World Computer Chess Championship Beijing Exhibition
by John Seo
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Last Friday, September 5 2008, marked the end of a grueling exhibition tournament between the world's greatest chess playing computer programs. This tournament is a precursor to the Official 2008 Championship event hosted by the ICGA International Computer Games Association that will be held from September 28 2008 to October 5 2008 in Beijing, China. The likes of Deep Blue, Shredder, Fritz, and Zappa have all competed for this prestigious title. The 2007 World Computer Chess Championship was held in the Amsterdam, Netherlands and awarded newcomer Rybka first place in an undefeated match.

This exhibition match was held to see if Rybka would likely hold onto its lead as the world chess computer champion. The games were played with rapid time controls on quad core 64 bit processor machines and showed a slight advantage to reigning champion Rybka over powerful programs Hirac and Zappa. The Rybka 3 UCI multi-processor (deep version) divides calculations among different processors (or cores) of one computer helping to receive a better result for the same time when compared to the single processor version.

It is estimated that Rybka's playing strength could be rated higher than 3150 which is the highest rating anyone or anything has ever obtained in chess. No human has ever beaten this chess behemoth under traditional time controls. The engine is programmed by International Masters Vasik Rajlich and Larry Kaufman and the opening book is edited by Jeroen Noomen. The Rybka extensive opening book has millions of memorized positions to play toward a win, specifically tailored to computer opponents. It has been programmed to avoid draws by playing moves that are likely to result in a win.

We will all be eagerly awaiting the results of the 16th World Computer Chess Championship.

Here is a commented full game played between Junior as white and Rybka Beta as black. It shows an interesting pawn sacrifice in the positional French Defence C00. Courtesy of International Master Iweta Radziewicz.

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 Nf6 3.e5 Both engine´s last book move. 3...Nd5 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.d4 0-0 7.Bd2 Nxc3 8.Bxc3 b6 Position is more less equal - black does not suffer from not having enough space cause it manage to exchange already one piece and it´s white square bishop will develop smoothly to the long diagonal or will be exchanged via a6 square. 9.Qe4 d5 10.exd6?! If white had ever a space advantage it disappeared! [10.Qe3!? a5 more less equal-with the idea of Ba6 (10...Nb4?! 11.Bxb4 Bxb4+ 12.c3 Be7 white is better 13.Bd3 c5 14.h4 c4 15.Bc2 b5 16.Ng5 h6 17.Nh7 with attacks) ] 10...Qxd6 11.Bd3 f5! (11...g6 would be too passive) 12.Qe3 Nb4 Is e6 pawn a "weakness" !? Is it worth a bishop pair? 13.0-0 Nxd3 14.Qxd3 Bb7 Black position seems more pleasant and easy to play to me.Black has a bishop pair and active position. Qd5 16.Bd2 Rad8 17.Rfe1 Bf6 18.a3 In my opinion a slightly weird move. Maybe more in the spirit of position would be [18.c3!? Rfe8 19.Bf4 c5 20.dxc5 Qxc5 with small advantage for black].18...c5! This move fights for e5 square - center! For the cost of a pawn black will gain space and very active play. [18...Bxd4!? At first it look like black will be pawn more but... 19.Bg5! Bf6 20.Bxf6 gxf6 21.Qxe6+ Qxe6 22.Rxe6 Be4 =+ It is not so clear how to make the advantage bigger after: 23.Re7 Rf7 24.Rxf7 Kxf7 25.Rc1 if 25...Bxf3 26.gxf3 Rd2 27.Kf1=] 19.dxc5 White decided to accept the sacrificed pawn. The alternative was: 19.c3 with a much worse position. There is a chess proverb: "if you are going to suffer at least suffer for something". Junior decided to suffer for a pawn - but of course it is a matter of taste. [19.c3 Rfe8 =+ ] 19...e5! [19...bxc5? This mistake drops all of black's advantage.20.Bc3!; 19...Qxc5? 20.Bb4±] 20.Red1 e4 21.Ne1 Qe6 [21...Qxc5? 22.Bb4² Black has some compensation- perhaps enough to equalize the game. 22...Qc7 23.Bxf8 Rxf8; 21...bxc5? 22.Ba5 ± ] 22.cxb6 axb6=+ 23.Bb4 Rfe8 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 25.Rd1 Rxd1 26.Qxd1 h6 [26...Bxb2? 27.Qd8+ Kf7 28.Qc7+ +-] 27.Qc1 Be5 28.b3 f4 29.Qd2 Qf6 30.Qd7 Bc6 31.Qc8+ Kh7 32.c4?! [32.Qf8!? Qe6 33.Qe7 Exchanging Queens is in this position favors white - the white King will be more safe. 33...Qf5 =+] 32...e3 33.f3 [33.fxe3? fxe3 34.Qf8 Qg6 black is much better] 33...Bd4 Black is slightly more than better but it is not easy to increase advantage and win especially against opponent who will not miss any tactics. It is true that white king will be always in trouble but white can look for perpetual checks and counterplay connected to the creation of passed pawn. 34.Kf1 only move to stop e2 34...b5 35.h3!? [35.Nc2 Be5 36.c5 Qg6 black is much better] 35...bxc4 36.bxc4 Qg6 [36...Ba1!?³ 37.Qa6? e2+-+ 38.Kg1 Bd4+ 39.Kh2 Qg6 with mating attack.] 37.Ke2 Be5 38.Kf1 [38.Qg4? Qf7-+] 38...Be8 39.Qb7 In my opinion better was to play Kg1 immediately [39.Kg1!³ Bf7 40.c5 Bd5 White is ok - the king is safe and there is counterplay.] 39...Bf7 40.c5 Bc4+ 41.Kg1 e2 42.a4 [42.Kh1 Bd4 43.a4 (43.c6? Be6 44.c7 Bxh3-+) ] 42...Bd4+ 43.Kh1 Be3 44.Qe4?The endgame is lost! [44.a5! would probably lead to a draw because it is hard to make progress for black. It looks like black advantage is not enough. 4...Ba6 a) 44...Qg3? 45.Qe4+= with perpetual check; b) 44...Qb1 45.c6 (45.a6 Bxc5 -+) 45...Bd5 46.a6 Qc1 (46...Bxc6? 47.Qxc6 Qxb4 48.Qc2+²) 47.Qb5 (47.a7? Qxc6 -+) 47...Qxc6 48.Qxe2 Bc4 49.Qc2+ Kg8 50.a7 Bxa7 51.Nd3 and the game should finish as a draw; 45.Qb6 (45.Qc7!? Qb1 ) 45...Qxb6 46.cxb6 Kg6 = 47.Kh2 Bf2 48.Nc2 Bg3+ 49.Kg1 Kf7 White should be able to hold a position.] 44...Qxe4 -+ 45.fxe4 Kg6 46.Nc2 All white pieces are tied dawn. Black king is going to collect white's pawns. [46.g3 fxg3 47.Kg2 Bf2 48.c6 Kf7 49.c7 Ba6 -+ ] 46...Bf2 47.c6 Kf6 48.Be1 [Ed: It seems that white has some drawing chances by playing 48.c7[the following line shows the importance of the move order: 48.g4? Bd3! 49.c7 Bxe4+ 50.Kh2 Bg3+ 51.Kg1 f3 52.c8Q f2# :)]48...Ba6 [48...Be6 49.g4 fxg3 (49...Bb6 50.Kg2 Bxc7 51.Nd4 Bc4 52.Kf3) 50.Kg2 Ke5 51.Be1 Bxe1 52.Nxe1 Kf4 53.a5 Bc8 54.Nd3+ Kxe4 55.Ne1 Kf4! and black can win a tempo (55...Ke3? 56.Kxg3 Kd2 57.Kf2=) 56.Nd3+ Ke3 57.Ne1 Kd2 58.Nf3+ Kd1 59.Kxg3 e1Q+ 60.Nxe1 Kxe1 61.h4 g6 (now black has to be careful: 61...Ke2 62.Kf4 Kd3 63.Ke5 Ke3? (63. ...Kc4 64.a6! Bxa6 65. Kf5) 64.h5! Kf3 65.Kd6 Ke4 66.Ke7 Ba6 67.Kd8 wins for white!) 62.Kf4 Kf2 63.Ke5 Kg3 64.Kf6 g5 65.hxg5 hxg5 66.Kxg5 leads to a draw]49.g4! and there will be no box for the king... 49. ...Bb6 [49...fxg3 50.Kg2 h5 51.Kf3 h4 and 52.Lc3 followed by a5 Nb4-d3 looks drawish] 50.Bc3+ Kf7 51.Kg2 Bxc7 52.Kf3 g5 53.Nd4 Be5 54.Kf2 Bxd4+ 55.Bxd4 draw.(F.Kling) ]48. ...Bg3! -+White king will be not remain from his box. And the rest is silence :-) 49.Bb4 Ke5 50.Kg1 Kxe4 51.c7 Ba6 52.Ne1 Kd5 53.Bc3 Kd6 54.Ba5 Kd7 55.Nf3 Bb7 56.Ne1 Kc8 57.Bd2 Kxc7 58.Nd3 Kb6 59.Ne1 Kc5 60.a5 Kd4 61.Kh1 Bf2 62.Kh2 Ke4 63.Kh1 Bc5 64.Kh2 h5 65.h4 Bd4 66.Bb4 Bf6 67.a6 Bxa6 68.Nf3 Kd3 69.Kg1 Kc2 70.Kf2 Kd1 71.g3 Bb7 72.gxf4 Bxf3 73.Kxf3 Bb2 74.Ke4 Bc1 0-1