How to CRUSH and SMASH and DESTROY your computer opponent!

[spacious_mind]

Taking Ferns comments and Dave's below a step further, I thought it might be a good idea if people showed their tactics on how they beat their computer opponent.

For me, it's not just a (top-level) plastic portable such as the Expert that cuts me down to size: I took my Novag Jade II on a flight to Canada and it messed with my mind for the entire trip!

I agree with you Fern (& Nick) above. There's no definition that I know of that determines when one crushes a chess board. Anytime one feels like they have played one of their best games and have beaten a board at a given level that they usual don't win at, then they can say they have crushed the damn thing!

It's All Relative Regards,
Dave

Agreed you should enjoy your victories. Last night this topic here made me decide to play a couple of games simultaneously with CXG Concerto as one opponent and Sargon 5 on a 486-25 MHz. I have not really played for about a year against computers because of all these tests that I have been doing so I fully expected to get whopped by Sargon 5 and hoped that I could beat Concerto.

I am terrible at opening theory because I don't study them and have not tried to learn one in probably 20 years so anyway I always wing my way through them, and hoping to get to the middle game with not too much damage.

Well I surprised myself last night with what I think were two good games and therefore saved them because I think I crushed the opponents and loved it!!

Normally I am not that successful, because like most of you (I think) staying concentrated is the hardest thing and I make a lot of mistakes by not taking enough time to study the opponents tactics and being too self centered on my moves. I have to continuously remind myself to not do that.

I will post these two games here if you all don't mind and provide my thought process while playing the games.

CXG Concerto Game

[Event "Game"]
[Site "Alabama"]
[Date "2015.03.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nick"]
[Black "CXG Concerto"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. f4 O-O 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Be3

[fen]r2q1rk1/ppp1ppbp/2np1np1/8/2PPPPb1/2NBBN2/PP4PP/R2QK2R w KQ - 0 8[/fen]

In this position, I was quite sure that Concerto would be tempted to take the Knight with 8. ... Bxf3, if not I was planning to help him make the decision with a h3 move. I am sure this is not the perfect Pirc sequence of moves but when Concerto decided to play the Pirc, I then just wanted to storm the center with Pawns and get the pieces out ASAP to support. My intention was to capture the Bishop with gxf3 to open the g-file and castle long side.

Bxf3 9. gxf3 Nb4 10. Be2 Qc8 11. Qd2 Qd7 12. h4 Rfe8 13. Kf2

[fen]r3r1k1/pppqppbp/3p1np1/8/1nPPPP1P/2N1BP2/PP1QBK2/R6R w - - 0 13[/fen]

After Concerto had played 10. ... Qc8 I had moved my Queen to d2, anticipating that the computer (as they often are) might be tempted to then play 11. ... Qh3, therefore I was ready to play 0-0-0.

So when Concerto continued to passively develop its pieces, 12. h4 looked strong to me and 13. Kf2 instead of 0-0-0 looked good to me as well as I could not see anything at all that could threaten the king and I figured the King would be able to support a Rook on g1 if it ever became necessary. So anyway 13. Kf2 might not be the greatest move but I really liked it.

e6 14. Rag1 a6

[fen]r3r1k1/1ppq1pbp/p2ppnp1/8/1nPPPP1P/2N1BP2/PP1QBK2/6RR w - - 0 15[/fen]

Concerto being such a passive player, really lets you if you take your time to develop your pieces and build a strong attack. Now, in the above position I was ready to attack!


15. d5 exd5 16. cxd5 a5 17. a3 Na6 18. h5 Nxh5 19. Rxh5 gxh5 20. Bd4

[fen]r3r1k1/1ppq1pbp/n2p4/p2P3p/3BPP2/P1N2P2/1P1QBK2/6R1 w - - 0 20[/fen]

I had just sacrificed my rook to open up the g-file and now it all falls into place.

f6 21. Bxf6 Re7 22. Qd4 Rf7 23. Bb5 c6 24. dxc6 bxc6 25. Bxc6 Qxc6 26. Bxg7 Rc7 27. Bh6+ Kf7 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Qg8+ Ke7 30. Rg7+ Kf6 31. Bg5# 1-0

Conclusion if you are playing a passive opponent like Concerto (any Horvath really). Then take your time to build your plan and then just go for it!

While this was going on, I had ignored playing Sargon 5 for quite a long time so I could concentrate on this game. So much for playing simultaneously! But hey it's OK we can do what we want at home with our computers! They don't care!

Oooops it time for work. I will post the Sargon 5 game later.

If you like the post, then please go ahead and post some of your insights, tactics and crushing successes against chess computers!

Best regards

[spacious_mind]

Here is the second game from last night with me playing against Compaq Contura 484-25 MHz Sargon V.

[Event "Game"]
[Site "Alabama"]
[Date "2015.03.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nick"]
[Black "Compaq Contura 486-25 Sargon 5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventCountry "USA"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Bd2 Nxd2 6. Qxd2 d6 7. a3 Ba5 8. b4 Bb6 9. Na4 dxe5 10. Nxb6 axb6 11. dxe5 Qxd2+ 12. Kxd2

[fen]rnb1k2r/1pp2ppp/1p2p3/4P3/1P6/P7/2PK1PPP/R4BNR w kq - 0 12[/fen]

This is a good example of how bad I am with openings. Fortunately with both Queens off the board my King is not in a too bad a shape being stuck on d2. I actually liked that my e5 pawn hindered black's development and made it a little awkward for black's Bishop. Although I had a backward a-pawn I could foresee if I could get a pawn on b5 that Black's queenside would also be a good target later as well. That was my plan from this position, keep the pawn on e5 at all costs and advance my queenside Pawns.

f6 13. f4 fxe5 14. fxe5 Bd7 15. Be2 O-O 16. Nf3 Nc6 17. Ke3 Ne7 18. c4

[fen]r4rk1/1ppbn1pp/1p2p3/4P3/1PP5/P3KN2/4B1PP/R6R w - - 0 18[/fen]

It is great to have a plan but often it is much harder to find the right execution. Sargon V did help me immediately when he played 12. ... f6 which allowed me to firmly keep my pawn on e5 in place. But I was really struggling with my moves, I was worried about black's Bishop moving to c6 which was partly why I had played Bishop to e2 earlier (which was probably not the best) hoping to maybe get that f3-b7 diagonal for myself. Anyway in the above position Sargon V did me another favor by now playing 18. ... Ng6 which I think was a mistake as Nf5+ or Bc6 were both I am sure much better.

Ng6 19. b5 c6 20. Rhd1 Be8 21. Rd4 Ne7 22. Bd3

[fen]r3brk1/1p2n1pp/1pp1p3/1P2P3/2PR4/P2BKN2/6PP/R7 w - - 0 22[/fen]

From this position, I started to feel more sure about having a good chance to beat Sargon V. The Rook on d4 I felt would protect the a pawn when it advances to a4 and allow me to bring my other Rook into play, as I fully expected to force Black's pawn to take my pawn on b5, which it did next move.

cxb5 23. cxb5 Ra5 24. a4 Nd5+ 25. Kd2 Bd7 26. Rc1 Raa8 27. Be4
Rad8 28. Ke1 Rf4

[fen]3r2k1/1p1b2pp/1p2p3/1P1nP3/P2RBr2/5N2/6PP/2R1K3 w - - 0 29[/fen]

I had just moved my King out of the way to allow me the possibility of doubling rooks when Sargon 5 responded with 28. ... Rf4? I think this was the final losing move for Sargon 5 because after exchanging this Rook, my position started to look easy to win.

29. Bxd5 Rxd4 30. Nxd4 exd5 31. Rc7 Bc8 32. e6 g5 33. Kd2

[fen]2br2k1/1pR4p/1p2P3/1P1p2p1/P2N4/8/3K2PP/8 w - - 0 33[/fen]

Now it was just a matter of forcing a Zugzwang situation and Black loses. Black's bishop is trapped which limits his rook completely.

Rf8 34. g4 Rf2+ 35. Kd3 Rf8 36. Kc3 h6 37. h3 Rd8 38. Re7 Rf8 39. Nf5 Kh8 40. Kd4 h5 41. Kxd5 hxg4 42. hxg4 Rd8+ 43. Ke5 Rf8 44. Rf7 Re8 45. e7 Bxf5 46. gxf5 Kg8 47. Kf6 Rxe7 48. Rxe7 1-0

Ok those were my two crushing successes from yesterday (with a lot of help from my opponents). Now I will wallow in this astounding success and not play another game for at least another year thereby staying undefeated and Champion!

Best regards

[Wardy]

Thanks for sharing, nice games

[Fernando]

Nice game AND it gave me the desire to play sargon V......but with my fast computer.

Fern

[spacious_mind]

Nice game AND it gave me the desire to play sargon V......but with my fast computer.

Fern

How fast is the computer you are using? I am actually slowing Sargon V down for testing. I just loaded it into a Compaq 286-12 Mhz and Tandy 2800 HD which is switchable between 12 MHz and 6 MHz.

Slowing down regards

[Fernando]

It is an HP 3 Gig Ram 3 Gig processor speed, so pretty fast.