Chess Grandmaster vs. Vs World Computer Champion ------------------------------------------------ Relaxed analysis for beginners and middle level players of the second game of their match. Copyright Israel Silverman, 1990. Brought to you by The Round Table BBS (718) 951-6652, 24 hours, Chess, conversation, science, 300,1200,2400 V.42bis capabilities. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Chess Grandmaster Robert Byrne played the world's top- ranked chess computer a game on February 11, 1990. That game was described in a file called CHESS1.ZIP, available on The Round Table BBS, (718) 951-6652. A new game was played on February 24, 1990, in which Byrne sought revenge for the drubbing he received the last time around. Following is a user-friendly analysis of the game, intended for low and medium ranked players. How to Read Chess Notation: The moves will be shown in long algebraic. K=King, Q=Queen, B=Bishop, N=Knight, R=Rook, and P=Pawn The board is layed out on a grid, with the White pieces horizontally layed out from A on the left, through H on the right. The first rank (where the White major pieces are located) is rank 1, and it goes down to 8, which is where Black's major pieces are located. For example, the initial location of the White king is e1. The Black queen is initially on d8. A move of a piece is indicated by giving the shorthand for the piece, followed by the square it's coming from, followed by the square it ends up on. So, for example, a move of the White knight closest to the King would be Ng1-f3. Special situations: a capture is indicated by an "x" instead of the usual "-". Also, the shorthand for pawns is not used, so a movement of a pawn is simply indicated by giving the starting square, followed by the ending square, as in e2-e4. Background: Robert Byrne is a strong Grandmaster. He is one of the top 100 players in the world, and in the early 70's participated in a semi-final for the world championship. Deep Thought calculates positions at the rate of 1,000,000 positions per second. This gives it a tremendous ability to navigate in positions which require broad calculation Deep Thought had Black in this game: 1. e2-e4 Byrne opens the game with a move that controls the important d5 central square, and opens the diagonals for the potential development of his queen and king bishop. As discussed in the first game, control of the center is important, since without it one can become unable to properly deploy ones pieces. 1... c7-c6 DT plays what is known as the "Caro-Kan" defense. DT would like to play a move controlling a central square right away, but the alternative of 1...d7-d5 allows White to take the d pawn. An alternative is to play the standard king pawn opening with 1...e7-e5. 2. d2-d4 White controls the important central e5 square, and opens the diagonal for development of his queen bishop. If allowed to continue unmolested, White might choose to continue with c2-c4, establishing a broad pawn center, which would constrain Black. Black now strikes back. 2....d7-d5 In this way, Black fights for his rightful share of the center. Were White to move e4xd5, Black would recapture with the "c" pawn and each side would have equal control of the center. For this reason, White prefers to instead develop a piece (although not an "official" designation, the term piece is usually used when referring to a bishop or knight, or sometimes the rook, but usually not a pawn). 3. Nb1-d2 White hopes that Black will play d5xe4, giving up control of the e4 square through the exchange. Why not instead Nb1-c3? Well, if Black were to exchange pawns right away, then after the recapture Nxe4, it would not have made a difference which square the knight originally went to. But if Black does not choose to capture right away, and instead decides to develop his king bishop by way of the fianchetto (moving the "g" pawn to g6, and then playing Bg7) then White can reinforce his "d" pawn by playing c2-c3. This option would not be open to White if he played Nb1-c3. This does not mean that Nb1-c3 is bad, by any means. It's just that White loses relatively little through putting it on d2, since it's too early to tell where the bishop on c1 should go anyway. As a side note, Nb1-d2 was the move selected by former world champion Anatoly Karpov when he played DT a month ago. 3...... g6 Sure enough, DT prepares to place its bishop on g7, from where it would control squares on the long diagonal from h8 through e5 and d4. 4. c2-c3 We knew this would occur if Black planned to play Bg7, but it is noteworthy that White plays it BEFORE Black plays Bg7, to preserve maximum flexibility. 4..... Bf8-g7 5. Ng1-f3 An alternative is the attempt to create a broad pawn center with f2-f4, and only then Ng1-f3. This is what Karpov tried, figuring that DT wouldn't know how to properly attack the center before Karpov used it to choke DT to death. DT reacted properly, and Byrne adopts a conservative approach which emphasizes rapid piece development, rather than a more ambitious constrictive approach. This cautious approach is visible throughout this game, reflecting perhaps a respect for the machine generated by his earlier loss to it. 5.... d5xe4 DT gives up pawn control of the center, relying on the bishop pressure to give it enough control. This is a dubious assesment, since DT lacks any meaningful way to counter the strong White pawn on d4, which controls key e5 and c5 squares. 6. Nd2xe4 The knight is now nicely centrally placed. 6.... Ng8-f6? A bad move. Black wants to accomplish two things with this move. First, to develop a kingside piece which is currently stopping him from castling, and second, to eliminate the strong knight on e4. White's next move shows it to be premature. Better would have been 6...Nb8-d7. 7. Ne4xf6+ (the "+" indicates a check). Black now faces a dilemma. There are two possible captures, and both are bad. 7....... Bg7xf6? Another bad move. Better in the short run, but probably ultimately fatal, would be e7xf6. This would give Black a significantly inferior pawn structure. White would end up with 4 pawns on the queenside to Black's 3 pawns. In an endgame situation, White could advance his queenside pawns and eventually get a passed queen pawn which would become a new queen. Black would in effect be the equivalent of a pawn less, since the side of the board where he would have a pawn majority, the kingside (his 4 pawns to white's 3), could not produce a passed pawn. This is because Black's "f" pawns are "doubled" (meaning both on the same file) and no matter how the 4 pawns are advanced, they cannot force through a pawn, unless White were to commit a bad error. Although all of this may seem very remote, the mere fact that a pure pawn endgame would be lost for Black means that Black must always tend to avoid exchanges, and whenver this policy occurs, the side doing it suffers in other ways. DT may or may not know this (I suspect it does not), but the move it chooses instead, while it does keep the pawn structure sound, and keeps the bishop pressing on the d4 pawn, has a strong refutation. 8. Bc1-h6! Now, no matter how Black wiggles and wriggles, he cannot castle on the kingside. This is bad for a few reasons. First, the king can become exposed if left in the center, and second, the king rook will be unable to join in any forthcoming battle. DT tries to solve these problems by quickly moving out his queenside pieces and attempting to place his king safely on the queenside. But White's strong central control remains to plague Black. 8.... Qd8-d5 Black places his queen on a square from which it controls many squares. The queen will be vulnerable to attack from here, however. 9. Qd1-d2 White links up with his bishop on h6, and removes his queen from a possible pin by a later Bc8-g4. Also, the this allows the rook to come to the strong square d1 later. 9...... Bc8-g4 Black threatens to take the knight on f3, winning a pawn. Also, Black is now only a few moves away from castling on the queenside. 10. Bf1-e2 White nullifies this threat, and prepares to castle on the kingside 10...... Nb8-d7 The knight is developed and controls central squares. 11. h2-h3 Now, if Black takes the knight, then white takes back with the bishop, and then the Black queen must move. Plus, White will have another advantage: Possession of two bishops vs. Black's bishop and knight. Although a bishop and knight are roughly equivalent in value, two bishops are almost always stronger than a bishop and knight together. They can control a wide swath of the board together. 11..... Bg4-f5? Despite the last comment, Bg4xf3 might have been better. This is because Black is still cramped by the strong White pawn on d4, and when one is cramped, one should exchange pieces to get more room for the remaining ones. 12. c3-c4! Now the Black queen must move, and she has precious few squares. If Qd5-d6, then Black loses a pawn to Bh6-f4!, forcing e7-e5, after which White goes d4xe5, exchanges queens, and the pawn on e5 is lost. If instead Qd5-e4, Black loses the bishop on f6 to the moves g2-g4! followed by g4-g5! and the bishop has nowhere to go! 12....... Qd5-e6 The queen moves to an awkward square. 13. 0-0 (White castles on the kingside. King goes to g1, and rook to f1) White now has the threat of g2-g4 and then g4-g5, winning the bishop on f6. White could not have done this on the last move since then, after g2-g4, Black goes Bf5-e4 threatening to win the Knight on f3 (The bishop on e2 is pinned to the king). Also, the black queen can be hit with move such as Rf1-e1 and the bishop on e2 moving away. 13.....c6-c5 Black gives his queen some room to move on the rank, and also stops the threat last mentioned, since if g2-g4 to g5, the bishop can simply take the pawn on d4, and the net result of the pawn push g2-g4 to g5 will be that the white kingside is weakened. 14. Ra1-d1 White anticipates the opening of the "d" file and makes his rook ready to control it. 14.....0-0-0 Black castles queenside (King ends up on c8, and rook on d8) Black moves the king to the queenside, but it will not be much safer there, because of the pawn move to c5. Black "hopes" (if that is the right word for a computer algorithm calculating 1M positions/second) to embarrass the White queen if the "d" file opens, with the rook on d8. 15. Rf1-e1 White threatens a general discovery on the Black queen by moving the bishop on e2 away. More specifically, White threatens to win the bishop on f5 by playing first g2-g4, which forces the bishop to move to e4, and then winning it with a pin by playing Be2-d3. Black is in deep doo-doo. 15...... Qe6-a6 The queen runs away from the danger and threatens to win the pawn on a2. White's position is so overwhelming that he is no longer thinking of just pawns, but of an attack on the king. To do this, he wants to stampede the queenside with pawns, and so.... 16. b2-b4! Ensures the removal of the c5 pawn. Black tries for tricks based on the juxtaposition of the rook on d8 and the white queen, but finds himself tricked, rather then treated. Watch how the squares around the black king keep getting more infested by white piece control. 16....... c5xd4 17. Nf3xd4 Now White threatens many things. Since you are not a grandmaster, and neither am I, notice the THEMES which occur here. First, there is the threat of playing c4-c5 which Black has to worry about. That would attack his queen with the bishop. Black stops this, momentarily, with a trick. 17.......Nd7-c5 Now if White goes b4xc5, then e7-e5 is ok for Black, regaining the piece. White just gets out of the potential pin, and keeps the threat. 18. Qd2-e3 18....... Bf6xd4 Dubious. Black thinks he is going to get control of the "d" file after the next few moves, but DT misses a point. 19. Rd1xd4 19...... Nc5-e6 Black retreats with what he thinks is a gain of a tempo, since the rook is attacked. Black hopes for Rd4xd8. Unfortunately, White has a nice move that forces a further weakening of the Black queenside. 20. Rd4-d5! Threatens to play Rd5-a5, winning the "a" pawn and almost mating Black right away. The point is that if Black plays Rd8xd5, then White's move c4xd5 threatens two things, both of which cannot be stopped simultaneously. First, the black queen is threatened by the bishop on e2, and the knight on e6 is threatened by the pawn on d5. Neat, huh? Notice also that White is on the verge of winning the bishop on f5, since by playing Nc5-e6, Black has cut off the retreat of the bishop. White could almost win the bishop by g2-g4, excpet that Black has the square c2 for the bishop. Keep that theme in mind also over the next few moves. 20.......b7-b6 Horribly weakening. The long white diagonal is now open, and worse, the black queen is cut off by the pawn on b6 from participating meaningfully in the king's defense. All it is now doing is sitting watching the "a" pawn, and soon it won't even be doing that. Another theme which should be watched is that of playing c4-c5, which would let White play c5xb6, opening the "c" file for white's rook. Having seen DT crush him in the last game, however, Byrne is in absolutely NO hurry, and, realizing that Black cannot strengthen his position much while White points his pieces at Black's king, Byrne just calmly maneuveres. 21. a2-a3 The pawn is now protected by the queen. 21....... Rh8-e8 Black runs in place. 22. Re1-c1 White prepares for the opening of the "c" file, mobilizing the rook to control it. Also, remember the theme of g2-g4, winning the bishop, which failed because the c2 square was open to the bishop? Well, it ain't open no more. 22........Ne6-c7 Black creates an escape square for the bishop at d7. He's not really threatening to take the rook on d5 with his knight, though, since after Nc7xd5 White plays c4xd5 CHECK, and then Be2xa6 removing the Black queen. 23. g2-g4 Pushing the bishop back. 23...... Bf5-d7 24. Be2-f3! White has been exercising remarkable self- restraint. Just to grab the diagonal, he voluntarily gives up a major threat of c5. 24...... e7-e5 Black is choking to death, and gives up a pawn just to get some air. He would lose quickly if he played Nc7xd5, since after c4xd5 check, his king would be subjected to checks by both bishops and the rook. 25.Rd5xe5 Why not? 25...... f7-f5 Trying to open some lines leading to White's king. White ignores this, and returns to his main theme, which is bringing pieces closer to Black's king. 26. Bh6-f4 26....... f5xg4 27 h3xg4 Of course not Bf3xg4. Why trade pieces useful in the attack? 27..... g6-g5 Same idea as his 24th move. This time White refuses, since he is zeroing in on the king. 28. Bf4-g3 Re8-f8 29. Re5xg5 Now that Black has moved his rook off the "e" file, White takes off another pawn, threatening to play Qe3-e5, with a mate on c7 (or b8, if the knight moves). 29...... Rd8-e8 30. Rg5-e5 Now if Re8xe5, then Qe3xe5, same idea. 30........ Bd7-e6 31. b4-b5! Black resigns. DT is 2 pawns down, and he has no answer to the threat (after he move the queen from a6) to the move Qe3-e4, which threatens to go Qe4-b7 check and then Rc1-d1 check, and either mate, or worse! For more information about chess in general, and how one can get a national rating and play in tournaments, you can send me a msg via BBS's in New York, or my own BBS, The Round Table BBS, at (718) 951-6652. Also, write to the US Chess Federation (U.S.C.F.) at 186 Route 9w, New Windsor, N.Y. 12550. Best, Israel A. Silverman Play chess!!!