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World Chess Championship 2013, a decent summary:
We're About To Have Our First Post-Modern Chess Champion
This is our new era of post-modern chess. It's not about uncorking crazy, romantic brilliancies. And it's not about achieving crushing, positional victories. It's about being as cool as a computer while your opponent does things that are, well, human.
http://www.seattlepi.com/technology/businessinsider/article/We-re-About-To-Have-Our-First-Post-Modern-Chess-4998898.php
breaking news: Magnus Carlsen wins World Chess Championship in decisive tournament, he did not lose a singe game:
Final score 6.5 Carlsen, 3.5 Anand
(Carlsen wins 3 games, and draws 7, zero losses).
Game 11 not even needed!!!!!
http://www.chess.com/news/breaking-magnus-carlsen-16th-undisputed-world-champion-of-chess-1065
WCC: Carlsen leads with score 5-3
World Chess Champion match starting soon:
http://chennai2013.fide.com/
http://www.chessdom.com/world-chess-championship-2013/
The Chess Programming Wiki is a repository of information about programming computers to play chess. Our goal is to provide a reference for every aspect of chess-programming, information about programmers, researcher and engines. You'll find different ways to implement LMR and bitboard stuff like best magics for most dense magic bitboard tables.
http://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/
an invaluable site for those interested in computer chess, even if you are just curious about how computers plays chess, or the history of computer chess.....
Stockfish: Powerful open source chess engine
http://stockfishchess.org/
Powerful
Stockfish is no slouch—it plays on the same level as commercial engines like Rybka and Houdini. And it's the most powerful open source chess engine in the world.
Download new development versions almost daily, sometimes more!!!!
http://abrok.eu/stockfish/
PS: Arena 3.0, a free chess GUI interface for chess engines
http://www.playwitharena.com/
Scid vs. PC: a chess database tool
A database program for chess players, with many great features.....create numerous statistics, and keep track of your games, with many filter options (ex: how many times did I win with each type of opening, playing either color). Or download the games of famous players from the internet, and generate statistical reports for them too!!!
It also has support for engine analysis.....use the included freeware engines, or add your own commercial engines. Replay the great games, and see how the computer scores the moves that were made by the players, and find where they made key mistakes!!
Too many features to list here, see the link below for more info:
Introduction
Shane's Chess Information Database is a powerful Chess Toolkit, with which one can create huge chess databases, run engine analysis, or play casual games against the computer or online with the Free Internet Chess Server. It was originally written by Shane Hudson , and has received strong contribution from Pascal Georges and others.
Scid vs. PC is a usability and bug-fix fork of Scid with some new features. The project is authored by Stevenaaus, and has been extensively tested. For more screenshots, visit the Gallery.
http://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/
Napoleon Bonaparte Chess Game vs The Turk - The most famous person ever to lose to a machine!
(or a cheat!!!)
The Comeback Kid!!!!
MLM playing White, my opponent resigned on move 40, with mate unstoppable.....once again, the power of the passed pawn causes catastrophic concessions!!!
1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.d4 c5 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.Bf4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.h3 O-O
11.O-O Ne4 12.Bd2 Nxf2 13.Rxf2 e5 14.Qe2 e4 15.Nxe4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxf2+ 17.Qxf2 Bf5 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Bc3 Qc7 20.Be5 Qd7
21.Re1 Rae8 22.b3 Bg6 23.c4 Bh5 24.g4 Bg6 25.Kg2 Re7 26.Qc5 Qd3 27.Re3 Qc2+ 28.Kg3 Rfe8 29.Qxc6 Qxa2 30.Qd5+ Bf7
31.Qd4 Qb1 32.c5 Bxb3 33.c6 Bd1 34.Qc4+ Kh8 35.c7 Rc8 36.Rd3 Qc2 37.Rd8+ Re8 38.Qf7 Qg6 39.Bxg7+ Qxg7 40.Qxe8+
1-0
watch the 2013 Candidates Tournament, on live NOW:
http://london2013.fide.com/index.php
winning the endgame by losing the exchange
in chess, it's well known that a rook is worth more than a bishop (typically, the rook is considered to be worth 5 pawns, the bishop 3)......however, in this game I had triple connected passed pawns, and decided to "lose the exchange" of rook for bishop in order to get some of my opponent's power off the board as the endgame commenced.....
computer analysis later showed this as not the optimal move, in its "opinion"....the computer looks for the BEST move to maximize score, and doesn't lose the exchange unless the result is tactical...people are sometimes better at strategy, and seeing the "big picture"....often it makes more sense when playing a human to get 'er done by simplifying.....
triple passes pawns can be very powerful, and they more than made up for the exchange of a rook for bishop.... this enabled the pawns to march up the board with less resistance....also, I had these valuable pawns remaining due to outplaying my opponent a bit in the middlegame, and plinking off a few here and there, creating the imbalance....
the outcome was inevitable, so my opponent resigned when it was mate in 1.....
MLM playing White
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.d3 O-O 6.O-O d6 7.h3 Na5 8.Bb3 Nxb3 9.axb3 Bd7 10.Be3 Bc6
11.Re1 h6 12.Qd2 a6 13.Ne2 Bd7 14.Ng3 Nh7 15.Qc3 f5 16.exf5 Bxf5 17.Nxf5 Rxf5 18.Qc4+ d5 19.Qg4 Qf8 20.Bxh6 e4
21.Bxg7 Qxg7 22.Qxf5 exf3 23.Qxd5+ Kh8 24.Qxf3 c6 25.c3 Rg8 26.Ra4 Rf8 27.Rf4 Bd6 28.Rxf8+ Qxf8 29.Qh5 Qf4 30.g3 Qg5
31.Re8+ Kg7 32.Qxg5+ Nxg5 33.h4 Nf7 34.f4 Nh6 35.Kg2 Kf7 36.Rd8 Ke7 37.Rh8 Nf7 38.Rh7 Ke8 39.Kf3 Nd8 40.f5 Be7
41.Rxe7+ Kxe7 42.g4 Kf6 43.Kf4 c5 44.g5+ Kf7 45.h5 Nc6 46.h6 Na5 47.g6+ Kf6 48.h7 Kg7 49.f6+ Kh8 50.Kg5 Nc6
51.Kh6 1-0
pin to win, with Knight fork:
I made an early blunder in this game, but came back with a vengeance!!! I recovered from a poor position, then later had a crushing Knight fork of the King and Queen......my opponent resigned after move 26, since his Queen was toast (he cant take the forking Knight, due to the fact his pawn was pinned due to my Rook)......note that my opponent had the opportunity to exchange Queens when I blocked his Queen check with my Queen..... luckily for me he didn't, but instead gave me a his Queen as gift a few moves later!!!!
MLM playing black:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 Be7 10.Nc4 b5
11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Nxd6+ Kf8 13.Qd5 Qc7 14.O-O-O Be6 15.Qd2 Rd8 16.f4 exf4 17.a4 Be5 18.axb5 Rxd6 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 axb5
21.Bxb5 Nd4 22.Qd3 Rxd5 23.Qa3+ Qe7 24.Qa8+ Rd8 25.Qa5 Rc8 26.Rhe1 Nb3+ 0-1
A 517-move win
the following is a C/P from the link below....it involves 7 man EGTBs, which are not available to the public yet, despite almost seven years since this was discovered.....the complete 7 man EGTBs when completed are expected to take at least 100 TB of storage, but from what I understand, the format is still being developed.....but sooner or later, it will be done, then onward to the 8 man EGTBs!!!
PS: for me to load all the 6 man EGTB "indexes" on a fast machine takes almost 2 minutes (they consume about 2GB of RAM), so 7 man EGTBs will take hundreds of GBs, and a long time to load, I suspect!!!...but who knows, it was not too long ago that people had to wait like 20-30 minutes for the 6 man EGTBs to load all the indexes.....
http://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess2/diary_16.htm
Black to play, White wins in 517 moves
Marc Bourzutschky and Yakov Konoval, May 2006
Incredible news from the wizards of 7-men endgames, Marc Bourzutschky and Yakov Konoval.
Barely two months after breaking the 300-move barrier in tablebase endgames (see item 311) they have now found a position where it takes White 517 moves to win (convert to a winning sub-endgame) with best play by both sides: White and Black always aim for the fastest and slowest conversions, respectively.
At the discussion forum TalkChess Bourzutschky writes: "This was a big surprise for us and is a great tribute to the complexity of chess."
"Even deeper 7-man endings may exist, but I doubt it," writes Bourzutschky. But also: "That such a great depth is still possible with so much firepower on the board suggests that even deeper endings may arise with 8 pieces, perhaps in krnnkbbn. This ending could be generated with 64 GB of RAM in a few months on a fast single CPU machine and about 5 terabytes of storage. Any takers?"
Here are those moves. As always, only-winning moves have an exclamation mark.
NB: Games over 300 moves cannot be entered in ChessBase, but the moves can be played over on the Palview board on the left. And as Bourzutschky notes, Scid also manages without a hitch. You can copy & paste the moves into it; it's not even necessary to remove the !'s - they show up, too.
1...Rd7+ 2.Kc3! Bd1 3.Qf1+! Bf3 4.Qc1+! Kf5 5.Kb2! Rb7+ 6.Ka3 Ra7+ 7.Kb4 Rb7+ 8.Ka5 Ra7+ 9.Kb6 Rb7+ 10.Ka6 Re7 11.Qf1 Re6+ 12.Ka7 Re7+ 13.Kb8 Re8+ 14.Kc7 Re3 15.Kc8 Rc3+ 16.Kb8! Kf4 17.Qg1! Ne4 18.Nf1! Rb3+ 19.Ka7! Rd3 20.Qh2+! Kf5 21.Kb8 Nf6 22.Nd2! Bd5 23.Qf2+! Ke5 24.Qe2+ Kd4 25.Ka7 Nd7 26.Qg4+! Kc5 27.Qg1+! Kb4 28.Qb1+! Kc3 29.Qc1+ Kd4 30.Qb2+ Kc5 31.Qc2+! Kd4 32.Qa4+ Kc5 33.Qa5+ Kd4 34.Qb4+ Ke5 35.Ka6 Kf5 36.Qb1 Ne5 37.Kb5! Bc6+ 38.Kb4! Bd5 39.Qf1+ Kg6 40.Qe2 Kf6 41.Qh5 Ke6 42.Qg5 Nc6+ 43.Kb5 Ne5 44.Qh6+ Kf5 45.Nf1 Bc6+ 46.Kb4 Rd4+ 47.Kb3 Rd3+ 48.Ka2 Bd5+ 49.Kb1! Nc4 50.Qh5+! Kf6 51.Qh4+ Ke6 52.Ng3! Rb3+ 53.Kc1! Rc3+ 54.Kd1 Re3 55.Nf1! Ra3 56.Qf4 Kd7 57.Ke1 Kc6 58.Qh6+ Kc5 59.Kf2 Rb3 60.Qh8 Ra3 61.Qb8 Kc6 62.Qb1 Rc3 63.Kg1 Ra3 64.Qc2 Kb6 65.Qf5 Kc5 66.Qf8+ Kb5 67.Qe8+ Kc5 68.Qe2 Rf3 69.Qe7+ Kd4 70.Qg7+ Kc5 71.Qg5 Kc6 72.Qh4 Kb5 73.Qe7 Kb6 74.Qb4+ Kc6 75.Qe1 Ra3 76.Qf2 Rf3 77.Qd4 Kd6 78.Qh4 Kc5 79.Nh2 Ra3 80.Ng4 Ra1+ 81.Kf2! Ra2+ 82.Kg3! Ra3+ 83.Kf4 Rf3+ 84.Kg5 Be6 85.Nf6! Ne5 86.Nh5 Rf5+ 87.Kh6 Ng4+ 88.Kg6! Ne5+ 89.Kh7 Rf7+ 90.Kh6! Ng4+ 91.Kg5 Ne5 92.Qa4 Rf5+ 93.Kh6! Bc4 94.Qa5+ Kd4 95.Qb6+ Kd5 96.Qd8+ Ke4 97.Qd1 Ke3 98.Qc1+ Kd4 99.Ng3 Rf6+ 100.Kh5 Kd5 101.Kh4 Rg6 102.Kh3 Bd3 103.Qf4 Rg8 104.Qb4 Bc4 105.Qd2+ Ke6 106.Qh6+ Kd5 107.Qh7 Kc5 108.Kh2 Rg6 109.Qe7+ Kd5 110.Qd8+ Ke6 111.Qf8 Kd5 112.Kh3 Bb5 113.Qa3 Bc6 114.Kg2 Rf6 115.Kh2 Nf3+ 116.Kh3 Rh6+ 117.Kg2! Nd4 118.Qe7 Kc4+ 119.Kg1! Rg6 120.Qf7+ Re6 121.Qf4 Kd3 122.Qf1+ Kc3 123.Qc1+ Kb4 124.Kh2 Rf6 125.Kh3 Bd7+ 126.Kg2! Bc6+ 127.Kh2 Rf3 128.Qd1 Kc5 129.Nh5 Kd5 130.Qh1 Ke6 131.Qg1 Ke5 132.Qg7+ Ke4 133.Qc7 Kd5 134.Nf4+ Kc4 135.Qb8 Rc3 136.Qa7 Be4 137.Qb6 Bc6 138.Qa6+ Kc5 139.Nd3+ Kd6 140.Nb2 Rb3 141.Nd1 Nf3+ 142.Kg3 Nd4+ 143.Kf2 Rf3+ 144.Ke1 Kd5 145.Qb6 Kc4 146.Qa7 Bb5 147.Nf2 Nc2+ 148.Kf1 Bc6 149.Qa6+ Kc5 150.Qa2 Nd4 151.Kg1! Rf5 152.Kh2 Rh5+ 153.Kg3! Rg5+ 154.Kf4! Rf5+ 155.Kg4 Bf3+ 156.Kh4 Rh5+ 157.Kg3 Rg5+ 158.Kf4 Rf5+ 159.Ke3! Re5+ 160.Kd3 Be2+ 161.Kd2! Kb4 162.Qg8 Bb5 163.Qg4 Re2+ 164.Kc1! Kc4 165.Nd1! Rc2+ 166.Kb1 Rd2 167.Qc8+ Bc6 168.Qg8+! Kb4 169.Nb2 Be4+ 170.Ka2! Nb5 171.Qb3+! Ka5 172.Ka1! Bd5 173.Qa4+! Kb6 174.Qb4! Rd4 175.Qe1 Be4 176.Nd1 Rc4 177.Qe3+ Kc6 178.Kb2 Rc2+ 179.Kb3 Nd6 180.Qh6 Rc5 181.Nc3 Bd5+ 182.Kc2 Kd7 183.Qg7+ Kc6 184.Kd1 Bf7 185.Kd2 Bc4 186.Ke1 Ra5 187.Qf6 Rf5 188.Qg6 Kc7 189.Qg7+ Rf7 190.Qg3 Kc6 191.Qg2+ Kc7 192.Qh2 Kc6 193.Qh1+ Kc5 194.Qh8 Re7+ 195.Kd1! Re8 196.Qh2 Re3 197.Kc2 Rd3 198.Qe5+ Kc6 199.Qh5 Rg3 200.Qa5 Rh3 201.Kd2 Rh2+ 202.Ke3 Rh3+ 203.Kf4 Rd3 204.Na4 Rd4+ 205.Kf3 Rd3+ 206.Kg4 Rd4+ 207.Kh3 Ne4 208.Qa7 Be6+ 209.Kg2! Rb4 210.Qa6+! Kd5 211.Kf3 Kd4 212.Qe2 Kd5 213.Ke3 Bd7 214.Nb2 Bb5 215.Qh5+ Ke6 216.Nd1 Nf6 217.Qh3+ Kf7 218.Kd2 Rd4+ 219.Kc1 Rc4+ 220.Kb2 Rb4+ 221.Ka3 Ra4+ 222.Kb3 Rd4 223.Nc3 Bc4+ 224.Kc2! Be6 225.Qe3 Rh4 226.Qa7+ Kg6 227.Ne2 Rb4 228.Kc1 Rc4+ 229.Kb2 Rb4+ 230.Ka3 Rb3+ 231.Ka4! Rf3 232.Qd4 Bd7+ 233.Kb4 Be6 234.Qc5 Bd7 235.Qd6 Bg4 236.Nd4 Rd3 237.Kc4 Re3 238.Nc6 Bc8 239.Qh2 Re4+ 240.Kc5 Bb7 241.Qg1+ Kh7 242.Na7 Rg4 243.Qh2+ Kg6 244.Nb5 Rg2 245.Qh3 Rg5+ 246.Kb4 Bg2 247.Qh2 Bd5 248.Nd6 Ne4 249.Nc8 Nf6 250.Qd6 Rh5 251.Qc7 Kg5 252.Qe5+ Kg6 253.Qe3 Kh7 254.Qd3+ Kg7 255.Nd6 Rg5 256.Ka4 Rh5 257.Qg3+ Kh7 258.Kb4 Kh6 259.Ka3 Rg5 260.Qc3 Kg6 261.Qc2+ Kh6 262.Nf5+ Kh5 263.Qd3 Kg6 264.Ng3+ Kf7 265.Qe3 Rg8 266.Nf5 Ra8+ 267.Kb2! Ra2+ 268.Kb1 Ra6 269.Qe7+ Kg6 270.Nd6 Rb6+ 271.Kc2 Rb3 272.Qe5 Rf3 273.Kd2 Bc6 274.Nc4 Bd5 275.Ne3 Be4 276.Ng4 Bb7 277.Qe6 Kg5 278.Ne5 Rf2+ 279.Kc3 Rf4 280.Nf7+ Kg6 281.Nd6 Be4 282.Kd2 Rf2+ 283.Ke1 Rf4 284.Qc4 Kg5 285.Qe2 Bg6 286.Qe5+ Kg4 287.Ke2 Bf5 288.Qa1 Nh5 289.Ke3 Bc2 290.Qa8 Bg6 291.Qd5 Ng3 292.Nc4 Nf5+ 293.Ke2! Ng3+ 294.Kd2 Kh3 295.Qc6 Re4 296.Qa6 Re2+ 297.Kc3 Be4 298.Qd6 Kg2 299.Kb4 Bf3 300.Ka5 Nf5 301.Qc5 Be4 302.Kb6 Rc2 303.Qb4 Kf2 304.Ne5 Ke3 305.Nd7 Nd4 306.Qa3+ Ke2 307.Ne5 Nf5 308.Qa6+ Kf2 309.Qa4 Ng3 310.Qb4 Ke3 311.Nc4+ Kd3 312.Nd6 Ke3 313.Ka7 Bd3 314.Qb6+ Kf3 315.Qd4 Be4 316.Kb8 Re2 317.Nf7 Bf5 318.Ng5+ Kg2 319.Qd5+ Be4 320.Qb3 Bf5 321.Qf3+ Kh2 322.Qb7 Re8+ 323.Ka7! Re2 324.Qd5 Rf2 325.Nf3+ Kg2 326.Nd2+ Kh3 327.Qc6 Kg4 328.Qc3 Rf4 329.Nc4 Re4 330.Ne3+ Kg5 331.Qc5 Re6 332.Kb8 Re8+ 333.Kb7 Re6 334.Kc7 Re4 335.Kc6 Re8 336.Kb6 Re4 337.Ka5 Re6 338.Kb5 Re4 339.Nd5 Nh5 340.Ne7 Ng3 341.Qc1+ Kh4 342.Qh6+ Kg4 343.Nd5 Kf3 344.Qf6 Kg4 345.Qg7+ Kf3 346.Qc3+ Kf2 347.Qc5+ Kf3 348.Ka5 Bg4 349.Nf6 Rf4 350.Qc6+ Kf2 351.Nd5 Re4 352.Qf6+ Bf3 353.Nf4 Ne2 354.Nd3+ Ke3 355.Ne5 Rf4 356.Qb6+ Nd4 357.Kb4 Ke4 358.Nc4 Kf5 359.Qh6 Be2 360.Ne3+ Ke5 361.Qh8+ Ke4 362.Qe8+! Kf3 363.Nd5! Re4 364.Qf7+ Kg3 365.Qg6+ Kf3 366.Nf6 Rf4 367.Qh5+ Kg3 368.Qg5+ Kf3 369.Kc3 Nb5+ 370.Kb3! Rc4 371.Nd5 Nd4+ 372.Kb2 Rc2+ 373.Kb1 Ke4 374.Nf6+ Kd3 375.Nd7 Bf3 376.Ne5+ Ke2 377.Qh4 Rd2 378.Nc4! Rd1+ 379.Kb2! Rd3 380.Qg5 Rb3+ 381.Ka2! Rd3 382.Qe5+ Kf2 383.Nb2 Rd2 384.Qf4 Ke2 385.Kb1 Bg2 386.Nc4 Rd3 387.Qh2 Kf1 388.Qh7 Rc3 389.Kb2 Rc2+ 390.Ka3 Rc3+ 391.Kb4 Ne2 392.Ne5 Rh3 393.Qf5+ Ke1 394.Nd3+ Kd2 395.Nc5 Rg3 396.Qh7 Ke3 397.Qd3+ Kf2 398.Qc4 Rc3 399.Qh4+ Rg3 400.Ka5 Kg1 401.Qe7 Kf2 402.Qf6+ Ke1 403.Qh4 Kf1 404.Qd8 Ke1 405.Nd3+ Kd2 406.Nb4+ Kc1 407.Qe7 Kd2 408.Qd6+ Ke3 409.Nc2+ Kf2 410.Qe7 Rf3 411.Qh4+ Rg3 412.Ka6 Bh3 413.Qf6+ Rf3 414.Qa1 Rd3 415.Qe1+ Kf3 416.Qb4 Kg3 417.Qe7 Kf2 418.Ka5 Rc3 419.Qf8+ Rf3 420.Qb4 Rc3 421.Qb6+ Kg3 422.Ne3 Nf4 423.Nc4 Rf3 424.Qc7 Rf2 425.Qg7+ Kh2 426.Qe5 Kg3 427.Qg5+ Kh2 428.Kb6 Bg2 429.Ne3 Bh3 430.Qe5 Kg3 431.Nd5 Kg4 432.Qd4 Kg3 433.Qe3+ Rf3 434.Qe5 Kg4 435.Nf6+ Kg3 436.Ne4+ Kg2 437.Qc5 Ne2 438.Qc4 Nf4 439.Qc2+ Kh1 440.Qc5 Bg2 441.Nf2+ Kh2 442.Ng4+ Kh3 443.Qg5 Rb3+ 444.Ka5 Ra3+ 445.Kb4 Rf3 446.Ne5 Nd5+ 447.Kb5 Rf4 448.Kc5 Be4 449.Nc6 Rh4 450.Qd2 Kg4 451.Qe1 Bg2 452.Qe6+ Kg3 453.Nd4 Nf4 454.Qb3+ Kh2 455.Qe3 Rh5+ 456.Kd6! Rd5+ 457.Ke7! Nh3 458.Qd2 Kg3 459.Qc3+ Kh2 460.Qe3 Rg5 461.Qe2 Nf4 462.Qf2 Rg4 463.Nf5 Nd5+ 464.Ke6 Rg6+ 465.Kd7 Rg4 466.Qe1 Nf6+ 467.Kc7 Ne4 468.Qc1 Rg5 469.Qf4+! Kg1 470.Ne3 Rg7+ 471.Kb6 Rg6+ 472.Ka5 Rg5+ 473.Kb4 Rg6 474.Qe5 Bf3 475.Qa1+ Kh2 476.Qb2+ Kh1 477.Qc1+ Rg1 478.Qc8 Rg3 479.Qh8+ Kg1 480.Qa1+ Kf2 481.Qd4 Rg5 482.Nf5+ Kg2 483.Qb2+ Kh3 484.Ne3 Rh5 485.Nf1 Kg4 486.Qg7+ Kh3 487.Qg1 Rh4 488.Ka3 Rf4 489.Qh2+ Kg4 490.Ne3+ Kg5 491.Nd5 Rf7 492.Qe5+ Kh4 493.Ne7 Ng5 494.Ng8 Ne4 495.Nh6 Rf6 496.Nf5+ Kg4 497.Ne3+ Kh4 498.Kb4 Rb6+ 499.Ka5 Rf6 500.Qh2+ Kg5 501.Qh7 Ng3 502.Qg7+ Rg6 503.Qe5+ Kh6 504.Qf4+ Rg5+ 505.Kb6 Be2 506.Qf8+ Kh7 507.Nd5 Bc4 508.Nf6+ Kg6 509.Nd7 Nh5 510.Qd6+ Kh7 511.Qe7+ Kh6 512.Qe3 Be6 513.Ne5 Bd5 514.Qd4 Bg8 515.Qd2 Nf6 516.Nf3 Nd5+ 517.Kb7 Kg7 518.Qxg5+ and White wins.
some of the longest known checkmates in chess:
http://kirill-kryukov.com/chess/longest-checkmates/longest-checkmates.shtml
(note: some of these might ignore the 50 move rule, which could make them a draw in an official game if one of the opponents decides to claim it)
also of interest is that discoveries made by computer chess endgame tablebases (EGTBs) once caused this rule to be changed when it was found that there were many forced checkmates possible that were longer than 50 moves...later, the rule was reinstated back to 50 moves, since us humble humans have a hard time playing perfectly for a grinding hundred or more moves!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty-move_rule
The fifty-move rule in chess states that a player can claim a draw if no capture has been made and no pawn has been moved in the last fifty consecutive moves (fifty moves by each side)
In the 20th century it was discovered that some positions of certain endgames can only be won in more than fifty moves (without a capture or a pawn move). The rule was changed to include certain exceptions in which one hundred moves were allowed with particular material combinations. However, more and more exceptions were discovered and in 1992 FIDE abolished all such exceptions and reinstated the strict fifty-move rule.
below are some long mates of interest, with the FEN string following, which can be input in the link below....for example, in the 1st example, copy and past the info after the 211 (which is the maximum moves until a forced move with perfect play) using the "Input Fen" button in the below link to see it for yourself!!!
http://www.shredderchess.com/online-chess/online-databases/endgame-database.html/
KRPPKP 211 8/k1P5/8/8/1R5P/8/7p/3K4 w - - 0 1
KRPPKQ 216 8/k1P5/8/8/1R5P/8/K7/7q w - - 0 1
KRRPKP 218 8/7k/8/8/PR3R2/8/p7/3K4 w - - 0 1
KRRPKQ 253 q7/7k/8/6R1/8/8/2P2R2/K7 w - - 0 1
KRPKBN 204 8/1P6/8/n7/2K5/1b1R4/8/6k1 w - - 0 1
KRNKNN 262 6k1/5n2/8/8/8/5n2/1RK5/1N6 w - - 0 1
(WOW, a FORCED mate in 262 moves!!!)
Carlsen wins the 4th London Classic
Magnus Carlsen of Norway has won the 4th London Classic in style, irrespective of the result of his final game. Magnus' Live rating, currently 2862.4 is an all time record and has surpassed Garry Kasparov's record of 2851 which stood for 13 years. The new rating list will be published on January 1st 2013. Magnus became world number one at the London Chess Classic and he has made history again here. We look forward to seeing him in London again in 2013 when he begins his world title attempt in the Candidates Matches. He truly is at the top of the chess world.
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/
Endgame Tablebases:
I'm in the process of downloading all of the 6 man Nalimov EGTBs, which takes about 1.2TB of storage!!!! (for comparison, the 5 man tablebases take only about 7GB)
I have about 75% of the 6-man EGTBs so far.....once I have them all, my chess engines will have perfect play when there are 6 or less pieces left (counting the kings). Note that the tablebases don't include 5 vs 1, since that is a trivial win against the lone king.
Also of note is that Chess being "a solved game" would imply having 32 piece tablebases, a feat that seems almost impossible (since the storage needs would probably exceed the particle count of the observable universe!!!!)
More info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame_tablebase
below is a link that will instantly solve any 6 man endgame, for those who might not wish to spend 2 weeks downloading 1.2 TB of files!!!!
http://www.shredderchess.com/online-chess/online-databases/endgame-database.html/
PS: for fun, try entering the below FEN string to see a Mate in 253 moves (ignoring the 50 move rule), with a pawn under-promotion to a knight!!! (copy and past the below into the "input FEN" button)
8/1P1k4/2R5/n7/1n6/K7/8/8 w - - 0 1
Houdini 3, the best got better!!!
Houdini author Robert Houdart has outdone himself...for those seeking the most powerful chess engine available, Houdini 3 is well worth the price. Robert also gives great technical support, and is a true gentleman in my communications with him.....(and he is an amateur astronomer like myself!!!)
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm
I bought my copy of the Houdini 3 chess engine, and have been running some tournaments using Arena 3.....here are the partial results so far against some of the other strongest chess engines out there....amazing!!!!
for those who don't wish to buy Houdini, the free version 1.5a is still one of the strongest chess engines available.........it's a no strings attached version, and only bested by Houdini 3 in ALL my tests so far of the engines I have......not too shabby for freeware!!! Note: I don't have Houdini 2, which is stronger than Houdini v1.5a
Time Control: 40 moves in 2 minutes, reoccurring...all engines using 256MB hash, 2 threads (except Komodo 3, which is not multiprocessor capable), Opening Book up to 32 ply, endgame tablebases turned on, pondering off. I also am trying the new Houdini 3 tactical mode, which as expected is not as strong in a short time control match (it's more for analysis purposes)...but it still beats the other non-Houdini engines!!!
386 of 900 games played, tournament still in progress
Program Elo + - Games Score Av.Op. Draws
1 Houdini_3_x64 : 3097 55 53 83 65.1 % 2989 48.2 %
2 Houdini_15a_x64 : 3091 62 61 86 65.1 % 2982 34.9 %
3 Houdini_3_x64-Tactical : 3045 61 61 83 57.2 % 2994 34.9 %
4 Critter_1.6a_64bit : 3019 50 49 84 53.0 % 2998 56.0 %
5 IvanHoe999946f : 3009 54 54 78 48.7 % 3018 51.3 %
6 RobboLito 0.21Q x64 SSE4.2 NLP : 3007 51 51 79 49.4 % 3012 55.7 %
7 Stockfish-231-64-popcnt-ja : 2989 59 59 83 48.2 % 3002 38.6 %
8 Critter_1.4_64bit_sse4 : 2983 53 53 84 47.6 % 3000 50.0 %
9 Stockfish-222-sse42-ja-intel : 2962 51 52 85 44.7 % 2999 51.8 %
10 Komodo3-64-sse : 2962 56 57 77 40.9 % 3026 48.1 %
HAPPY NATIONAL CHESS DAY!!!... expand your mind, play some chess today.....
Nice Board, Chess Rocks!
Nice to see they could agree on something!
National Chess Day October 13, 2012
S.Res. 539: A resolution designating October 13, 2012, as “National Chess Day”
Introduced Aug 01, 2012
Passed (Simple Resolution) Aug 01, 2012
This simple resolution passed on August 1, 2012. That is the end of the legislative process for a simple resolution.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/sres539
SRES 539 ATS
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 539
Designating October 13, 2012, as ‘National Chess Day’.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 1, 2012
Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, and Mr. LEVIN) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to
RESOLUTION
Designating October 13, 2012, as ‘National Chess Day’.
Whereas there are more than 80,000 members of the United States Chess Federation (referred to in this preamble as the ‘Federation’), and an unknown number of additional people in the United States who play chess without joining an official organization;
Whereas approximately 1/2 of the members of the Federation are members of scholastic chess programs, and many of those members join the Federation by the age of 10;
Whereas the Federation is very supportive of scholastic chess programs and sponsors a Certified Chess Coach program that provides the coaches involved in the scholastic chess programs with training and ensures schools and students can have confidence in the programs;
Whereas many studies have linked scholastic chess programs to the improvement of students’ scores in reading and math, as well as improved self-esteem;
Whereas the Federation offers guidance to educators to help incorporate chess into the school curriculum;
Whereas chess is a powerful cognitive learning tool that can be used to successfully enhance students’ reading skills and understanding of math concepts; and
Whereas chess engages students of all learning styles and strengths and promotes problem-solving and higher-level thinking skills: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates October 13, 2012, as ‘National Chess Day’ to enhance awareness and encourage students and adults to play chess, a game known to enhance critical-thinking and problem-solving skills; and
(2) encourages the people of the United States to observe National Chess Day with appropriate programs and activities.
112th Congress, 2011–2012
Introduced:
Aug 01, 2012
Sponsor:
Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller IV [D-WV]
Status:
Passed (Simple Resolution)
Battery Power:
Rooks are usually more effective when operating in harmony, especially when a ROOK BATTERY is set up on a file.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_(chess)
It is particularly effective to form a battery using rooks because they may be combined to occupy the same rank or file.
my opponent made several mistakes in this game, right from the opening, but still might have got draw, despite the opening blunder......however, once he separated his rooks (to capture some pawns that could have been dealt with later), he lost a lot of their power to work together....and this eventually cost him the game....
(this person was supposedly only rated about 50 pts lower than me, which is kind of puzzling....a 1800 player should not have made mistakes like this....)
enjoy!!! this was a fun game!!!....note that my opponent Queened a pawn, but that did not stop him from being checkmated via the "roll"....(I could have exchanged his Queen for my Rook, but a FAST checkmate was the better option!!!!)
MLM playing White
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.Bb5 Bxf5 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.Nc3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 e5 9.Qh5+ g6 10.Qxe5+ Qe7
11.Qxe7+ Bxe7 12.O-O Nf6 13.Re1 Kd7 14.d3 Rab8 15.a3 Rhf8 16.Bg5 Bd6 17.b4 d4 18.Bxf6 Rxf6 19.Ne4 Rf5 20.Re2 a5
21.bxa5 Ra8 22.a4 Raxa5 23.g3 c5 24.Nxd6 cxd6 25.f4 d5 26.Rae1 Rxa4 27.Re7+ Kc6 28.Rxh7 c4 29.Re6+ Kb5 30.Rxg6 Ra2
31.Rb7+ Kc5 32.dxc4 dxc4 33.Rg5 Rxg5 34.fxg5 Rxc2 35.g6 Ra2 36.Kf1 d3 37.Rd7 d2 38.g7 c3 39.g8=Q Ra1+ 40.Ke2 Re1+
41.Kf2 d1=Q 42.Qc8+ Kb4 43.Rb7+ Ka3 44.Qxc3+ Ka2 45.Qb2# 1-0
thank you.....thank you very much!!!.....
sweeeeeeeeeeeet
Knight Moves
MLM playing white
note the Knight threats, as they work in harmony, putting pressure on the black king-side.....then the forced exchanges at the end of the game, to get material off the board.....there was no way to stop the passed pawn after that, so my opponent graciously resigned.....
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ Nxd7 6.O-O e5 7.Re1 e4 8.d3 Bb4 9.Bd2 Be7 10.Nd4 Ngf6
11.Nc3 O-O 12.a3 Bc5 13.Nf5 exd3 14.cxd3 Re8 15.b4 Rxe1+ 16.Qxe1 Bf8 17.Bg5 Qc7 18.Rc1 Ng4 19.Ng3 Nde5 20.Qd1 Qd7
21.h3 h6 22.Bf4 g5 23.Nh5 gxf4 24.hxg4 Qe7 25.Nxd5 Qg5 26.Ndf6+ Kh8 27.d4 Ng6 28.d5 Bd6 29.Ne4 Qe5 30.Nxd6 Qxd6
31.Qd4+ Ne5 32.Re1 f6 33.Nxf6 Nc6 34.Re8+ Rxe8 35.Nxe8+ Nxd4 36.Nxd6 1-0
no problem, hope you have a few wins with it.....
Wow, 250 years is an old trick. I may try for a few of these mates now thanks to you. I attack the king's Bishop pawn early anyhow, so this trick is a natural extension of what I'm trying to do in the first place.
Thanks a LOT !
Great board MLM. Saw your post on the Spelling and Other Oops Board.
The queen sacrifice w/mate in 7 at the bottom was so intriguing I followed your link here. Well done!
thanks, I didn't start this board though, just revamped it a bit....
Good idea for a board, gave you #13 boardmark. I've been playing for the past 3 yrs. Play on chess.com, under the name'Sinatraf3'.
BTW, this is an incorrect comment in my link.....
In chess, the queen is the most valuable piece on the board.
(anyone should understand why it's #2, lol!!!)
The King that dies with the most pieces does not win.....
Good article MLM, it's easy to see
why Thiel has been the success he is. This guy gets human nature and how to utlize each piece. It seems so simplistic of a concept as to be a given. The corporation, business, government, boss or supervisor that recognizes the best function of the pieces is the most likely to win.
I liked the nerd /athlete juxtaposition as well, as a matter of fact some legendary coaches have understood this function of the pieces
as well as anyone in my opinion. In hockey, the enforcer protecting the 'nerd'(talented but more delicate skater), the pitcher that brushes back the other teams best hitter in retaliation for his hit batsmen, in football the headhunter, usually a linebacker, that retaliates for the cheap hit on his own quarterback (not the headhunting in the news recently), etc. The best coaches, obviously knowing how to put their 'pieces' together to construct the best
offenses, defenses and off the bench guys.
Naturally I'm going to pick up on that because I'm a sports nut. :)
I've certainly worked for my share that don't understand or are afraid to play their pieces to their strengths, often out of fear they'll be creating their replacements, or creating prima donnas that will cause them to actually do more work.
On a more topical note the mention of “People often talk about first mover advantage, but focusing on that may be problematic; you might move first then fade away. The danger there is that you simply aren’t around to succeed, even if you do end up creating value. More important than being the first mover is the last mover. You have to be durable." WOW , you hear this 'first mover' phrase being used when referring to Facebook all the time.
Anyway, good article on a book written by an obviously real smart cookie.
The Chess Concepts Peter Thiel Used To Become A Billionaire
Jonathan Wai, Duke University Jun. 5, 2012, 1:12 PM
Through notes from Peter Thiel's CS183: Startup class at Stanford University, we have a unique window into the mind of the venture capitalist and hedge fund manager. He's fascinated with human nature, and integrates what he learned from his former career as a chess master into his lectures.
Chess is a contained universe: there are only 32 pieces on the board and 64 squares those pieces can occupy. But starting up a company takes much more than raw intellectual ability; it requires what Thiel calls "The Mechanics of Mafia," or the understanding of complex human dynamics. Linking the two worlds is Thiel's passion. Here are some of the chess concepts he highlighted in his class, thanks to notes from one of his former students, Blake Masters:
Know the relative value of your pieces:
In chess, the queen is the most valuable piece on the board. In the standard valuation system, it is given a 9, whereas the rook (5), bishop (3), knight (3), and pawn (1) are lower. In his lecture Value Systems, Thiel mentions Guy Kawasaki’s equation on how to assess the value of a company based on the types of people you have:
Pre-money valuation = ($1M x Number of Engineers) – ($500k x Number of MBAs).
So engineers are more valuable pieces than MBAs.
From his lecture If You Build It, Will They Come? Thiel points out that within any group, there is a wide range of talent. This goes for engineering as much as it goes for sales. “Engineering is transparent … It is fairly easy to evaluate how good someone is. Are they a good coder? An ubercoder? Things are different with sales. Sales isn’t very transparent at all. We are tempted to lump all salespeople in with vacuum cleaner salesmen, but really there is a whole set of gradations. There are amateurs, mediocrities, experts, masters, and even grandmasters.”
“But if you don’t believe that sales grandmasters exist, you haven’t met Elon [Musk]. He managed to get $500m in government grants for building rockets, which is SpaceX, and also for building electric cars, which is done by his other company, Tesla.”
The take-away lesson: Just like with chess pieces, people are not of equal value when it comes to your organization. You must be able to accurately assess their value. And within any field there are amateurs, mediocrities, experts, masters, and grandmasters.
Know how your pieces work best together:
In his lecture The Mechanics of Mafia Thiel discusses two personality types: “nerds” and “athletes.” “Engineers and STEM people tend to be highly intelligent, good at problem solving, and naturally non zero-sum. Athletes tend to be highly-motivated fighters; you only win if the other guy loses.” A company made up of only athletes will be biased toward competing. A company made up of only nerds will ignore the situations where you have to fight. “So you have to strike the right balance between nerds and athletes.”
The take-away lesson: You need some athletes to protect your nerds when it’s time to fight.
Know the phases of the game and have a plan:
In chess, there are three phases: the opening, the middle game and the end game.
From his lecture Value Systems Thiel notes: “People often talk about ‘first mover advantage.’ But focusing on that may be problematic; you might move first then fade away. The danger there is that you simply aren’t around to succeed, even if you do end up creating value. More important than being the first mover is the last mover. You have to be durable. In this one particular at least, business is like chess. Grandmaster Jose Raul Capablanca put it very well: to succeed ‘you must study the endgame before anything else.’”
From his lecture War and Peace: “A good intermediate lesson in chess is that even a bad plan is better than no plan at all. Having no plan is chaotic. And yet people default to no plan.”
Take away lesson: Moving first isn’t always an advantage. Think about poker. If you’re the last to bet, you have the most information. The endgame is where the most decisive moves are made. Study it and make sure you’re around at the right time to make your move. Have a plan.
Talent matters; there is more to success than luck:
In chess, talent clearly matters. In business and life, both talent and luck matter.
From his lecture You Are Not A Lottery Ticket, Thiel said that “when we know that someone successful is skilled, we tend to discount that or not talk about it. There’s always a large role for luck. No one is allowed to show how he actually controlled everything.”
In his lecture If You Build It, Will They Come? Thiel explained that "since the best people tend to make the best companies, the founders or one or two key senior people at any multimillion-dollar company should probably spend between 25 percent and 33 percent of their time identifying and attracting talent.”
Take away lesson: Some people hold more value and control more resources than you realize. Invest your time in finding those talented people for your organization.
Chess is a brutal mental game. So is life. Make your moves carefully.
According to chess grandmaster Danny King's interview with 60 Minutes, “Chess is a really brutal game. I think because it’s so contained. It’s all going on in the head. And if you lose to your opponent, you feel stupid. You can call someone all the names under the sun, but if you call someone stupid, that’s the worst thing you can say to another human being. And that’s a bit what it feels like when you lose a game of chess. It’s all intellectual.”
Take away lesson: In the words of King: “You can’t take your moves back. Once you play your move you could be stepping into some horrible trap.”
© 2012 by Jonathan Wai
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-chess-concepts-that-taught-peter-thiel-how-to-become-a-billionaire-2012-6#ixzz1x3GTIn6b
are you an active chess player, WB????
Wb would be a step up
for me sir, lol. I'll read those links while my port smolders
tomorrow, futures not looking too good at the moment.
Thanks
Hi WB, I read your posts, thanks for stopping by and contributing......
I've played "advanced chess", as well as vote chess when I used to be a member at a popular chess site.......the power of the group mind is impressive, as well as the now god-like computer engines.....it's interesting that the group can lose these matches against grand masters, yet chess engines running on modest hardware are now well beyond the capabilities of the best humans, even when given odds!!!
here is another "vs the world" match against chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen: (and he wins too!!!)
http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/carlsen-beats-the-world/
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54673837
PS: my friends call me MLM for short......hope you don't mind the same back, as I'm lazy, and typing this from a smartphone......will post more later....
Kasparov versus the World
by Michael Nielsen on August 21, 2007
It is the greatest game in the history of chess. The sheer number of ideas, the complexity, and the contribution it has made to chess make it the most important game ever played.
-Garry Kasparov (World Chess Champion) in a Reuters interview conducted during his 1999 game against the World
In 1999, world chess champion Garry Kasparov, widely acknowledged as the greatest player in the history of the game, agreed to participate in a chess match sponsored by Microsoft, playing against “the World”. One move was to be made each 24 hours, with the World’s move being decided by a vote; anyone at all was allowed to vote on the World Team’s next move.
The game was staggering. After 62 moves of innovative chess, in which the balance of the game changed several times, the World Team finally resigned. Kasparov revealed that during the game he often couldn’t tell who was winning and who was losing, and that it wasn’t until after the 51st move that the balance swung decisively in his favour. After the game, Kasparov wrote an entire book about it. He claimed to have expended more energy on this one game than on any other in his career, including world championship games.
What is particularly amazing is that although the World Team had input from some very strong players, none were as strong as Kasparov himself, and the average quality was vastly below Kasparov’s level. Yet, collectively, the World Team produced a game far stronger than one might have expected from any of the individuals contributing, indeed, one of the strongest games ever played in history. Not only did they play Kasparov at his best, but much of the deliberation about World Team strategy and tactics was public, and so accessible to Kasparov, an advantage he used extensively. Imagine that not only are you playing Garry Kasparov at his best, but that you also have to explain in detail to Kasaparov all the thinking that goes into your moves!
How was this remarkable feat achieved?
It is worth noting that another “Grandmaster versus the world” game was played prior to this game, in which Grandmaster and former world champion Anatoly Karpov crushed the World Team. However, Kasparov versus the World used a very different system to co-ordinate the World Team’s efforts. Partially through design, and partially through good luck, this system enabled the World Team to co-ordinate their efforts far better than in the earlier game.
The basic idea used was that anyone in the world could register a vote for their preferred next move. The move taken was whichever garnered the most votes. Microsoft did not release detailed statistics, but claimed that on a typical move more than 5000 people voted. Furthermore, votes came from people at all levels of chess excellence, from chess grandmasters to rank amateurs. On one move, Microsoft reported that 2.4 percent of the votes were cast for moves that were not merely bad, but actually illegal! On other occasions moves regarded as obviously bad by experts obtained up to 10 percent of the vote. Over the course of the match, approximately 50,000 individuals from more than 75 countries participated in the voting.
Critical to the experiment were several co-ordinating devices that enabled the World Team to act more coherently.
An official game forum was set up by Microsoft so that people on the World Team could discuss and co-ordinate their ideas.
Microsoft appointed four official advisors to the World Team. These were outstanding teenage chess players, including two ranked as grandmasters, all amongst the best of their age in the world, although all were of substantially lower caliber than Kasparov. These four advisors agreed to provide advice to the World Team, and to make public recommendations on what move to take next.
In addition these formal avenues of advice, as the game progressed various groups around the world began to offer their own commentary and advice. Particuarly influential, although not always heeded, was the GM school, a strong Russian chess club containing several grandmasters.
Most of these experts ignored the discussion taking place on the game forum, and made no attempt to engage with the vast majority of people making up the World Team, i.e., the people whose votes would actually decide the World’s moves.
However, one of the World Team’s advisors did make an effort to engage the World Team. This was an extraordinary young chess player named Irina Krush. Fifteen years old, Krush had recently become the US Women’s chess champion. Although not as highly rated as two of the other World Team advisors, or as some of the grandmasters offering advice to the World Team, Krush was certainly in the international elite of junior chess players.
Unlike her expert peers, Krush focused considerable time and attention on the World Team’s game forum. Shrugging off flames and personal insults, she worked to extract the best ideas and analysis from the forum, as well as building up a network of strong chess-playing correspondents, including some of the grandmasters now offering advice.
Simultaneously, Krush built a publicly accessible analysis tree, showing possible moves and countermoves, and containing the best arguments and refutations for different lines of play, both from the game forum, and from her correspondence with others, including the GM school. This analysis tree enabled the World Team to focus its attention much more effectively, and served as a reference point for discussion, for further analysis, and for voting.
As the game went on, Krush’s role on the World Team gradually became more and more pivotal, despite the fact that according to their relative rankings, Kasparov would ordinarily have beaten Krush easily, unless he made a major blunder.
Part of the reason for this was the quality of Krush’s play. On move 10, Krush suggested a completely novel move that Kasparov called “A great move, an important contribution to chess”, and which all expert analysts agree blew the game wide open, taking it into uncharted chess territory. This raised her standing with the World Team, and helped her assume a coordinating role. Between moves 10 and 50 Krush’s recommended move was always played by the World Team, even when it disagreed with the recommendations of the other three advisors to the World Team, or with influential commentators such as the GM school.
As a result, some people have commented that the game was really Kasparov versus Krush, and Kasparov himself has claimed that he was really playing Smart Chess, Krush’s management team. Krush has repudiated this point of view, commenting on how important many other people’s input was to her recommendations. It seems likely that a more accurate picture is that Krush was at the center of the co-ordination effort for the World Team, and so had a better sense of the best overall recommendation made by the members of the World Team. Other, ostensibly stronger players weren’t as aware of all these different points of view, and so didn’t make as good decisions about what move to make next.
Krush’s coordinating role brought the best ideas of all contributors into a single coherent whole, weeding out bad moves from the good. As the game went on, much stronger players began to channel their ideas through her, including one of the strongest players from the GM school, Alexander Khalifman. The result was that the World Team emerged stronger than any individual player, indeed, arguably stronger than any player in history with the exception of Kasparov at his absolute peak, and with the advantage of being able to see the World “thinking” out loud as they deliberated the best course of action.
Kasparov versus the World is a fascinating case study in the power of collective collaboration. Most encouragingly for us, Kasparov versus the World provides convincing evidence that large groups of people acting in concert can solve creative problems well beyond the reach of any of them alone.
More practically, Kasparov versus the World suggests the value of providing centralized repositories of information which can serve as reference points for decision making and for the allocation of effort. Krush’s analysis tree was critical to the co-ordination of the World Team. It prevented duplication of effort on the part of the World Team, who didn’t have to chase down lines of play known to be poor, and acted as a reference point for discussion, for further analysis, and for voting.
Finally, Kasparov versus the World suggests the value of facilitators who act to channel community opinion. These people must have the respect of the community, but they need not be the strongest individual contributor. If such facilitators are flexible and responsive (without being submissive), they can co-ordinate and focus community opinion, and so build a whole stronger than any of its parts.
Kasparov, investing & the power of process
While the upstart Magnus Carlsen looks a phenomenal talent, few would dispute that the chess achievements of Garry Kasparov are second to none. In spite of Kasparov’s success, he is unfairly best remembered as being the first world champion to lose a match against a computer - IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997. The news kicked up a media firestorm that challenged the superiority of the human mind over computers. However, it is actually two lesser known games that Kasparov played against human opponents that are most instructive for the average investor. The interesting question they pose is whether ‘lesser’ investors can beat ‘master’ investors, solely by cultivating a better process?
Enter the cyborg…
Kasparov has explained that, having lost to Deep Blue in 1997, he became fascinated with ‘Moravec’s Paradox’ or the fact that what computers are good at, humans are weak at and vice versa. Computers are excellent at calculation and computation, but humans have far higher levels of strategic intuition, sacrificial awareness and pattern recognition. What if instead of pitting one against the other, the man and machine played in tandem - could it create the highest level of chess ever played? In 1998 he and another Grandmaster Veselin Topalov played a match in this way armed with laptops loaded with software. While a month earlier Kasparov had beaten Topalov 4–0, in this instance the match ended a 3–3 draw. When both were armed with machines, Topalov had managed to draw level in skill with the usually superior Kasparov.
While such a result raised a few eyebrows, jaws didn’t drop until 2005 when Playchess.com took the ‘Advanced Chess’ idea even further by setting up a big prize-money tournament for all comers - grandmasters, amateurs, algorithms or any hybrid of each. The early rounds predictably showed the technologically enhanced grandmasters destroying all comers, but in the final rounds an astonishing result bore out, the tournament was won by a pair of amateur American chess players. As Kasparov noted:
“Their skill at manipulating and coaching their computers to look very deeply into positions effectively counteracted the superior chess understanding of their grandmaster opponents”.
The crowd nearly ‘krushes’ the master…
At the same time as the computational power of computers was wowing the chess world, the capacity of the internet was bringing previously diffuse networks of people closer together with extraordinary results. Still nursing wounds from his defeat by the brute force of Deep Blue, Kasparov agreed to take part in a chess match (this time sponsored by Microsoft) against ‘The World’. The idea was to allow one move every 24 hours with each move played by The World to be decided by a 'free for all' internet vote. More than 50,000 people voted on moves throughout the game leading to an extremely hard fought battle that flummoxed Kasparov until he eventually prevailed as victor some 62 moves later. As explained in a tremendous article by Michael Nielsen, Kasparov was apparently so stunned by the level of the chess played that he wrote an entire book about it admitting he’d spent more energy on it than any other game in his career.
How had ‘The World’ managed to achieve this feat? The average participant was magnitudes poorer in ability and their strategy and tactics were completely public on internet forums. Kasparov himself had apparently reviewed them extensively throughout the match.
Why did Kasparov struggle so much?
There were four teenage masters co-ordinating the efforts of the World Team who made public recommendations on each move, but according to Nielsen the critical individual was the 15 year old US Women’s champion Irina Krush.
‘Shrugging off flames and personal insults, she worked to extract the best ideas and analysis from the forum as well as building up a network of strong chess-playing correspondents’.
The quality of Krush’s networked contributions were so high that every move played by the World Team between moves 10 and 50 were recommended by her. Kasparov described Krush’s move 10 as ‘an important contribution to chess’ and the level of the resulting play reinforces the idea that the opinion of the crowd, well coordinated by a central well networked facilitator can solve problems way beyond those of the individuals alone.
The above examples both serve to illustrate how amateurs in any game can raise their playing level to that of the greatest players and beyond by fusing the capabilities of modern technology with an effective process. Kasparov wrote that:
“Weak human+machine+better process [is] superior to a strong computer alone and, more remarkably, superior to a strong human + machine + inferior process”.
Process is power…
For Kasparov substitute the stock market as a whole. The market is a very worthy almost all knowing opponent that even the majority of fund managers struggle to beat. Many professional investors go about beating the market by gathering more and more knowledge and analysing stocks more and more deeply, but if there’s one lesson to take from the progress of the lesser chess players above, it is that knowledge isn’t necessarily power - process is power. Rather than focusing on being a better analyst, it may be more profitable to focus on creating a better process using increasingly available computational and social inputs.
While the wisdom of the crowd is evident in the ability of individuals to read bulletin boards, the nature of forums leaves a lot to be desired. As opposed to structured consensus decision making, investors using forums often individually herd into similar high risk names with poor aggregate results. Likewise the use of checklists, algorithms and quantitative approaches by individual investors is a niche practice rather than a common one.
Good afternoon Morning, lol.
Just ran across this board nice. I'm not a chess player myself as I'm keeping my finite brain cells in reserve to get thru the daily minutiae of everyday life, a mighty chore for me at times.
I did scan the board to see if anything about 'Kasparov vs. The World' had been posted here before, if I missed it then delete the following two posts.
I got this next post fron Stockopedia (U.K.) and it fascinates the shit out of me. The post that will follow that was from a link in the Stockopedia article that may be the original article, it's been awhile since I've read these so I think that's right. The second article adds a little more so I'll go ahead and include it.
The main protagonist in the drama was 15 year old Irina Krush who became U.S. Women's Champion. Irina was nowhere near to Grand Master
status and as a matter of fact there were two other U.S. women more hightly regarded than her. What she accomplished against some of the most daunting minds in the world just astonishes me.
Chess engine tournament, 200 games played, Fischer time 2 minutes +2 sec per move:
(about 36 hours of play total)
Rank Engine Score % Ho St Cr Ro Ko Sp MP S-B
1 Houdini15a 41.0/58 70.6 · ·· ·· ·· ·· 010=0111=1 =11=0=011= 1====1=1= =1==11110= 110011==1 1111111111 1025.00
2 Stockfish222 38.0/57 66.6 101=1000=0 · ·· ·· ·· ·· =01010==1 111===101 =1111=0=1= =1=111111 111111=10= 940.25
3 Critter14 34.5/57 60.5 =00=1=100= =10101==0 · ·· ·· ·· ·· 1======0=1 =====110= 11=1=1===1 =1111111= 868.25
4 RobboLito 0.10 SMP w32 32.0/57 56.1 0====0=0= 000===010 0======1=0 · ·· ·· ·· ·· 101=011==1 1011=111=1 =1=11=111 768.75
5 Komodo3 23.0/58 39.6 =0==00001= =0000=1=0= =====001= 010=100==0 · ·· ·· ·· ·· =10=1=0010 1==0===1= 634.75
6 Spike1.4 19.5/57 34.2 001100==0 =0=000000 00=0=0===0 0100=000=0 =01=0=1101 · ·· ·· ·· ·· 0==11==1= 503.75
7 MP-x86-Inert---Thinker 12.0/56 21.4 0000000000 000000=01= =0000000= =0=00=000 0==1===0= 1==00==0= · ·· ·· ·· ·· 318.75
name change: The Chess Board (was "Chess Players")
I'm not familiar with "Chess Titan", but most decent chess programs use an opening book, which will play almost perfect chess for the first 5-15 moves, sometimes more!!!......look for an option to turn off opening books, and you will have a better chance.....also, turn off pondering (this is when the computer also thinks during your move), and endgame tablebases (perfect endgame play!!) to make the computer less god-like!!!!!
nowadays, when it comes to computer chess, I mostly run chess engine tournaments (using Arena for the GUI, a great freeware program: http://www.playwitharena.com/ ), since human vs computer play is fruitless unless the computer is way "dumbed down".....there are some amazing engines out there, many free......look for Stockfish 2.2.2 and Houdini 1.5a (the free version of Houdini), both rated very strong, +3000, on a decent system.....
http://www.stockfishchess.com/download/
http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm
(a logo I created to dress up the Houdini chess engine in Arena.....Houdini has the best record in all the tournaments I have run, and v1.5a is not even the most current....a stronger version can be bought, for extreme overkill!!!!):
PS:
"Opening book" is also used to describe the database of openings given to Computer chess programs. Such programs are quite significantly enhanced through the provision of an electronic version of an opening book. This eliminates the need for the program to calculate the best lines during approximately the first ten moves of the game, where the positions are extremely open-ended and thus computationally expensive to evaluate. As a result it places the computer in a stronger position using considerably less resources than if it had to calculate the moves itself.
(Wikipedia)
I got into chess recently, I play the grandmaster's level on Chess titan. I memorized the King's Indian attack which I use on my parents but I'm having a hard time against the computer. I'm memorizing how the computer reacts to me, when I move since I'm human and I make mistakes but he always seems to have a better defense then me, The computer uses a back to back bishop which blocks me everytime.
I find chess like a simulation of war, No mistakes or you lose.
For example It's like Empire: Total War on the the hardest difficulty because it takes me almost a day to think what my reprecussions will be or my advances just to figure out one move.
I bookmarked this page.
I look forward reading your post.
Also, I tried your Profile move and it worked against my chess app. lol.
I'm going to try out against a novice human.
tHANKS.
recommended reading for those who are curious on How Computers Play Chess
this is an older book, but well written, with an emphasis on the history and evolution of computer chess from the chapters early ideas to the computer becomes a master.....it's also amusing to see what did and did not occur, as this book was written in 1991, with some uncanny predictions, and some way off....
the chapters on the actual algorithms and methods used by computers is a great introduction to how computers search the game tree, endgame tablebase concepts, hash tables, etc
http://www.amazon.com/Computers-Play-Chess-David-Levy/dp/0716781212
Chess Endgame Study: Power of Opposition
Chess Endgame Study: Triangulation
a nice tutorial on the concepts of triangulation and opposition in the endgame....about 10 minutes:
The first close one, the guy moved the F8 bishop to C5 before he slid his pawn to the correct postion....I felt it was a losing scenario which it was, but I wanted to see how it played, and his King had the ability to move to F8 and it was all down hill for me from there...LOL The second time was along those lines as well....that King needs to be trapped and it only works the way shown. So I have not had anyone open correctly since. I am looking forward to it....:)
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A place for people to meet, talk chess, post links of interest, and celebrate the greatest game known to humankind.
All are welcome, regardless of skill level.
Smothered Mate in 5:
MLM Playing Black
“The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very
valuable qualities of the mind are to be acquired and strengthened by
it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess”
(Benjamin Franklin)
“Chess is the gymnasium of the mind”
(Blaise Pascal)
“Not all artists are Chess players, but all Chess players are artists”
(Marcel Duchamp)
“On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not survive long”
(Emanuel Lasker)
To Infinity and Beyond:
There are 400 different possible Chess positions after one move each. There are 72,084 different possible positions after two moves each. There are over 9 million different possible positions after three moves each. There are over 288 billion different possible positions after four moves each. The number of distinct 40-move games is far greater than the number of electrons in the observable universe
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note: in my posts, I usually refer to the opponent as he. In the off chance you are female and reading this, take no offense, "he" is usually the default for chess (unfortunately). BTW, one of the world's strongest players, male or female:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polgar
Oct 2009 Wall Street Journal Article: Women's chess titles:
(I don't agree with this, BTW)
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574457393421190888.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
OK, now a shameless picture for the guys
Women's World Chess Champion, ALEXANDRA THE GREAT:
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Some Links:
InstanstChess, a site I subscribe to, but anyone can play 25 games free (just clear cookies to play more if you run out of games). Good place to pick up a quick game
Chess.com, I used to have a subscription to this site. You can also play for free, but with limited features. This site is focused on turn-based correspondence chess, where you have several days to consider your move. This is good for those still learning the opening basics, as well as advanced players who wish to dabble in more exotic openings. A nice thing is the rules of turn-based chess allow you to reference databases, or anything else you wish (except computer chess engines, that's cheating!) for analysis during a game. If you are a paying member, you have access to a very large opening book that is easy to use, with stats on effectiveness of each move. Also has a live chess feature.
Other places to play: Yahoo (#1 for sheer player numbers, I believe) , RedHotPawn, FICS, GameKnot, to name a few. No matter what your skill level, there is competition to be found all over the Internet, with plenty of both free and subscription sites, so get playing somewhere now! Remember, you learn more from a loss than a win. (OK, I admit it though, I like to win, and don't like posting my losses!)
ChessGames.com, a **huge** database with a good interface for easy replay of the games, many annotated and also discussed in a "Kibitzer's Corner". All the famous games are here:
Endgame Database for all possible 6 piece endings. Instantly tells you if an endgame is win, lose, or draw:
www.shredderchess.com/online-chess/online-databases/endgame-database.html
Live Chess screen saver, for the chess voyeur in you:
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