29 Haziran 2011 Çarşamba

110. Bilgisayar Satrancı Va. Rybka

ChessVibes, David Levy'nin 28 haziran günlü yazısını alıntılıyor.

Rybka disqualified and banned from World Computer Chess Championships

29 June 2011, 1.42 CET | Last modified: 11:21 | By Peter Doggers  | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Computer chess

The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) has disqualified and banned Rybka and its programmer Vasik Rajlich from previous and future World Computer Chess Championships. The ICGA accuses Rajlich of plagiarizing two other programs, Crafty and Fruit, and demands that he returns the trophies and prize money of the World Computer Chess Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
For quite a while there has been some serious turmoil in the computer chess world. When we reported about the Houdini-Rybka match in February of this year, the article triggered lots of comments about the issue of cloning. Was Houdini derived from the Ippolit series? Was it plagiarized from Rybka? And what about Rybka, was it largely based on the code of other engines?
Nine days later we published an article by IM David Levy, President of the International Computer Games Association (ICGA), who shared his thoughts about how to tackle the issue. A few days later he announced the establishment of the ICGA Clone and Derivative Investigation Panel.
Not long after, on March 1st, we received an open letter about the Rybka-Fruit case signed by fourteen chess programmers. They all supported the claim that Rybka was cloned from Fabien Letouzey’s Fruit.
In the last few months all the allegations have been seriously studied by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA). On Tuesday night we received the following text from the ICGA President himself.
Rybka Disqualified and Banned from World Computer Chess Championships
The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) has been conducting an investigation into allegations that, in the chess program Rybka, the programmer Vasik Rajlich plagiarized two other programs: Crafty and Fruit. The ICGA has considered and evaluated the evidence presented to the investigation panel and the report prepared by the panel’s Secretariat. (The report and evidence files are attached.) We would like to thank those members of the panel who contributed to this investigation and the Secretariat for the enormous amount of conscientious work they have put in to this matter.
By a unanimous 5-0 decision of executive members of the ICGA we find ourselves in agreement with the verdict of the Secretariat’s report. We are convinced that the evidence against Vasik Rajlich is both overwhelming in its volume and beyond reasonable question in its nature. Vasik Rajlich is guilty of plagiarizing the programs Crafty and Fruit, and has violated the ICGA’s tournament rules with respect to the World Computer Chess Championships in the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Specifically, Vasik Rajlich, on all five occasions, violated Tournament Rule 2 which requires that:
Each program must be the original work of the entering developers. Programming teams whose code is derived from or including game-playing code written by others must name all other authors, or the source of such code, in their submission details. Programs which are discovered to be close derivatives of others (e.g., by playing nearly all moves the same), may be declared invalid by the Tournament Director after seeking expert advice. For this purpose a listing of all game-related code running on the system must be available on demand to the Tournament Director.
By claiming other programmers’ work as his own, and failing to comply with the abovementioned rule, Vasik Rajlich has unfairly been awarded one shared 2nd-3rd place (in 2006) and four World Computer Chess Championship titles (in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). Furthermore, it seems to the ICGA that Vasik Rajlich clearly knew that he was in the wrong in doing so, since he has repeatedly denied plagiarizing the work of other programmers.
The ICGA regards Vasik Rajlich’s violation of the abovementioned rule as the most serious offence that a chess programmer and ICGA member can commit with respect to his peers and to the ICGA. During the course of the investigation and upon presentation of the Secretariat’s report Vasik Rajlich did not offer, despite repeated invitations from the ICGA to do so, any kind of defence to the allegations, or to the evidence, or to the Secretariat’s report, other than to claim in an e-mail to myself on May 13th 2011 that:
Rybka has does not “include game-playing code written by others”, aside from standard exceptions which wouldn’t count as ‘game-playing’.
The vague phrase “derived from game-playing code written by others” also does not in my view apply to Rybka.
The ICGA is of the view that such a serious offence deserves to be met with correspondingly serious sanctions against the perpetrator. In deciding on appropriate sanctions the ICGA has borne in mind the approach of the International Olympic Committee for dealing with the most serious cases of the violations of its rules.
The ICGA has therefore decided as follows:
  1. Vasik Rajlich is hereby disqualified from the World Computer Chess Championships (WCCC) of 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
  2. The 2nd-3rd place awarded to the program called “Rajlich” in the 2006 WCCC is hereby annulled, sole 2nd place is awarded to the program Shredder, and 3rd place in that event is awarded to the program Zappa.
  3. The 1st places and World Computer Chess Champion titles awarded to the program Rybka in the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 WCCCs are hereby annulled, and all the other programs that competed in those events are moved up in the final tournament standings by one place. Thus the revised tournament standings and titles for those events will now be as follows.
    2007
    1st Zappa (World Champion)
    2nd Loop
    =3rd GridChess
    =3rd Shredder
    2008
    1st Hiarcs (World Champion)
    2nd Junior
    3rd Cluster Toga
    2009
    =1st Junior (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Shredder (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Deep Sjeng (Joint World Champion)
    2010
    =1st Rondo (Joint World Champion)
    =1st Thinker (Joint World Champion)
    3rd Shredder
  4. In due course those programmers whose programs have been elevated to World Champion (or joint World Champion) status will receive from the ICGA replicas of the Shannon trophy for the appropriate years.
  5. The plaques on the Shannon trophy that currently bear the name Rybka (for the years 2007-2010) will be removed from the trophy and new plaques will be engraved with the names of the revised winners of the title.
  6. Similarly, the titles of World Computer Speed (Blitz) Chess Champion
    that were awarded to Rybka in 2009 and 2010 are hereby annulled. The revised winners of the speed chess title for those years are therefore:
    2009 Shredder
    2010 Jonny and Shredder (joint champions)
  7. Vasik Rajlich is banned for life from competing in the World Computer Chess Championship or any other event organized by or sanctioned by the ICGA.
  8. The ICGA demands that Vasik Rajlich return to the ICGA the four replicas of the Shannon Trophy presented at the World Computer Chess Championships in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, and to return to the ICGA all prize money awarded for Rybka’s performances in those events.
David Levy [President - ICGA]
June 28th 2011
Mr Levy also sent us a big number of documents which according to the ICGA form the evidence to the claim that Rybka was plagiarized from Crafty and Fruit. These documents can be downloaded below for anyone who wishes to dive further into the material.
The news is obviously a huge blow for the Rybka team. The impact in the computer chess world must be comparable to arguably the most famous example of doping in athletics: the positive drug testing of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson in 1988. We’ve asked Vasik Rajlich for a comment and hope to add this later.
Downloads

K: Yahoo! Alert Chess

    109. Bilgisayar Satrancı V. Rybka

    Son beş yılın dünya şampiyonu olan bilgisayar yazılımı Rybka ve yazarı Rajlich'e korkunç cezalar kesildi. Rybka'nın dünya birincilikleri iptal edildi; Rajlich'e ömür boyu turnuvalardan men cezası verildi. Nedeni ise malum: Rybka'da Crafty ve Fruit programlarının kodlarının kullanılması.

    Rybka, the world’s best chess engine, outlawed and disqualified


      By Sebastian Anthony on June 29, 2011 at 1:03 pm       ExtremeTech  
      Rybka, the best chess-playing computer program in the world and the winner of the last four World Computer Chess Championships (WCCC), has been disqualified and banned for the plagiarizing of two other chess engines, Crafty and Fruit.
      In a damning missive, the president of the International Computer Games Association (ICGA), the governing body behind the WCCC, describes how the author of Rybka, Vasik Rajlich, “unfairly” cheated his way to four victories by ripping off the work of other chess masters. The ICGA is demanding the return of both the trophies and the prize money, and has revised the standings of the last five championships to reflect Rybka’s excommunication. Not since IBM’s Deep Blue cheated to beat Garry Kasparov in 1997 has the world of computer chess been so uproarious!
      The ICGA’s entire case seems to hinge on Rybka’s similarities to Fruit, an open source chess engine that was the runner-up at WCCC 2005. Rybka debuted the year after, and from the get-go experts were claiming that Rybka evaluated moves in an identical fashion to Fruit. Curiously, ICGA isn’t even disqualifying Rybka because it copies Fruit — rather, it’s simply upset that Rajlich claims his engine is original, and refuses to give credit where it’s due.
      To come to this rather epic and libelous conclusion, the ICGA assembled a 34-person panel of programmers who have competed in past championships to analyze Rybka. Unfortunately, Rybka’s source code has never been available, so reverse engineering and straight-up move-evaluation comparison was used to analyze the originality of Rajlich’s chess engine. The panel unanimously agreed that newer versions of Rybka are based on Fruit — and worse, that the early beta versions were based on Crafty, another open-source chess engine. Rajlich has always claimed that Rybka is original — even when confronted with the findings of the report by the president of the ICGA.
      Vasik Rajlich, incidentally, is an international master himself, and a graduate of MIT. Spectrum has a fantastic analysis of his background as both a brilliant chess player and an engineer — and it leaves you wondering if Rybka’s disqualification is actually kosher, or merely the result of a witch hunt. After all, with Rajlich not making his source code available, it’s almost impossible for the ICGA to be sure that he ripped off Crafty and Fruit — but at the same time, it’s easy to see the allure of the open-source, world championship runner-up Fruit.
      If Rajlich did plagiarize Crafty and Fruit, the reasons are probably financial: Rybka is a commercial piece of software, and its accolade as the best chess program in the world must surely bring in a few dollars. It’s a tricky situation, though: with Rybka now outlawed from the WCCC, and with the ICGA asking other tournaments to block its entry, the only real way Rajlich and the rest of the Rybka team can clear their names is to show their source code — a financially untenable move. In short, Rybka is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
      Read more at ChessVibes or download Rybka

      K: Yahoo! Alert Chess

      108. Çözümlemeli Oyun. Satranç Ligi Birinci Tur

      GM I. Nyzhnyk (2583) Gazi - GM A. Mirzoev (2481) Mersin Ezgi [D37]
      Turkiye Is Bankasi Satranc Ligi Konya (1), 28.06.2011
      [Houdini 1.5a x64 (5s)]

       

      D37: Queen's Gambit Declined: 5 Bf4 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c6 7.Qc2 Nbd7 Black's piece can't move: c8 8.Bg3N [8.Rc1 Re8 9.a3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nf8 11.0-0 Ng6 12.Be5 Ng4 13.Bg3 Bd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Ne4 Qe7 16.h3 Nh6 17.Ng3 b6 18.Qd3 Bb7 19.Ba6 Bxa6 20.Qxa6 Rac8 21.Rc3 Rc7 22.Rfc1 Rec8 Hantke,R-Juergens,N/Loehne 1971/EXT 2001/0-1 (82); 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Ke2 Nf6 12.Ne5 Re8 13.g4 g6 14.Rag1 Bd6 15.h4 c5 16.h5 cxd4 17.hxg6 Bxe5 18.g5 Bg4+ 19.Rxg4 Rc8 20.gxh7+ Kh8 21.Bxe5 Rxe5 22.gxf6 Rxc2+ Vaganian,R (2530)-Forintos,G (2490)/Moscow 1975/MCL/1-0; 8.b3 Qa5 9.Bd3 Bb4 10.Rc1 Ne4 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12.Nd2 f5 13.0-0 e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Qxe5 16.Ne2 Be6 17.Rfd1 Rad8 18.Nf1 Ba5 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Rd1 Rd6 21.Nf4 Bf7 22.Rxd6 Qxd6 Weyrauch,E (2185)-Brueggemann,J (2230)/Germany 2010/EXT 2011/1/2-1/2 (56); 8.Be2 Re8 9.0-0-0 dxc4 10.Bxc4 b5 11.Bd3 b4 12.Ne4 Qa5 13.Kb1 Ba6 14.Ne5 Bxd3 15.Qxd3 Nxe5 16.Bxe5 Nd5 17.Rc1 Rac8 18.Nc5 Bxc5 19.Rxc5 Qb6 20.e4 Nc3+ 21.Ka1 Na4 22.Qg3 f6 Lang,S-Olbrich,J/Bad Neustadt 1990/EXT 1997/1-0 (71); 8.h3 h6+/=] 8...b6 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.0-0 dxc4 11.Bxc4 c5 12.Rfd1 Black has a cramped position 12...Qc8 13.Qe2 a6 Consolidates b5 14.a4 cxd4 15.Nxd4 Nc5 16.f3 Controls e4 16...Rd8? [>=16...Nh5!?+/= would keep Black alive] 17.b4+- Ncd7 18.Rac1 Bxb4? [18...Rf8 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Bxe6+ Kh8+-] 19.Nxe6+- fxe6 [>=19...Bc5 20.Nxd8 Qxd8+-] 20.Bxe6+ Kh8 21.Ne4 Qxc1 [21...Bc6 22.Nxf6 gxf6 23.Qb2+-] 22.Rxc1 Nxe4 [22...Bxe4 23.fxe4 Nc5+-] 23.fxe4 Nc5 [23...Nf6 cannot undo what has already been done 24.Be5 Rd2 25.Qc4+-] 24.Bd5! the decision 24...Bxd5 [24...Rd7 doesn't get the cat off the tree 25.Bxb7 Rxb7 26.Bd6+-] 25.exd5 Ne4 [25...Re8 cannot change destiny 26.d6 h6 27.Rd1+-] 26.Be5 [26.Bc7 and White can already relax 26...Rf8 27.Bxb6 Nf6+-] 26...Bf8 [26...Bc5 the last chance for counterplay 27.Rc4 Ng5+-] 27.Qg4 Nc5 28.Rf1 Ra7 29.a5! it's all over 29...bxa5 [29...bxa5 30.Qd4 Combination; /\29...-- 30.axb6 Wins material] 30.Bd4 [30.Qf4!? makes it even easier for White 30...Raa8 31.Qd4 Kg8+-] 30...Rb7 31.Qg5 [31.Qf4!? might be the shorter path 31...Kg8 32.d6 Bxd6+-] 31...Re8 32.d6! Decoy: d6 32...Ne6 [32...Bxd6 33.Qd5 Decoy] 33.Qd5 Rbb8 34.d7 Rbc8 1-0

      107. Taktik Alıştırmalar. Satranç Ligi Birinci Tur II

      Hamle siyahlarda.



      Hamle siyahlarda.



      Hamle siyahlarda.

      106. Taktik Alıştırmalar. Satranç Ligi Birinci Tur I

      Hamle siyahlarda.

      Durarbeyli (2511) - Bolat (2074)

      Hamle siyahlarda.

      Durarbeyli (2511) - Bolat (2074)


      Hamle beyazlarda.

      Nyzhnyk (2583) - Mirzoev (2481) 

      Hamle beyazlarda.

      Nyzhnyk (2583) - Mirzoev (2481)




      Hamle beyazlarda.

      Nyzhnyk (2583) - Mirzoev (2481)


      Hamle beyazlarda.

      Nikolova (2333) - Güney (1731)


      Hamle beyazlarda. 

      Mamedov (2587) - Kulaots (2607)


      Hamle siyahlarda.

      Şengül (2225) - Can (2487)



      Hamle siyahlarda. 

      Şengül (2225) - Can (2487)


      105. Satranç Ligi. İkinci Tur Maç Sonuçları




      Tur 1 - 28.06.2011 - 14:00
      No.SNo.TakımlarSonuçTakımlarSNo.
      11MERSİN EZGİ SATRANÇ KULÜBÜ4½ - 5½GAZİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.14
      22TARSUS ZEKA SATRANÇ S.K.3½ - 6½YAPI KREDİ SPOR KULÜBÜ13
      33TÜRK HAVA YOLLARI S.K.4½ - 5½DENİZ GENÇLİK S.K.12
      44BEŞİKTAŞ JİMNASTİK KULÜBÜ2 - 8İSEK AQUAMATCH S.K.11
      55BURSA TOPHANE MESLEK LİSESİ S.K.3½ - 6½MANİSA DORUK KOLEJİ S.K.10
      66YEŞİLKÖY SPOR KULÜBÜ2½ - 7½ÇELİKKOL TURİZM PAMUKKALE ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.9
      77ADANA TRUVA SATRANÇ S.K.6 - 4İSTANBUL TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.8
      Tur 2 - 29.06.2011 - 14:00
      No.SNo.TakımlarSonuçTakımlarSNo.
      114GAZİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.4 - 6İSTANBUL TEKNİK ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.8
      29ÇELİKKOL TURİZM PAMUKKALE ÜNİVERSİTESİ S.K.4½ - 5½ADANA TRUVA SATRANÇ S.K.7
      310MANİSA DORUK KOLEJİ S.K.6½ - 3½YEŞİLKÖY SPOR KULÜBÜ6
      411İSEK AQUAMATCH S.K.5½ - 4½BURSA TOPHANE MESLEK LİSESİ S.K.5
      512DENİZ GENÇLİK S.K.3 - 7BEŞİKTAŞ JİMNASTİK KULÜBÜ4
      613YAPI KREDİ SPOR KULÜBÜ7½ - 2½TÜRK HAVA YOLLARI S.K.3
      71MERSİN EZGİ SATRANÇ KULÜBÜ6½ - 3½TARSUS ZEKA SATRANÇ S.K.2





      104. Satranç Ligi. İkinci Tur Sonuçlar

      19.45

      İTÜ - Gazi Ü : 6-4
      Doruk - Yeşilköy : 6,5-3,5
      Deniz Gençlik - BJK : 3-7
      İSEK - Tophane : 5,5-4,5
      Yapı Kredi - THY: 7,5-2,5
      Ezgi - Zeka: 6,5-3,5
      Truva - Pamukkale:  5,5-4,5

      Bu sürprizli ve beklenmedik sonuçlar gösteriyor ki, ligdeki takımların her biri kazanmak için yoğun çaba içinde. Satranç Liginde şampiyon olmak hiç de kolay görünmüyor.

      103. Satranç Ligi. İkinci Tur

      Deniz Gençlik, iki oyun daha kaybederek maçı da kaybetti. Son durum: +0=3-5

      18.34 Melis'in oyunu beraberlik ile bitti. Durum: +0=4-5

      18.44 Başak son oyunu kazanınca skor belli oldu: +1=4-5

      Deniz Gençlik için karabasanlar başladı.

      İSEK maçında Tophane skoru eşitledi. Son durum +2=5-2

      İTÜ- Gazi Ü karşılaşmasında son durum: +4=2-2

      Yapı Kredi - THY maçında son durum: +5=3-1

      Ezgi, Zeka karşısında kazancı elde etti: +5=2-1

      Truva karşısında Pamukkale skoru eşitledi: +2=4=2

      Doruk, Yeşilköy karşısında önde gidiyor: +4=3-2

      19.00 Son oyunlarda heyecan had safhasında bulunuyor.

      102. Satranç Ligi. İkinci Tur

      İkinci tur karşılaşmaları sürüyor. Masa masa son durumlar şöyle:

      Deniz Gençlik, BJK karşısında +0=3-2 ile yenik durumda.
      ISEK, Tophane karşısında (+1=1-0) ile önde.
      İTÜ, Gazi Ü karşısında (+1=2=0) ile önde
      Truva, Pamukkale (+1=2-1) ile şu anda yenişmeze durumda.
      Doruk, Yeşilköy karşısında (+2=0-0) ile önde.
      Yapı Kredi, TH Yolları karşısında (+3=1-0) ile önde.
      İki Mersin takımından Ezgi, Zeka karşısında (+2=0=0) ile önde.

      Dün, kötü bir başlangıç yapan BJK, Deniz Gençlik'i gözüne kestirmişe benziyor. :)


      17:42  Deniz Gençlik bir masada daha kaybetti. Son durum: +0=3-3
                 ISEK, Tophane karşılaşmasında iki berabere daha. Son durum: +1=3-0
      17:45  İTÜ, Gazi Ü karşısında şimdi (+2=2=1) ile önde.
      17:47 Truva, Pamukkale. değişiklik yok.
      18:07  Doruk arayı açıyor: +4=1-2
      18.09 Yapı Kredi +5=3-0 ile maçı şimdiden kazandı.
      18.11 Ezgi bir yengi daha alarak skoru +3=0-0 yaptı.

      101. İrrasyonel Satranç

      Washington Post yazarı David R Sands, satrancın irrasyonel yönünü senyörler ve junyorlardan iki örnek vererek irdeliyor.

      Juniors, seniors mix it up crazily at the board


      By David R. Sands The Washington Times 5:52 a.m., Tuesday, June 28, 2011
      One more great thing about chess is that one can play the game irrationally at any age.

      Today’s wild and woolly games come from the opposite ends of the chronological spectrum: a crazy back-and-forth affair from the recent Virginia State Senior Championship in Alexandria and an even more bizarre selection from the just-concluded U.S. Junior Championship in St. Louis, a game that featured seven passed pawns and six queens.

      As we noted here last week, Arlington Chess Club stalwart William Marcelino took home the title as Virginia’s over-50 champion, but the prize for Best Trainwreck Masquerading as a Chess Game was shared by master Denis Strenzwilk (a good friend of this column) and Class A player James Guill in a contest that packed a year’s worth of drama into just the first 15 moves.

      Truth be told, Guill as Black is pretty much busted seven moves into this Modern Defense, as 6. Bc4 Qc7?? 7. Bxf7+! (equally winning was 7. Qd5 e6 8. Qxa8 Qxc4 9. Qxb8 Qxe4+ 10. Be3) Kxf7 8. Qd5+ e6 9. Qxa8. White need only extract his queen to secure a winning material edge.

      But things take a surprising turn after 9…Nf6 10. Nf3?! (Qa4 Bb7 11. Nd2 would seem the safer route) Na6 11. Be3 Ng4! (an extremely annoying move; White may have banked on 11…Bb7? 12. Qa7 Ra8 13. Qxb6 and all is well) 12. 0-0 (Bd4 Bxd4 13. Nxd4 Qf4! hitting f2 and c1 14. Nd2 Qxf2+ 15. Kd1 Ne3+ 16. Kc1 Nc5 and things are getting very hairy for White) Bb7 13. Qa7 Nxe3 14. fxe3 (not good enough if 14. Ng5+ Kf6 15. Nxh7+ Rxh7 16. fxe3+ Ke7 17. Rf4 [g3 Rh8 18. Nd2 Ra8] g5 18. Rf3 Qxh2+ 19. Kf1 Bxe4 and Black is winning) Ra8, and the White queen is now well and truly lost.

      The highly unbalanced position that results gives White two rooks, a knight and two pawns for the queen and two bishops, but Guill’s queen and bishop pair prove a potent trio. Strenzwilk tries to cover up while generating play on the open f-file, but after so much insanity, it is a rigorously logical string of e-pawn advances that undermines White’s game.

      Thus: 26. Rd2 e5! 27. Rdf2 e4! 28. Ne1 e3 29. Rf4 e2!, and White resigns in the face of 30. R1f2 (Rxg4 exf1=Q mate) Bxg2+ 31. Nxg2 Qxg2+ 32. Kxg2 e1=Q and wins.



      San Francisco master Gregory Young surprised even himself with an easy triumph in the 2011 U.S. Junior Championship, which ended Saturday. The seventh-seeded Young won the 10-player invitational going away, with his 7 1/2-1 1/2 finish two full points ahead of Conrad Holt of Texas, Victor Chen of New Jersey and Alec Getz of New York. Congratulations to Young, who picks up the $3,000 first prize and a slot in next year’s U.S. Championship field.

      Getz and Texas junior star Warren Harper engaged in the wackiest by a comfortable margin game of the event in Round 3, though the fireworks show in this Ruy Lopez Exchange (not usually thought of as a sharp opening line) doesn’t really get going until well into the middle game. White’s persistent queen-side pressure nets him the exchange after 23. a5 b5 24. d5 cxd5 (even more unpleasant is 24…Ra6 25. dxc6+ Kxc6 [Bxc6 26. Ne6 Bh8 27. Nc5+] 26. Rab1) 25. Bxa7, but Black scratches his way back to near equality on 32. Nc3?! (Nf6! keeps the pressure on in variations such as 32…Rf8 33. Ke3! Rxf6 34. a7 Rf8 35. a8=Q+) Kb6 33. Nd5+ Kc6 34. Ne7+ Kb6 35. e5 Nf5!, when Black holds on after 36. Nd5+ Kc6 37. Rxb5 Nxd4 (Kxb5?? 38. Nxc7+) 38. Rab5 Nb3.

      The real fun begins right at time control with Getz’s 38. Rb2 c5 39. d5!!? (a7! b4 40. dxc5+ Kxc5 41. Ra5+ Kb6 42. Ra4 leaves White in charge) b4, when suddenly each side has a trio of passed pawns (soon to be four in Black’s case after the sacrificial 42. Rxf5!?) charging down the board.

      With 42…gxf5 43. e7, White seems to be winning the race, but the complications are mind-boggling; after 43…c3 44. Kd3 Kb4 45. d6 c4+ 46. Kd4 c2 47. d7 b2, the remarkable tableau of today’s diagram is produced, with both players having connected passed pawns on the seventh rank.

      After 48. Ra4+, the computer-assisted postmortem suggested that Harper’s valiant efforts should have been rewarded now with 48…Kb3! 49. e8=Q c1=Q, when Black thrives after both 50. d8=Q Rxd8+ 51. Qxd8 Qd2+, and after 50. Qxa8 b1=Q 51. d8=Q Qd3+ 52. Ke5 (in these multiple-queen positions, the player who gets in the first check typically gets in the first checkmate as well) Qe1+ 53. Kf6 Qxh4+ 54. Ke6 Qhxd8 55. Qxd8 Qxd8 56. a7 Qe8+ 57. Kf6 Qxa4 and wins.

      Instead, Black’s 48…Kxa4? allows White to queen a critical pawn with check, and that makes all the difference: 49. e8=Q Rd8 50. a7! c1=Q 51. a8=Q+ Rxa8 52. d8=Q+ (the check that dooms Black’s hopes) Kb3 53. Qb5+, and there’s no refuge for the poor Black monarch. The two warriors battle to the bitter end with 53…Kc2 54. Qxc4+ Kd1 55. Qf1+ Kc2 (Kd2 56. Qg5+ f4 57. Qgg2 mate takes just a move longer) 56. Qd3 mate.

      One of those battles that does honor to both combatants.



      American GM Hikaru Nakamura, himself a former U.S. junior champ, could not repeat his stunning performance in winning the Tata Steel Tournament earlier this year, finishing in a tie for third at the King’s Tournament in Medias, Romania. Norwegian superstar GM Magnus Carlsen finished first on tiebreaks just ahead of Sergey Karjakin of Russia in the Category 21 event.

      Strenzwilk-Guill

      1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c3 c5 4. dxc5 b6 5. cxb6 axb6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qd5+ e6 9. Qxa8 Nf6 10. Nf3 Na6 11. Be3 Ng4 12. O-O Bb7 13. Qa7 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Ra8 15. Qxa8 Bxa8 16. Nbd2 Kg8 17. Nd4 Nc5 18. b3 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Bxe4 20. c4 Qc5 21. Rad1 Qg5 22. Nf3 Qxe3+ 23. Kh1 Bc6 24. Rfe1 Qf4 25. Rf1 Qg4 26. Rd2 e5 27. Rdf2 e4 28. Ne1 e3 29. Rf4 e2 0-1.

      Getz-Harper, U.S. Junior Closed, June 2011

      1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. c3 a6 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nxe5 Qg5 7. d4 Qxg2 8. Qf3 Qxf3 9. Nxf3 Bg4 10. Ne5 Be6 11. Be3 Bg7 12. Nd3 b6 13. Nd2 a5 14. f3 O-O-O 15. Nf4 Bd7 16. Kf2 Ne7 17. h4 f6 18. a4 Kb7 19. Rhb1 Ra8 20. Nc4 Ra7 21. b4 axb4 22. Rxb4 Rha8 23. a5 b5 24. d5 cxd5 25. Bxa7 dxc4 26. Bc5 Nc8 27. Nd5 f5 28. a6+ Kc6 29. Bd4 Bxd4+ 30. cxd4 fxe4 31. fxe4 Nd6 32. Nc3 Kb6 33. Nd5+ Kc6 34. Ne7+ Kb6 35. e5 Nf5 36. Nxf5 Bxf5 37. Ke3 c6 38. Rb2 c5 39. d5 b4 40. Rf2 Kb5 41. e6 b3 42. Rxf5 gxf5 43. e7 c3 44. Kd3 Kb4 45. d6 c4+ 46. Kd4 c2 47. d7 b2 48. Ra4+ Kxa4 49. e8=Q Rd8 50. a7 c1=Q 51. a8=Q+ Rxa8 52. d8=Q+ Kb3 53. Qb5+ Kc2 54. Qxc4+ Kd1 55. Qf1+ Kc2 56. Qd3 mate 1-0.

      K: Yahoo! Alert Chess