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Subject: Re: Nunn's K & P suite

Author: Frederic Friedel

Date: 01:02:23 02/04/00

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On February 03, 2000 at 19:44:51, Amir Ban wrote:

>It's not practical to ask programs to provide solutions in the form of complete
>variations and subvariations. It's more practical to add to the 6 original
>positions positions from critical variations and ask the program to make the
>correct choice. This will enable to present this contest as a regular search for
>key move suite.

In the article John provided the strongest line as the main line (in bold) and
gave all the critical variations that must be found. If a human said "1.Kh2!"
(in position 6) it wasn't scored as a success for him. He had to find the best
defence and refute it; and he had to answer questions about other lines. Here
are the details with regard to Kasparov (quoted from ChessBase Magazine 72):


"Shortly before the positions were published, on August 9, I sent him (GK) the
positions by email. Garry was in his training camp in Croatia, filling up
playing strength for the new season. About four hours after I had dispatched my
email he called to say that he and his second Yuri Dokhoian, sitting outside
with a chessboard (but no computer) had solved all six positions in 45 minutes.

I was well prepared. John had sent me all the solutions and indicated the
critical lines which the candidate had to give. He also told me to ask for
certain alternatives to make sure that the candidate had fully understood the
solution. Already the first position presented a problem. Garry gave 1.Kf5 as
the key, but both Nunn and Hiarcs refute this with 1...Kf7. When he challenged
this with 2.h3 I realised that he had the position wrong, with the h-pawn on h2.

Positions two to five he solved perfectly, answering all supplementary questions
immediately and correctly. Then came position six. Garry gave 1.Kh2 and dictated
all lines perfectly. However, he left out the critical 1...f6. 'You are missing
the strongest defence for Black', I said. He sunk into silence and promised to
call again later. About a hour later the phone rang again. Garry said he had
spent another 30 minutes analysing the positions, this time without a board (and
without a computer). Number one was very easy, and he gave me the decisive king
manoeuvre Kg4-h5-h4-g3-g4. And with position six he was audibly delighted with
his discovery: 1...f6 2.Kh1!!. The full analysis after this came in rapid-fire
dictation. The time spent to solve all six positions: one hour fifteen minutes."



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