Junior vs GM Gopstein
Perry Yonadav
I am co-author of "Junior" (aka 'ban' over the ICS - too bad 'Junior'
was taken).
"Junior" is currently an experimental chess program developed here
in Israel primarily by my college, Amir Ban. Until recently, we developed
"Junior" as a hobby in very little spare time we have. It was two weeks ago
when "Junior" scored a remarkable result in a national chess tournament here
(sharing 4th place together with GM Alon Greenfeld. The games were conducted
in NORMAL time control.
The tournament was won by GM Leonid Yudasin. The software outstanding result
was its win over GM Leonid Gopstein in the final round which to me as a non
objective average chess player has an esthetic value.
I am proud to post the game annotated by my friend IM Ronen Har-Zvi
(IMHarZvi over the ICS).
At the same time I recall a discussion over r.g.c. regarding
"the Optimal Chess Program Interface".
I would appreciate e-mail with the gist of the discussion or any comments
about what one would expect from chess playing software.
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Junior,Pentium - Gofstein,L (2525)
Kfar-Saba Open, Round 5, August , 1994
Comments: IM R. Har-Zvi (ICS: IMHarzvi)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 Qb6 5.b3 Ne4 6.c3 d5 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.exd4
Nc6 9.Bxe4 dxe4 10.Nfd2 f5 11.0-0 Qc7 12.Re1 Bd6 13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qh4 h6
15.Bf6 0-0 16.Kh1 b5 17.a4 bxa4 18.Rxa4 Rb8 19.b4 a5 20.bxa5 Ba6 21.f3
Bd3 22.Ra1 Nxa5 23.fxe4 fxe4 at this moment the game actually
begins. Up until this moment black was winning, then much better
then...we get this position 24.Be5!
[24.Nxe4 Bxe4 (24...Nb3 25.Nxd6!! Nxa1 26.Nd2!! and the position
seems like a big mass) 25.Rxe4 (25.Qxe4 Rxf6) 25...Qf7 26.Re1 (
26.Nd2 Qxf6 27.Qxf6 Rxf6 28.Rxa5 Rb1+ 29.Nxb1 Rf1# and the story is
over) 26...Nb3 27.Ra6 Be7! and it is possible to start a new one
]
24...Bxe5 25.dxe5 e3 26.Nf3
[26.Rxe3 Bxb1]
26...Nb3 27.Ra4 Kg7 28.Rb4 g5 29.Nxg5! hxg5 30.Qxg5+ Bg6 31.Rh4 Rf5
32.Qh6+ Kf7 33.Rg4
[33.Qh7+ Bxh7 34.Rxh7+ Kg8 35.Rxc7 e2! 36.Kg1 Rbf8 over]
33...Rg8 34.Qxe3 white has 3 pawns and some attack but I think black
position is not bad but against a computer in this position...you
know... 34...Qc5 35.Qe4 Qf2 the decisive mistake 36.Qb7+ Ke8 37.Rg1
what to do the knight is threatened and Rg4-a4-a8 is also not a
terrible idea 37...Nc5 38.Qa8+ Kf7 39.Qa7+ Kf8 40.Qa8+ Kf7 at this
moment black did not understand why a draw is not agreed but he did
not even imagine what is going to happen 41.Qa7+ Kf8 42.Rd4!!
suddenly the most important diagonal g1-a7 is blockaded and also Rd8
mate is threatened 42...Nb3 and going back!!?? 43.Qa3+ Kg7
44.Qxb3 Rh8 now comes the brillant part of the game because suddenly
black has a strong attack 45.Qd1!! Qg3 and now what 46.Rd7+!
Bf7
[46...Kg8 47.Rd8+ Rf8 48.Rxf8+ Kxf8 49.Qd8+ Kg7 50.Qxh8+!]
47.h3 now it is not possible to take on h3 because there will be a pin
on the g file 47...Rf2! it is not over the threat now is Rxh3
followed by Rh2 mate what to do? 48.Rd2! the only move but good
enough 48...Bh5! again black tries to do themaximum and now comes the
most difficult move 49.Qb3!! after 49...Bf3 50.Rd7 is winning
because e6 is attacked 49...Rf7 50.Qxe6 Bg4 51.Rd3! now it is a
simple story 51...Qf4
[51...Qxd3 52.Qxg4+ is not interesting to see]
52.Qd5 Bf5 53.Rf3 53...Be4 54.Qxf7! and winning but not 54.Rxf4 Rxh3
mate 1-0
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Shay Bushinsky
Applied Materials (Israel)
Atidim Industrial Park, Building 2
P.O.Box 58152, Tel Aviv 61581,Israel
Email: sh...@amil.co.il
Phone: +972-3-6450277
Fax: +972-3-6450280
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