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ANNOTATED GAME
Chessmaster-Chess Titans, Perth 2010
Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition (2825) vs. Chess Titans (unknown rating)
Annotated by: eden8 (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B31), Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (with ...g6, without ...d6)
Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition (2825) vs. Chess Titans (unknown rating)
Annotated by: eden8 (1200)
Chess opening: Sicilian (B31), Nimzovich-Rossolimo attack (with ...g6, without ...d6)
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This game was played in the War of the Computers tournament in Perth in 2010. Playing White was Ubisoft's Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition, and playing Black was Microsoft's Chess Titans (Version 6.0). Chessmaster was my favorite going into this game, and I had hoped that it wouldn't fall to Microsoft's program, which is regared by many as inferior. Inferior, I thought to myself, but not completely incompetent. Here, it was playing on Level 10, its hardest. | |||||
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1. e4 |
Chessmaster kicks things off by moving his pawn to e4. | ||||
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1... c5 |
Black responds with the Sicilian Defence. | ||||
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2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 |
Chessmaster, feeling perhaps in an attacking mood, extends his bishop onto Black's half of the board. | ||||
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3... g6 |
Black prepares to fianchetto his bishop. | ||||
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4. Nc3 Bg7 5. O-O |
If we were expecting a big battle of tactics early on, we were wrong. Inside the computer, thinking endlessly, both programs seemed to be playing pretty calmly. Funny, that. Though they have no emotion, we always seem to imagine computers as living beings. Frustrating, intelligent and overly interesting living beings. | ||||
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5... e5 |
Note that here, Chess Titans seems to be somewhat on the defencive. | ||||
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6. d3 |
A good move by Chessmaster, as it increase the scope for his dark-squared bishop. | ||||
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6... d6 |
Black does the same for his light-squared bishop. | ||||
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7. Bg5 |
Chessmaster goes on the attack against Black's queen. Black can block with 7. ... f6, 7. ... Nf6 or 7. ... Bf6, or simply move the queen. However, White's bishop will then be too dominating. | ||||
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7... Nf6 8. Nd5 |
A good move by White. Pressure is now starting to build up around the f6 square. | ||||
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8... Bd7 9. Nd2 |
White's queen now has more opportunity to join in on the attack. Note that the g4 square is defended by Black's knight. | ||||
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9... h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nc4 |
Chessmaster's pieces are now quite more active than his opponent's. Black should be aiming to castle kingside soon. | ||||
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11... Be7 12. Qd2 |
A quiet move. But now, if Black castles, he will lose his pawn on h6 and be under attack by White's queen. Black's king is running out of options for future safety. The kingside is very dangerous what with White's queen and the queenside is unlikely to provide major refuge from White's two knights and a bishop. | ||||
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12... Bf8 |
Black, perhaps preparing to move it to g7, moves his bishop back onto its starting square. | ||||
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13. f4 |
And now the position really starts to bust open. Queen and rook back up White's pawn on f4, and Black's king is indirectly stuck, while his queen is doing next to nothing. | ||||
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13... f5 |
Titans responds surprisingly, as if to electronically provoke his opponent. It's somewhat weak, though, as White can capture the pawn on e5 and after 14. ... fxe4 Black's king will be very exposed. | ||||
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14. fxe5 dxe5 15. Rae1 f4 16. Qc3 Bg7 17. Nd6+ |
And now Black's in trouble. His bishop no longer defends d6 and White has capitalised on that. Black's response is actually forced. | ||||
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17... Kf8 18. Nxb7 |
White now clips a pawn and attacks the queen, but note that White's queen now attacks the pawn on c5, and capturing it will place Black's king in check. Black can't save the queen and defend the pawn at the same time. | ||||
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18... Qe8 19. Qxc5+ |
White is now two pawns up and is agressively invading Black's territory. | ||||
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19... Ne7 20. Nd6 |
Black's queen can safely move to only d8 and b8. | ||||
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