A well played (engine v engine) game

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer,rec.games.chess.analysis (More info?)

Last night I happened to look in on a current engine tournament as it was being
played. I started watching the game in progress around move 9; Junior 9 was
already claiming the game to be "winning" (+-). I thought this to be an
impressive game. I particularily liked 29.Re7(!) threatening 30.Bb8, white's
30th - 33rd, 36.b5(!), 41.Rg7 and 42.Re6(!). Black was playing well also, for
instance 29...Kc8 (preventing the aforementioned 30.Bb8, followed by 30...d4(!).
38...f3(!) seemed well played. After 48.Rxd4 the game was essentially over.
To me, this game could well have been played by a couple grandmasters, for
instance Tal vs somebody..., or perhaps a high level correspondence game.

The elo ratings indicated are _not_ SSDF ratings.

Some brief notes are separated from the body of the game.

==================================================================

[Event "05Dayffd34o"]
[Site "Riverdale"]
[Date "2005.04.14"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Junior 9"]
[Black "Chess Tiger 14.0"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C27"]
[WhiteElo "2642"]
[BlackElo "2608"]
[PlyCount "125"]
[EventDate "2005.04.13"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nxe4 4. Qh5 Nd6 5. Bb3 Nc6 6. Nb5 g6 7. Qf3 f5 8.
Qd5 Qf6 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 10. Nxa8 b6 11. Qd3

[11.Nxb6 was tried in Gdanski,J (2505)- Raetsky,A (2450) [C27] Biel op Biel
(11), 1994, but black won after 11...axb6 12.Qd3 Bb7 13.Ne2 Bg7 14.Qh3 f4 15.d3
h5 16.Bd2 g5 17.f3 Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.0-0-0 Nf5 20.Ba4 Bd5 21.Rhe1 Qg6 22.g4
hxg4 23.Qxg4 Rh4 24.Qg2 Qh5 25.Re4 Rxh2 26.Qg1 Ng3 27.Be1 Rh1 28.Qg2 Bxe4 29.Qd2
Bxf3 30.Qb4 Qg6 31.Qb5 Bg4 32.Qd5 d6 33.Qb7 Be5 34.Bc6 Rg1 35.a4 Qg7 36.Qb8+ Ke7
37.b4 Kf6 38.a5 bxa5 39.bxa5 Bxd1 40.a6 Rxe1 41.Kb2 Bg4 42.a7 Qxa7 43.Qxa7 Be6
44.Qa5 Re3 45.Qd8+ Kf5 46.Qf8+ Kg4 47.Qh6 Bf5 0-1

Additionally, in notes to Sulskis,S (2521) -Motylev,A (2532) Hotel Anibal op
7th Linares (5), 11.01.2000 Lukacs writes (and references the above game):
"11.Nxb6! is the precise move order here. 11...axb6 12.d4! White has to give
back some material in order to finish his development. ( 12.Qd3 is again too
passive: 12...Bb7 13.Ne2 Bg7 14.Qh3 f4 15.d3 h5 16.Bd2 g5 17.f3 Nd4 The Q is
again outplaced. 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.0-0-0 Nf5 Gdanski-Raetsky, Biel op 1994)
12...Nxd4 13.Nf3 Nxf3+ ( 13...Bb7 is answered by the witty 14.Qxd4! exd4
15.Bg5+/- liquidating for a favourable _|_ for White. 15...Qxg5 16.Nxg5 Bxg2
17.Rg1 Be4 18.0-0-0 Bg7 19.c3+/- Sikora Lerch-Biolek, Moravia-chT 1997 ) 14.Qxf3
Bb7 15.Qe3 Kc7 16.a4+/- /\ a5 Larsen;11.d3 Bb7 12.h4? is a complete misjudgement
of the position. 12...Ne7! 13.Bg5 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Qxg5 15.hxg5 Bxd5 16.Nxb6 axb6
17.Nf3 Nf7-/+ Larsen-Zwaig, Costa Brava, 1976] 11...Nxd4 [ 11...Bb7 deserves
attention as well. 12.Nf3 Nxd4 13.Bg5 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 Qxg5 15.Bd5 e4 16.Qb3 Bh6
17.Qc3 Bxd5 18.Qxh8+ Ne8 19.Qc3 Bxa8-/+ and White's rooks cannot join the
battle, Taivainen-Joentausta, Hervanta op Tampere 1992.] 12.Nf3 Bb7 13.Qxd4
exd4 14.Bg5 Qxg5 15.Nxg5 Bxg2 16.Rg1 Bxa8 17.0-0-0 Bg7 and in this complicated
position draw was agreed.[ 17...Bg7 18.c3 Be5 19.h4 h6! ( 19...Ke7 runs into
20.Rge1 Kf6 21.Nh3 Ne4 22.f4 Bc7 23.Rxd4+/- Buchnicek-Holeksa, CZE-chT2c 1995)
20.Nf7+ (20.Nh3 dxc3 21.f4 (21.bxc3 Bf3 22.Rde1 Ne4<=> ) 21...cxb2+ 22.Kb1 Be4+
23.Bc2 Nc4! 24.fxe5 Na3+ 25.Kxb2 Nxc2 26.e6 d5 27.Rxg6 Ne3~~; 20...Nxf7 21.Bxf7
g5 22.cxd4 Bf4+ 23.Kc2 Ke7 24.Bc4 ( 24.Bb3 Be4+) 24...Rc8 ] 1/2-1/2"

11...Bb7 12. Ne2

[Junior considered 12.Nxb6 as in Brink,E - Lovejoy [C27] cr ch AUS, 1993 which
continued 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.Ne2 Nb4 14.Qh3 g5 15.d3 h5 16.Qe3 Nf7 17.c3 f4 18.Qd2
Nd5 19.Rg1 Bd6 20.c4 Nb4 21.Nc3 Qg6 22.Bc2 Nh6 23.Bb1 Nf5 24.a3 Nc6 25.Nb5 Ncd4
26.Qd1 Nh4 27.Kd2 Nxg2 28.Nxd4 exd4 29.Qf1 f3 30.b4 Re8 31.Kc2 Re1 32.Qxe1 Nxe1+
33.Rxe1 Bxh2 34.Rh1 Be5 35.Re1 Bg7 36.a4 g4 37.a5 g3 38.Rg1 Be5 39.a6 Ba8
40.fxg3 h4 41.g4 f2 0-1, but rejected it in favor of the text.]

12...Bxa8 13. O-O Bg7 14. Re1 Bb7 15. Qh3 Na5 16. Nc3 Nxb3 17. axb3 a6 18. d3
Nf7 19. f4 d5 20. fxe5 Nxe5 21. Qg3 h6 22. Bf4 Nd7 23. Bb8 Qc6 24. Bd6 Bd4+ 25.
Kh1 Bxc3 26. bxc3 g5 27. Re6 Qxc3 28. Rae1 Bc6 29. Re7 Kc8 30. Qf2 d4 31. h3 f4
32. Qe2 Kb7 33. Kh2 Rd8 34. b4 h5 35. Kg1 Rh8 36. b5 Bxb5 37. Qe5 Rd8 38. Qxg5
f3 39. gxf3 Ba4 40. R1e2 Qc6 41. Rg7 Kc8 42. Re6 Qb5 43. Qxb5 Bxb5 44. Re4 Nc5
45. Rc7+ Kb8 46. Rd7+ Kc8 47. Rxd8+ Kxd8 48. Rxd4 Nb7 49. Bg3+ Bd7 50. Rd5 a5
51. Rxh5 a4 52. Rh6 b5 53. Rb6 Nc5 54. Bd6 Ne6 55. Rb8+ Bc8 56. h4 Nd4 57. h5
Nxf3+ 58. Kf2 Ng5 59. Rxb5 Nf7 60. Bf4 Ke7 61. Ra5 Kf6 62. Rxa4 Bg4 63. Ra5
{(h6)} 1-0

No problem is so formidable that you can't just walk away from it.