Author: Albert Silver
Date: 15:03:53 02/11/06
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On February 11, 2006 at 13:02:39, JNoomen wrote:
Thanks for sharing. :-)
Albert
>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....
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