2007/07/09

Human crushed by a computer. Again

Three months ago IM Larry Kaufman publicly made an offer to all top level players who think their brains were better than computer's microchips. "I will donate $ 1,000 of my own money", he wrote on http://rybkaforum.net, "to any grandmaster who can win a six game match from Rybka". The duel finally took place in Potomoc, United States, in July 5 to 8. Rybka's opponent was GM Jaan Ehlvest (Fide rating 2629), who had already lost a match at pawn odds against the same program last March. Terms of the challenge were as follows:
1. Prize Fund (from five Rybka fans): Match victory by Ehlvest - $11.000. Drawn Match - $3.100. Consolation prize for lost match - $1.500.
2. Opening book: Rybka is limited to a 3 move deep opening book.
3. Endgame Tablebases: None allowed.
4. Hardware limitation: Quadcore pc, limit of 512 MB for hash tables.
5. Color: Ehlvest gets White every game.
6. Time limit: Fide time control (90'+30" increment) for Ehlvest, 45'+15" for Rybka.
7. Breaks: five minute break twice each game on request by Ehlvest. Computer may reboot if frozen.
8. Schedule: First game, 5 p.m. July 5, next four games 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. July 6 and 7, final game 9 a.m. July 8. All times Eastern Daylight Time (Washington D.C./NY).
9. Playing location: Kaufman's home in Potomac, MD.
10. Expense money: $300 minimum guaranteed.
11. Match to be broadcast over the Internet, details TBA.

As you can see, Rybka had many handicaps; nonetheless, "he" totally dominated and won by 4.5-1.5, with three wins and three draws. A poor result for good Jaan, but I think that human players can only compete with other human players nowadays: chess programs are too strong for everyone! Just remember what happened to Kramnik last Winter...
Rybka's team is now waiting for an answer by Fide regarding their $100,000 challenge to Deep Junior, winner of the "Ultimate Computer Chess Challenge" which took place in Elista last June. But I think Ilyumzhinov will never give any answer...
And now here is a crushing win by Italian prodigy Marco Codenotti (10 y.o.) in the 6th Dubai Junior chess open: he shares second place on 6.5/8 with only one round to go and he will probably be the best U10 player whatever happens in the last game. You can find more details (in Italian) on Francesco Rinaldi's (his trainer) site, http://giovaniscacchistitoscani.blogspot.com/.

Codenotti,M. - Mehdi,Mam. [B23], Dubai 9.7.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e6 4.Nf3 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 g6
6...Nxd4 7.Qxd4 Nc6 8.Qf2 d5 looks better.
7.Ndb5 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Qxd5
White is a pawn up, but Black has some counterplay.
10...Qh4+ 11.g3 Qe7+ 12.Be2 Nb4
12...a6 13.Nc3 Bg7 would give Black good chances.
13.Qc4 Be6?
A bad mistake. 13...Bf5 14.Nc7+ Kd7 15.Nxa8 Nxc2+ 16.Kf2 Qc5+ 17.Kf3 Bg4+ 18.Kg2 Bxe2 19.Qxe2 Qc6+ 20.Qf3 Nxa1 would lead to a drawish endgame. Now White takes the initiative.
14.Nc7+ Kd8 15.Nxe6+ fxe6?
15...Qxe6 was better: after 16.Qxe6 fxe6 17.Kd1 White has excellent winning chances, but Black can hold on.
16.Qd4+ Ke8 17.Qxh8 Nxc2+ 18.Kf2 Qc5+ 19.Kg2 Nxa1 20.Qxh7 Qc2 21.Kf2 Bc5+ 22.Kf3
Black is now hopeless.
22...Qf5 23.Rd1! a6 24.Qg8+ Bf8 25.g4 Qf6?
25...Qf7 would prolong the resistance.
26.Bd3 Qg7 27.Qxe6+
27.Bxg6+ Ke7 28.f5!! was more brilliant.
27...Be7 28.Bxg6+ Kf8 29.Bd2
29.f5 intending Bh6 was even stronger, but White wins anyway.
29...Nc2 30.Bc3 1–0

1 comment:

marcel said...

bonjour Hello
i search email of GM as Kasparov
can you help me?
you can put your info on chess of jewisheritage.fr
a bientot
marcel