Shredder and Ruffian lead in Leiden

CSVN Tournament 2004 in Leiden (The Netherlands)

23–25 April 2004 in the Leids Denksportcentrum,
Robijnstraat 4, in Leiden, Holland.

The Dutch Computer Chess Association CSVN is staging its fourth International CSVN Tournament a.k.a. ICT4 on three consecutive days from Friday till Sunday 23-25 April 2004 in the Denksportcentrum (Minds Sports Centre) in Leiden, The Netherlands.

The playing tempo is reasonably swift, 90 minutes per player for the whole game. Each day three rounds are being played. On Saturday there was a break for the annual CSVN members meeting and also a tournament for lovers of dedicated computers on Saturday and Sunday.

The first round of the ICT4 started on Friday 23 April at 13.00. News, information, pictures and games can be found on www.computerschaak.nl.

This year 16 programs are present in Leiden (see below), among them World Champion Shredder, the winner of last year The King (aka Chessmaster), the winner of the Dutch Open 2003 Ruffian and the winner of the IPCCC 2004 Hydra.

The total prize fund is $3000, the winner gets $1500. The main sponsor of the ICT4 is Pal Computer Games from the United Arab Emirates. Lokasoft of The Netherlands is once again a co-sponsor.

The first prize trophy, donated by Pal Computer Games

Participants

Report after Round six

No easy wins for top programs in Leiden

World champion Shredder, the program from Stefan Meyer-Kahlen leads after six rounds in the fourth International CSVN Tournament (ICT4) in Leiden, The Netherlands. Shredder has 5 points but the winner of the Dutch Open, Ruffian also has 5 points. Both programs are closely followed by Hydra 4,5 points. Three more rounds will be played on Sunday.

Day 1, Rounds 1-3

On the first day, Dutch chess program Diep was the only program with a perfect score, after beating Neurosis, The King and Shredder in great style. The game against the world champion was very nice:

Diep – Shredder, 4th Intl. CSVN Leiden NED (3), 23.04.2004: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.0–0 Qf6 8.e5 Qg6 9.Nh4 Qg4 10.Ndf3 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Qb3 0–0–0 13.h3 Qe4 14.a3 Be7 15.Qxe6+ Kb8 16.Nf5 Rf8 17.Nxg7 h5 18.Ng5 Qd3 19.Qd7 Nxe5 20.Qd5 Bd6 21.N7e6 Ng4 22.f4 Ne3 23.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 24.Kh1 Ne7 25.Qa2 Re8 26.b4 d3 27.Rae1 Qb6 28.Qb3 d2 29.Rd1 Nf5 30.Rxd2 Rhg8 31.Qd3 Ng3+ 32.Qxg3 Rxe6 33.Qb3 Ree8 34.Ne4 Rgf8 35.Nxd6 cxd6 36.Qd1 Rd8 37.f5 Qa6 38.f6 d5 39.f7 Rd7 40.Qe1 Rdd8 41.Re2 Qb5 42.Re5 Ka8 43.Rxh5 Qc4 44.Re5 d4 45.Re8 Qc8 46.Rxf8 Rxf8 47.Qe7 d3 48.Qd6 1–0 [Click to reply]

Hydra, the winner of the IPCCC in Paderborn this year, had a difficult start in Leiden. In the first round the program from the United Arab Emirates had to settle for a draw against veteran IsiChess. However, Hydra managed to win the other games on the first day, nevertheless it did not show spectacular attacking chess everybody wanted to see. On the second day, though, Hydra showed why the program is called the monster of the chess board. After a difficult game against Nexus in round four, Hydra showed a great game in the fifth round. Hydra sacrificed a knight for a fierce attack just after the opening, which turned out to be decisive:

Hydra – Diep [D00], 4th Intl. CSVN Leiden NED (5), 24.04.2004: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.f3 e6 4.e4 Bb4 5.a3 Be7 6.e5 Nfd7 7.f4 c6 8.Be3 b6 9.Qh5 g6 10.Qh6 Bf8 11.Qh3 Ba6 12.Nf3 Bxf1 13.Rxf1 h5 14.Ng5 Be7 15.g4 c5 16.Nxf7 Kxf7 17.f5 cxd4 18.fxg6+ Kg7 19.gxh5 Bh4+ 20.Ke2 Nxe5 21.Bxd4 Bf6 22.Bxe5 Nd7 23.Rxf6 Nxe5 24.Raf1 Qc8 25.Rf7+ Nxf7 26.Rxf7+ Kg8 27.h6 Rh7 28.Rxh7 Qc4+ 29.Ke1 1–0 [Click to reply]

Day 2, Rounds 4-6

Other favourites for a top position, like Chess Tiger, Ruffian, The King and Shredder had to fight hard on the second day. Shredder was very lucky in round four against Deep Sjeng. With an exchange up, it seemed to be a matter of time for Sjeng to score the point, but the Belgian program had no idea how to win the endgame. Stefan Meyer-Kahlen would have been pleased to escape with a draw but suddenly, after a few inaccurate moves by Sjeng, Shredder showed a plus score and won the game easily.

Shredder – Deep Sjeng [B75], 4th Intl. CSVN Leiden NED (4), 24.04.2004: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0–0–0 Bd7 10.g4 Rc8 11.h4 Ne5 12.Kb1 Qa5 13.Nd5 Qxd2 14.Nxe7+ Kh8 15.Bxd2 Rce8 16.h5 Nexg4 17.h6 Nxh6 18.Rxh6 Rxe7 19.Rh1 h5 20.Nb5 Bxb5 21.Bxb5 a6 22.Bf1 Ne8 23.Bg5 Re5 24.Be3 Kh7 25.Bd3 Rh8 26.Bf1 Re7 27.Bh3 Bh6 28.Bb6 f6 29.Bd8 Rg7 30.Bb6 Bf4 31.Rdg1 Rf8 32.c4 Kh6 33.Rg2 Rgf7 34.Be6 Re7 35.Bd5 Ng7 36.Kc2 f5 37.b4 fxe4 38.Bxe4 Nf5 39.Rd1 Ng3 40.Bd5 h4 41.a3 Rfe8 42.Bf2 Re2+ 43.Kb1 Be3 44.Bxg3 Rxg2 45.Bxh4 Bf4 46.Bf6 Rh2 47.Be4 b5 48.c5 dxc5 49.bxc5 Re6 50.Bc3 Re2 51.Rh1+ Kg5 52.Rg1+ Kh5 53.Rh1+ Rh2 54.Rg1 Bc7 55.Rd1 Re8 56.Rd7 Bf4 57.c6 Rc8 58.Ba5 Rh1+ 59.Ka2 Rc1 60.Rf7 Bh6 61.c7 Be3 62.Kb3 Re8 63.Bc3 a5 64.Bxa5 Rc4 65.Bd3 Rc1 66.Bc2 Rc8 67.Be4 Rc4 68.Bd5 Rc1 69.Be6 Ra8 70.Bc3 Rxa3+ 71.Kxa3 Rxc3+ 72.Kb4 Rc1 73.c8Q Rxc8 74.Bxc8 g5 75.Re7 Bd2+ 76.Kb3 Kg6 77.Re4 Bc1 78.Bd7 Bd2 79.Kc2 Ba5 80.f4 g4 81.f5+ Kf7 82.Be8+ Kf6 83.Rxg4 b4 84.Rg6+ 1–0 [Click to reply]

The winner of last year´s tournament, The King, lost against Ruffian in round four, but won two games on Saturday: against Tao and Chess Tiger.

One highlight in the last round on Saturday was the battle of the titans Shredder and Hydra. In Paderborn, their game ended in a draw but in Leiden there was no game at all! Both programs played 28 prepared moves form the opening book, but when Hydra was out of book, the score was -3,5. Shredder even showed a plus score of 5,5. Therefore, after a few more hopeless moves, operator Erdogan Günes had to resign. It was his first loss with the program since he started making the book for Hydra. An great victory for Shredder book maker Sandro Necchi. After this game Shredder took the lead with five points after six rounds. Can the German win the tourney after being third in 2002 and second in 2003?

Shredder – Hydra/Orthus–1.05C [B76], 4th Intl. CSVN Leiden NED , 24.04.2004: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 d6 7.f3 Nf6 8.Qd2 0–0 9.0–0–0 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Kb1 Qc7 12.h4 Rfc8 13.h5 Qa5 14.h6 Bh8 15.a3 Nd7 16.f4 Bxd4 17.Qxd4 Nf6 18.f5 gxf5 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Qc5 21.Qd3 Kh8 22.Qxf5 Rg8 23.Rh3 Qc8 24.Qf2 Qf8 25.Bd3 Rg5 26.Bf5 Qg8 27.g4 Qd8 28.Qe3 Rxg4 29.Bxg4 Nxg4 30.Qg5 Qg8 31.Qxe7 1–0 [Click to reply]

Dolmatov,S (2535) – Vasiukov,E (2545) URS-ch48 Vilnius, 1980

Position after 27...Qg8-d8

The game is 27 moves deep, but neither program has started to calculate moves. They are simply playing out of their openings books, indicating that both know the predecessor game. Now Shredder deviates with 28.Qe3 (Dolmatov played 28.Qf4 and won in 65 moves. Hydra begins to think for the first time and realises it is completely lost. That's the way it goes in computer chess.

• Standings after six rounds: 1-2 Ruffian, Shredder 5.0; 3 Hydra 4.5; 4 The King 4.0; 5-6 Diep, Deep Sjeng 3.5.

• All games so far in PGN.

• The top games are being broadcast live on the ChessBase server (www.playchess.com). Info and games of finished rounds can be found on www.computerschaak.nl.

Eric van Reem
Theo van der Storm