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Subject: Re: Linares '98 Topalov-Shirov ...Bh3!!

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 18:16:33 03/10/99

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On March 10, 1999 at 02:33:14, Peter Kappler wrote:

>
>8/8/4kpp1/3p1b2/p6P/2B5/6P1/6K1 b - - bm Bh3; id "Topalov-Shirov Linares 98";
>
>
>Does everybody remember this game?  It's from last year's Linares tournament,
>where Shirov played a shocking bishop sacrifice in the endgame and won
>brilliantly.  I believe that post-mortem analysis proved it was the only way to
>win.  (Please correct me if this is wrong)
>
>I watched this game live on ICC with dozens of others, and we were all quite
>impressed with Shirov's powers of calculation.
>
>This *should* be an extremely difficult problem for computers - but I'm sure
>somebody will tell me that Hiarcs or some other commercial program can solve it
>in 10 seconds.
>
>Just curious...
>
>--Peter


I ran this two ways.. First from the original position to see what crafty would
play with no 'urging' by me:

               12->   6.37   2.61   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. g4 Bd1 4. h5
                                    gxh5 5. gxh5 Bxh5 6. Ke3 a2 7. Kd4
                                    Bd1 8. Ba1 f5
               13    11.78   2.62   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. g4 Bd1 4. h5
                                    gxh5 5. gxh5 Bxh5 6. Ke3 a2 7. Bb2
                                    Bg6 8. Kd4 Be4 9. Ba1
               13->  13.87   2.62   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. g4 Bd1 4. h5
                                    gxh5 5. gxh5 Bxh5 6. Ke3 a2 7. Bb2
                                    Bg6 8. Kd4 Be4 9. Ba1
               14    34.53   2.46   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ba1 Kf5 4.
                                    Ke3 Be4 5. g3 a2 6. Kf2 Bc2 <HT>
               14->  45.46   2.46   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ba1 Kf5 4.
                                    Ke3 Be4 5. g3 a2 6. Kf2 Bc2 <HT>
               15     1:08   2.46   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ba1 Kf5 4.
                                    Ke3 Be4 5. g3 a2 6. Kf2 Bc2 <HT>
               15->   1:24   2.46   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ba1 Kf5 4.
                                    Ke3 Be4 5. g3 a2 6. Kf2 Bc2 <HT>
               16     2:55   2.37   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ke3 a2 4. g3
                                    Kf5 5. Kd4 Be4 6. Kc5 Kg4 7. Bxf6 Kxg3
                                    8. Kd6 Kg4 <HT>
               16->   3:59   2.37   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 Bc2 3. Ke3 a2 4. g3
                                    Kf5 5. Kd4 Be4 6. Kc5 Kg4 7. Bxf6 Kxg3
                                    8. Kd6 Kg4 <HT>
               17     8:25   2.42   1. ... a3 2. Kf2 a2 3. Ke2 Be4 4. Kf2
                                    Kf5 5. g3 Bb1 6. Ke3 Bc2 7. Kd4 Be4
                                    8. Kc5 Kg4 9. Bxf6 <HT>


so it likes a3 thru any depth it might get in a real tournament setting.


I then played Bh3 and let it search for white:

              16->  49.18   0.56   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Kf4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    Bc3 Ke4 6. Ba1 Kf4 7. Bh8 <HT>
               17     1:14   0.68   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Kf4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    Bc3 Ke4 6. Ke2 Kf4 7. Kd3 Kg3 8. Bf6
                                    a2 9. Kc2 Kf4 10. Kb3 Kf5
               17->   1:22   0.68   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Kf4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    Bc3 Ke4 6. Ke2 Kf4 7. Kd3 Kg3 8. Bf6
                                    a2 9. Kc2 Kf4 10. Kb3 Kf5
               18     1:56     --   2. gxh3
               18     2:39   0.00   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Ke4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    h5 gxh5 6. Ba1 d4 7. Ke2 h4 8. Kd2
                                    Kf4 9. Bxd4 Kg3 10. Bc3 Kxh3
               18->   3:26   0.00   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Ke4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    h5 gxh5 6. Ba1 d4 7. Ke2 h4 8. Kd2
                                    Kf4 9. Bxd4 Kg3 10. Bc3 Kxh3
               19     4:37   0.00   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Ke4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    h5 gxh5 6. Ba1 d4 7. Ke2 h4 8. Kd2
                                    Kf4 9. Bxd4 Kg3 10. Bc3 Kxh3 <EGTB>
               19->   5:24   0.00   2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Ke4 4. Bxf6 a3 5.
                                    h5 gxh5 6. Ba1 d4 7. Ke2 h4 8. Kd2
                                    Kf4 9. Bxd4 Kg3 10. Bc3 Kxh3 <EGTB>

which is right interesting, because notice this runs into the 5 piece
tablebases and says _draw_.

question is, now, does Bh3 really make sense?  This seems to say "no".

interesting...



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