be trouble :( I was also pretty impressed by the Polish chess engines; Poland is not exactly a country I associate with high technology, but there you have it :) Matacz and Gosu both did well, and Mridul also did very well as the sole representative of India. I think I might have also won the "most lines to channel 64" title, although we would need an actual count to make sure, since Vincent and Enrico gave me stiff competition there. CCC members tend to underestimate the effect of the book, but Arturo's book was quite important. I did not get a single lost position out of book (or even a tough position), which is extremely important for a tournament of only 9 rounds. It was pretty cool to be interviewed by Chess.fm (what does that stand for anyway?). I was never the most athletic child and was never in the school paper for sports, so it was nice to get a bit of the celebrity treatment. Sadly, I don't think I'll have the same sex appeal of Matt Leinart :) Lastly: A big thanks to Peter for organizing the tournament (believe me, I know how much work it is), and to Schroer and Heisman for their commentary. Both are always interesting and funny. I am (obviously) extremely happy with Zappa's first tournament win. I had worried that Zappa used up all of its luck last year, but it seems to have had just enough left in the tank. anthony
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