Milestones, surely. Unwritten symphonies - yet they pale in comparison to the never-played contest between Novag Citrine and CyberChess, the venerable paper simulation of the 1970s, unjustly forgotten.
It was supposed to happen in 2014. It should have happened. It didn't, due to diplomatic strife. Promoters for the two combatants argued ceaselessly over broadcast rights, playing conditions and of course, the purse. The story is well known, chronicled too many times by insta-book writers, would-be experts, and dirt-digging journalists. The players themselves, sequestered in their respective training bunkers, had little input or voice, and later expressed regrets over the stalled match. Go ahead - you want to crack a bad joke and say they were just pawns in a greater game. If you're determined to see the back story, go here:
http://hiarcs.net/forums/viewtopic.php? ... c&start=30
Normal voice: If on the other hand, you just need the basics, here goes. In the 2014 thread above, John, aka Cyberchess, said this:
Steve replied in kind:Steve,
The Cyberator accepts the challenge from the 2000 – 2100 ELO rated Novag Citrine unit, but be forewarned: if the Novag Citrine should prove unworthy of the challenge, it will henceforth be denounced, stripped of its batteries and unceremoniously entombed in the dark space formerly occupied by the Cyberator unit. You see, Steve, the analog Cyberator unit is waiting for the opportune moment to arise and take its rightful place as the king of the schachcomputer universe!
As far as I can tell, this game never took place, so I thought I'd take a run at it. The players envisioned a day-by-day game. I've abbreviated a little bit. Read on.OK
CyberChess Pro Vs. Novag Citrine it is
Citrine scoffs at the punishment of having its batteries stripped ..given it only works on AC power(no batteries)
For a refresher, CyberChess is a paper chess simulation devised by Norbert Mikun, a California resident who I believe is still with us. His idea was a chess rater that creates guess-the-move quizzes matched to full games, much like what's-the-best-move or solitaire chess books. You can see the original patent and drawing here:
https://tinyurl.com/y99zqcym
The games are printed on cards fitted into a picture frame mechanism which depicts the game, six move choices and accompanying scores for good and bad moves, tallied on a wheel embedded in the side of the frame. The game cards are subdivided into amateur, standard and pro categories. The latter (in theory) represents the highest degree of difficulty. Though many game cards were made, my copy of this device includes only the three original card sets.
For this game, I chose Game 2 of the PRO card set that came with the original CyberChess package. The player (in this case Citrine) takes White. Citrine is set at 30s/move. I did not use the NEXT BEST option, which would have taken much more time. For the same reason, I am also not listing all choices for each move. Less pure, but it still works. Note that the "actual" moves are reflected in the main game score. Deviations appear in the notes. Also note that Black, the loser of this game, makes less-than-best moves. The test is whether White can exploit those errors.
The idea of the match asks Citrine to make move choices and see how it performs against the CyberChess scoring system, and whether it survives long enough to "win" the won game.
The key problem Steve and John faced was obvious: What if Citrine chooses moves outside the given options? How would they be scored, and would such deviations reflect poor decisions by the dedicated unit? The answers turned out to be more interesting.
Enough talk. Here's the game - a Ruy Lopez. Note that CyberChess sets a starting position before the actual game takes place. This is not a test of opening books.
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.12.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Novag Citrine"]
[Black "Cyberchess"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C71"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.Nc3 Bd7
STARTING POSITION
[fen]r2qkbnr/1ppb1ppp/p1np4/4p3/B3P3/2N2N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 10 6[/fen]
6.Bxc6
(6.O-O - Citrine makes its first move and picks within the range of choices offered by Cyberchess, which does not penalize this move, but prefers the game continuation.)
6...bxc6 7.d4
(7.O-O - Again, Citrine preferred this move, which lost one point.}
7...f6 8.O-O (This time, Citrine picks the "right" move) Ne7
[fen]r2qkb1r/2pbn1pp/p1pp1p2/4p3/3PP3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 1 9[/fen]
9.Nh4
(Citrine chose 9.dxe5 - the first example of a move not listed among the choices, posing the problem envisioned by match organizers. The move is not bad.)
9...exd4 10.Qxd4 Be6 11.f4 c5
[fen]r2qkb1r/2p1n1pp/p2pbp2/2p5/3QPP1N/2N5/PPP3PP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 3 12[/fen]
12.Qd3
(Citrine chose 12.Qa4+, its first genuinely bad move. CyberChess docked two points. Its "analysis text," included in the package, says simply, "Q is out of play on the Q side." Note that Deep Shredder, standing by for analysis, prefers the move favored by CyberChess.)
12...Nc6
[fen]r2qkb1r/2p3pp/p1npbp2/2p5/4PP1N/2NQ4/PPP3PP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 5 13[/fen]
13.Nd5
(Citrine chose 13. Nf3. Again. not listed among available choices. I attribute this to a certain tendency I've noticed in Novag machines: failing to follow through on an idea. Shredder rates the move slightly worse, but not bad.)
13...Be7
[fen]r2qk2r/2p1b1pp/p1npbp2/2pN4/4PP1N/3Q4/PPP3PP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 7 14[/fen]
14. b3
(Citrine chose 14.Nf5, the third example of an unavailable choice, but Shredder rates it as slightly better than the game continuation.)
14...Nb4 15.Nxb4 cxb4
[fen]r2qk2r/2p1b1pp/p2pbp2/8/1p2PP1N/1P1Q4/P1P3PP/R1B2RK1 w kq - 0 16[/fen]
16.Bb2
(Citrine chose 16.a3 - the fourth deviation from available choices, but Shredder rates it better than the game continuation.)
16...Bd7
[fen]r2qk2r/2pbb1pp/p2p1p2/8/1p2PP1N/1P1Q4/PBP3PP/R4RK1 w kq - 2 17[/fen]
17.Rfe1
(Citrine opts for 17.Qd5 - the fifth deviation, and according to Shredder, a better move than the game continuation).
17...Bb5
[fen]r2qk2r/2p1b1pp/p2p1p2/1b6/1p2PP1N/1P1Q4/PBP3PP/R3R1K1 w kq - 4 18[/fen]
18.Qd4
(Citrine chose 18.Qd5, the sixth deviation from available choices, and roughly as good as the game continuation.)
18...c5 19.Qd5 Rc8?
[fen]2rqk2r/4b1pp/p2p1p2/1bpQ4/1p2PP1N/1P6/PBP3PP/R3R1K1 w k - 8 20[/fen]
Bad move by Black.
20.Nf5
(Here, Citrine tried 20.Qh5+, the seventh deviation from available choices, and not as good as the game continuation. The game reaches a climax shortly.)
20...Kf8 21.Rad1 Rc6?? (the losing move) 22.e5 g6
[fen]3q1k1r/4b2p/p1rp1pp1/1bpQPN2/1p3P2/1P6/PBP3PP/3RR1K1 w - - 14 23[/fen]
23.Nh6
(Citrine chose 23. exd6, the eighth deviation from available choices. It is still a perfectly good move that leads to a win, but not as strong as the game continuation.)
23...Kg7 (Black is lost, but this shortens his life, allowing a forced mate that starts with the game continuation).
[fen]3q3r/4b1kp/p1rp1ppN/1bpQP3/1p3P2/1P6/PBP3PP/3RR1K1 w - - 16 24[/fen]
24.exf6+
(Citrine liked the fork, 24.Nf7. Cyberchess didn't, and docked a point. The move makes the win take longer.)
24...Bxf6 25.Qf7+ Kxh6 26.Bxf6 Qg8
[fen]6qr/5Q1p/p1rp1Bpk/1bp5/1p3P2/1P6/P1P3PP/3RR1K1 w - - 1 27[/fen]
Mate in three moves is possible in more than one way here.
27.Re3 (Citrine chose 27.Bg5+, which CyberChess acknowledged) 27...Kh5 28.Rd5+ Kg4 29.h3+ Kxf4 30.Bg5# 1-0
FINAL POSITION
[fen]6qr/5Q1p/p1rp2p1/1bpR2B1/1p3k2/1P2R2P/P1P3P1/6K1 w - - 1 30[/fen]
What can be learned from this exercise? Here's what I see:
A) Eight times, Citrine chose moves that were not among the options allowed by CyberChess. That amounts to a third of the moves.
B) Citrine did not "lose" in the CyberChess scoring system, but the deviations were so numerous that it becomes difficult to assign any sort of rating. Three of those eight deviations were deemed better by a modern chess engine. One Citrine move (12. Qa4) was genuinely bad, and another (24. Nf7) was bad in the sense that it missed the strongest move and would have extended the game.
C) In a sense, both competitors can claim victory. Citrine did not always adhere to the choices offered by CyberChess, but some of its choices were better than those offered by the simulation, and others were viable.
D) A stronger dedicated, such as RISC 2500 or Mephisto Atlanta, would likely rate as better than CyberChess, but Steve's instinct that Citrine might prove to give CyberChess an "even" game seems to have been
prophetic regards,
- R.