Grandmasters drub computers in AEGON
By Kristianus Liem
JAKARTA (JP): The 12th AEGON Human versus Computer tournament in The Hague this April was another fine rendition of the annual event.
Fifty of the world's very best computers were pitted against an assortment of human opponents, ranging from club players to this year's 12 Grandmasters.
The modified Swiss system event, played at a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move for one game, produces 300 games in its six rounds.
The human side was upgraded this year by beefing up the number of GMs. The 11th AEGON tournament had nine GMs and the humans were badly beaten 162.5-137.5. This year, the 12 GMs responded by scoring well over 70 percent. Still, that wasn't quite enough and the computers won the overall competition 151.5-148.5.
Israeli GM Yona Kosashvili was the winner of the event held April 16-24.
Yona duplicated GM Yasser Seirawan's 6-0 score of last year. He was modest in victory. "I'm a medical student serving in the Israeli army and for the past year I have been quite far from chess."
The top 10 final standings were: 1. GM Yona Kosashvili 6 MP; 2-3. GM Yasser Seirawan, IM Johan van Mill 5.5 MP; 4-10. Chessmaster 5000, Kallisto, Rebel, GM Lembit Oll, GM John van der Wiel, GM Ye Rongguang, IM Gert Jan de Boer 4.5 MP
Yona had a tough test in round three when he faced M-Chess Pro 6.0, one of the world's strongest programs. He made a very astute opening choice. Here's the game.
White: GM Yona Kosashvili
Black: M-Chess Pro 6.0
English Opening
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.e4
Perhaps not the best move in the position, but, by achieving the Botvinnik Pawn Triangle system, Yona shifts the game into a position where the strategic ideas are extremely flexible, thus negating a great deal of the computer's calculation ability.
3...d6 4.g3 Nc6 5.Bg2 g6 6.d3 Bg7 7.h3!?
Again, not the best move in the position, but a useful one which will likely get the computer out of its book and for that reason it is well played.
7...Bd7?! 8.Nge2 Qc8?!
Black prevents White from castling short for a few moves, but this is not an important strategic objective. It is more important to make the Knight's tour ...Nf6-e8-c7-e6-d4 as well as ...Ra8-b8, ...a7-a6 and ...b7-b5 with play in the center and on the queen-side.
9.Rb1 0-0 10.a3 Nd4 11.Be3 e5 12.b4 b6 13.Qc1 Rb8 14.Bg5 Re8? Misplacing the Rook. Again, Black should play 14...Nxe2 15.Nxe2!? b5 angling for play on the queen-side.
15.b5! Ra8?
The computer doesn't understand that the resulting blocked central pawn position will be in White's favor. Best was 15...Nxe2 16.Kxe2 a6 opening up the a-file.
16.Nxd4 cxd4 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Bg7 19.h4! Be6
See diagram.
20.Nb4!
Beautiful play by Yona. White keeps his Knight and is playing to make the g7-Bishop bad. Computers love Bishops and M-Chess pro undoubtedly evaluated the position in its favor. White has a large strategic advantage.
20...Qd7 21.h5 Rf8 22.Rb2 h6 23.Qd1 Rac8 24.Bf3 Kh7 25.a4 Kh8 26.Ra2 Qc7
At last, White gets the opportunity to trade light-squared Bishops and assert his strategic mastery of the position.
27.hxg6! fxg6 28.Bg4! Bxg4 29.Qxg4 Qf7 30.Nd5 Kh7 31.f4! exf4 32.gxf4 Rce8 33.Rg2 h5 34.Qh3 Bh6 35.Rf2 Qf5 36.Kf1!
Simple chess. White is eager to embrace the ending.
36...Qxh3+ 37.Rxh3 Rf7 38.Rhf3 Ref8 39.Kg2 g5?
This make White's task easy, but the game is already lost for Black.
40.fxg5 Rxf3 41.Rxf3 Rxf3 42.Kxf3 Bxg5 43.Nb4 Bd8 44.Nc6 Bc7 45.Nxa7 Kg6 46.Nc6 Kf6 47.Nxd4 Kg6 48.Ne6 Bb8 49.Nf4+ Kg5 50.Nd5 Ba7 51.Kg3 Kh6 52.Kh4 Kg7
Black resigned here. A model game of how to play against a computer! 1-0