Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: Collectors corner: Richard Lang's sweet revenge

Author: JNoomen

Date: 10:57:14 02/11/06

Go up one level in this thread


On February 11, 2006 at 13:34:58, Majd Al-Ansari wrote:

Hi Majd,

You are right, g5! is the move. After taking on b2 Black is already in trouble.
But especially h6? was very bad, after which the white knight could find a nice
spot on f5. In the end it was all the same theme: Black's pieces helplessly
'doing nothing' at the queen's side, while in the meantime the white pieces kill
the black king :-).

Rybka's book is going fine. I am testing it at the moment, so all should be
ready with the Rybka 1.2 release.

Jeroen


>Thanks for the game.  I think taking that pawn with Queen was too dangerous.
>Probably much better would have been to play g5 and then put a rook on g8 and
>try to get counterplay.  After taking the pawn black is too passive and has no
>safe place to hide.  Castling only exagerates white insecurity.
>
>By the way how is Rybka's book doing?
>
>
>
>On February 11, 2006 at 13:02:39, JNoomen wrote:
>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>After the two postings about the Dieren 1987 tournament I have another
>>interesting story to share. From the beginning of the 80's until approx. 1995,
>>the godfather of the Dutch computer chess, Jan Louwman, played invitation
>>matches with a team of 8-10 chess computers. Teams from Holland, playing in 1st,
>>2nd or 3rd class could play against a team consisting of the strongest dedicated
>>computers available at that time.
>>
>>Of course Jan not only had the famous Turbokits at his disposal (I believe he
>>had 4 of these things!), but also a fast version of the Richard Lang programs. I
>>believe these versions were playing on 20 MHz. The Dutch teams consisted
>>typically of Elo 1900-2100 players. Quite strong for the computers to handle. I
>>have been at many of these matches and they were always great to watch.
>>
>>In 1988 my own club, Apeldoorn, was giving it a try to take revenge for the 5-3
>>defeat of 1987. This was a historic match, as it was the first time the 'ROM 84
>>team' - as it was called - was playing a 1st class Dutch chess team. My fellow
>>teammates were very optimistic about the result. 'These things can't play chess'
>>was heared many times.
>>
>>But Jan Louwman was obviously not in the mood to give the Apeldoorn players an
>>easy day. Not less than 5 Mephisto Almeria's were present, as well as a Mach
>>III, 2 Mega IV Turbo, a Novag Super Forte Turbo and an Academy Turbo. Yes, 4
>>machines with a Turbokit! I believe Jan had a very expensive computerteam
>>present at that day :-).
>>
>>The match was a clear win for the computers. They won 6-4, a deserved victory.
>>Most memorable of this match, for myself of course, was my match against Richard
>>Lang's new machine, the Almeria 68020. For the first time the modules had hash
>>tables and the new dotmatrix display.
>>
>>Again I was presented with an exchange Slav defence and to my horror I didn't
>>know Almeria's move 11 f3!?. I reacted with the tactical shot 11... Bd3, but I
>>quickly faltered and suddenly there were a lot of pieces pointing at my king. I
>>didn't suspect any danger, until the Almeria uncorked the brilliant 23. Qe1!!
>>viciously threatening to bring her majesty over to the king's side.
>>
>>I thought for a very long time, came up with the move 23... Qa4, but alas: it
>>was expected by the Almeria.... As soon as the operator had moved the piece on
>>Almeria's board, the machine answered instantly with 24.Nxh6+!, announcing a
>>mate in 7! Woops, that wasn't going as I intended..... I played on a few moves,
>>before resigning. My face was turned red, redder, maybe even purple.
>>
>>Well, I had an easy time against the Dallas, but fair is fair: in this game
>>Richard Lang got his sweet revenge.... And a very convinving one! Enjoy the
>>game:
>>
>>[Event "ROM 84-ASG"]
>>[Site "Apeldoorn"]
>>[Date "1988.??.??"]
>>[Round "?"]
>>[White "Mephisto Almeria 68020"]
>>[Black "Noomen, Jeroen"]
>>[Result "1-0"]
>>[ECO "D14"]
>>[PlyCount "55"]
>>
>>1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bb5
>>Nd7 9. Qa4 Qb6 10. Nh4 Be4 11. f3 Bd3 12. Nxd5 exd5 13. Bxd3 Qxb2 14. Rb1 Bb4+
>>15. Kf1 Qc3 16. Qd1 Qa3 17. Qc2 h6 18. Rb3 Qa5 19. Nf5 O-O 20. a3 Bxa3 21. Rxb7
>>Nb4 22. Qd2 Nb6 23. Qe1 Qa4 24. Nxh6+ Kh8 25. Nxf7+ Kg8 26. Bh7+ Kxh7 27. Qh4+
>>Kg6 28. Ne5+ 1-0
>>
>>Two years later, in the third attempt, Apeldoorn finally beat ROM '84 with a
>>convincing 7-3. This time I could beat the Mephisto Portorose, by playing a very
>>dull opening with a quick queen's exchange. But the game presented above will
>>always hunt my mind....



This page took 0 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.