Frankfurt Chess Classic 2000: Day two of the Fritz vs Humans event by John Henderson

WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

IT’S not been a good couple of days for the Germans given the recent football result against England.  Being a true Scot, I was cheering the lads on all the way …and then the bloody English scored! Roughly translated, the headlines in the German newspapers the next day read ‘A nation mourns...’ 

Contrasting fortunes for Morozevich and Leko

And, if that wasn’t a big enough indignity for Deutschland Uber Alles, worse was to follow as their all-conquering Fritz began to, well, short circuit for want of a better expression.  After the Fritz on Primergy monster took a lead on the first day in its match against Kramnik, Anand, Morozevitch and Leko, the Empire struck back and should really have taken a one-point lead at the end of the day with three wins instead of the two they got.

The white-coated boffins from ChessBase were at a loss as to why their monster wasn’t playing as strong as it should have on the colossal Primergy K800 machine.  According to Mathias Feist, the German chess fans (much like their football team) expect nothing but total victory for Frans Morsch’s creation.  “Strange,” said Herr Feist, “When we win they attribute it to Fritz.  If we lose, it’s the computer!  Not very good for the sponsor, Fujitsu Siemens.”   Nothing strange in that, Mathias, we call it “passing the buck.”

After spending a few hours trying to resolve the problem in that well-known solving post called the hotel bar, Matthias Wuellenweber said that the Chessbase team needed this form of “psychological hug-in” to try to find out as a team what exactly went wrong (Where I come from they don’t call it a “psychological hug-in”.  It’s more aptly described as “getting rat-arsed” and blaming someone else!).  Resolute, and sounding every bit like that extremely kitsch 1970s Six Million Dollar Man epic with Lee Majors, the resounding statement from the ChessBase team at the end of the night (or was it the morning, boys?) was that “we have the technology, we can rebuild it...”

Matthias Wuellenweber

So there we have it, they’ve just got three days to sort the problems out before Alexei Shirov returns from his little sojourn in Mexico when battle against mankind resumes at 4-4.  

Fritz – V Kramnik (2758)

1 c4?! "What's a computer doing playing the English?," was Garry Kasparov's immediate reaction on seeing this game.  He explained that it should be playing 1 e4 and looking for an open game and the tactics associated with it.  As usual, GK does have a point here. 1 ..e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 f5 4 d4 e4 5 Ng5 Bb4 6 Nh3 Heading for f4 and control of d5. 6 ..Nf6 7 e3 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 d6 [8 ..d5? 9 Nf4 Ne7 10 Ba3 c6 11 Rb1 and White stands better.] 9 Nf4 0–0 10 h4 Qe7 11 c5 Nd8! 12 Qb3+ Ne6 13 Bc4 Re8 14 Ba3 Kh8 15 Bxe6 Bxe6 16 Qxb7 d5 17 Rb1 [17 Nxe6 Qxe6 and, being a pawn ahead, White's position looks good.  However, the advantage is superficial as White will take time in unraveling the bishop tied-up behind the pawns.] 17 ..Bf7 18 Rb3 [18 Qa6 Nh5! 19 Nxh5 Bxh5 is similar to the game.] 18 ..Rec8 19 c6 Qd8 20 Qa6 Nh5! 21 Nxh5 Bxh5 22 Rb7 Qf6 23 0–0?

Castling into it!  The mating concept is well beyond the computers horizon - but not Kramnik's! 23 ..h6 24 Bc5 Kh7! 25 Bxa7 [All roads lead to Rome now. 25 Rfb1 Qxh4 26 Rxa7 Bf3! 27 gxf3 (27 Qf1 Rxa7 28 Bxa7 Qg4 29 Rb2 Re8 30 c4 Re6! mates) 27 ..Rxa7 28 Bxa7 exf3 29 Qf1 (29 Qd3 Rf8 30 Bb8 Rf6 31 Bxc7 Rg6+ 32 Bg3 Rxg3+ 33 fxg3 Qxg3+ 34 Kf1 Qg2+ 35 Ke1 f2+) 29 ..Re8 30 Bb8 Qg5+ 31 Kh1 (31 Kh2 Re4 32 Qh3 Rh4) 31 ..Qh5+ 32 Kg1 Re4 33 Bxc7 Rh4 wins] 25 ..Qxh4 26 Rfb1 Bf3!! 27 Qf1 Re8 28 Bb8 Raxb8! 29 Rxb8 Re6 30 Rf8 Rg6 31 Rxf5 [31 Rbb8 Rg5!! 32 Rh8+ Kg6 33 Rbf8 Rh5 mates] 31 ..Rxg2+ 32 Qxg2 Bxg2 0–1

Fritz – V Anand (2769)

Petroff Defence

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Bd6 7 0–0 0–0 8 c4 c6 9 cxd5 cxd5 10 Nc3 Re8!?

A new idea of Mickey Adams.  He first uncorked it at the recent Redbus Knockout tournament against Scotland's Jonathan Rowson. 11 Bxe4 [11 Qb3 Nc6 12 Nxd5 Bg4 13 Qxb7 Na5 14 Qb5 (14 Qa6 Re6 15 Bxe4 Bxf3 16 Bxh7+ Kxh7 17 Qd3+ Be4 18 Qh3+ Kg8 19 Nc3 Bc7) 14 ..Bd7 15 Qa6 Re6 16 Nc3 Bxh2+11 ..dxe4 12 Ng5 Bf5 Black's already won the battle of the opening. 13 Re1 Nc6 14 d5 Nb4 15 Ngxe4 Bxe4 16 Nxe4 Nxd5 [16 ..Bxh2+!? 17 Kxh2 Qh4+ 18 Kg1 Rxe4 19 Rxe4 Qxe4 20 d6 Rd8 21 Bg5 f6 22 Qb3+ Kf8 23 Be3 Nc2 24 Rd1 Nxe3 25 fxe3 Rd7 is also possible] 17 Bg5 Be7 18 Qh5 g6 19 Bxe7 gxh5 20 Bxd8 Raxd8 21 Kf1 [A better option was  21 Ng3!? Nf4 22 Rxe8+ Rxe8 23 Rd1 Kg7 and White has a grudging edge - though nothing that can't be defended with accurate play.] 21 ..Kg7 22 Rad1 b6 23 Rd4 Nf6 24 Nd6 Rxe1+ 25 Kxe1 Kg6 26 h3 Ne4 27 Rxe4 Rxd6 28 a4 a5 29 Ke2 Rd5 ½–½

A Morozevitch (2748) - Fritz

Queen’s Pawn

1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 Nf6 3 e3 c5 4 c3 e6 [Perhaps Black should immediately aim for the b-pawn? 4 ..Qb6!? 5 Qb3 (5 Qc2 Nc6) 5 ..c4 6 Qxb6 axb6] 5 Nd2 Nc6 6 Bd3 Qb6 7 Rb1! Nd7 I think this is too premature.  Black should just get on with the job in hand with ..Bd7, ..Rc8, ..Be7 and, if possible, ..0–0. 8 Ngf3 f6 9 Bg3 Be7 10 0–0 f5 11 c4! cxd4 12 cxd5 exd5 13 Nxd4 Nxd4 14 exd4 f4 [14 ..0–0? 15 Qe2 with a ready-made attack.] 15 Bh4 Bxh4 16 Qh5+ Kd8 17 Qxh4+ Qf6 18 Qh5 Nb6 [18 ..Qxd4? 19 Qg5+ Kc7 20 Rfc1+ Kb6 21 Qe7 a6 22 Rc3 and Black's in deep trouble.] 19 Nf3 g6 20 Qh6 Bd7 21 Ne5 Rc8 22 Rbc1?

According to Morozevitch, offering to exchange the rooks was where it all started to go pear-shaped.  Instead, he preferred 22 h4 keeping the pressure on the Black king.   22 ..Rxc1 23 Rxc1 Be6 24 h3 Nc8! The knights got better option from launch pads of d6 or e7. 25 Re1 Ne7 26 Nf3 Bd7 27 Re5 Nc6 28 Re2 Kc8! Safety first! 29 Bb5 Nxd4 30 Bxd7+ Kxd7 31 Nxd4 Qxd4 32 Kh2 Qf6 33 Rd2 d4 34 Rd3 Kc8 35 Rb3 Qe5 36 a4 Kb8 37 Rf3 a6 38 h4 Ka7 39 a5 Rd8 40 Qxh7 d3 0–1

P Leko (2725) - Fritz

Sicilian\KIA

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d3 I guess an open Sicilian against a souped-up version of Fritz was just too much to ask for from  the careful Mr Leko. 3 ..Nc6 4 g3 g6 5 Bg2 Bg7 6 0–0 Nge7 7 Re1 d6 8 c3 e5 9 a3 0–0 10 b4 Typical ant-computer chess: Leko wants to try and close the position as much as possible.  However, Peter said afterwards that he now started to get the shock of his life when "the bloody beast started to play like Kasparov!"  10 ..h6 11 Nbd2 Be6 12 Nc4 b5 13 Ne3 a5! 14 bxc5 dxc5 15 c4! Looking to close the position 15 ..b4 16 Nd5 Qd6 17 Bb2 Rfb8 As with every other chess program, an instant reaction is to heavily protect the passed pawn. 18 a4 Bg4 19 h3 Be6 20 Nd2 Nd4 21 Bxd4 cxd4 22 Nb3 Ra7 23 Qd2 Kh7 24 Re2 Nc8 25 f4 Qc6 26 f5!

26 ..gxf5 27 exf5 Bxd5 28 Bxd5 Qf6 29 Rf2 Bf8 30 Kg2 Nb6 31 Be4 Nd7 32 Re1 Nc5 33 Qa2! Kg8 34 Rf3 Bd6 35 h4 Rc7 36 Kh3 Kh7 37 Nxc5! After maneuvering his pieces into the correct squares, Leko is now ready to launch a devastating attack on the Black king. 37 ..Bxc5 38 g4 b3 39 Qg2 Kh8 40 g5 Qd6 41 Qg4 Qd7 42 Qh5 Bf8 43 Rg3 Qd6 44 Reg1 b2 45 c5!! The key move. 45 ..Rxc5 [45 ..Qa6 46 gxh6 Qf6 47 h7 and White crashes through.] 46 gxh6 Bxh6 47 Rg6 Qxg6 48 fxg6 Kg7 49 gxf7+ 1–0