Author: Mark R. Anderson
Date: 08:14:13 02/14/05
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On February 13, 2005 at 04:45:16, piet de hoop wrote: >Humans would play Qb3x instaneously >but computers will take the long road? >Try this one out. > > >[D] 8/8/p1k5/3R4/8/1B4q1/P7/7K b - - 0 45 > >Piet Piet, You're right, any decent human player will spot Qxb3 instantly (even me). Also, the top commercial engines (Shredder 9, Junior 9, Hiarcs 9, Fritz 8, Gandalf 6, Ruffian 2.1, Deep Sjeng 1.6, Tiger 15) all spot Qxb3 instantly. They also see that White cannot take the Queen (else mate in 18) but must move Rd2 and will eventually lose. Most of the top free engines (Aristarch 4.5, Crafty 19.18, Goliath Light 1.5, LG Revival, Gothmog 1.0, List 5.12, Pharaon 3.2, SOS 4, Tao 5.6, and Yace Paderborn) also spot Qxb3 instantly. Curiously the two that don't spot it are 2 good free engines ... both Pro Deo 1.1 and Fruit 2.0 want to move a5 and then think Black has the edge (of course white can't take the pawn, so must move the Rook). I gave both Pro Deo 1.1 and Fruit 2.0 some extra time, and Fruit finally saw that Qxb3 was the way to go (I think after about 4 minutes). Pro Deo 1.1 surprisingly did not change it's mind even after 7 minutes, when I quit waiting. This is such an easy position that it makes me wonder if Pro Deo has big holes in it's endgame. Maybe Fruit 2.0 also? Mark Anderson
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