Hi,
third match in round 2 for group 2 is: Excalibur Ivan The Terrible against Scisys Chess Companion III. According to the current ranking of both computers in my private list, the odds are 6.6 to 1 in favor of Ivan, featuring a fast H8@12Mhz versus the weaker Companion III with a rather limited 6301Y@2Mhz. But it runs a Kaplan/Barnes program I am found of... And
the small Scisys gets a full point from the match and, cherry on the cake, gets this win with dark pieces!!
This was the first game, in which Ivan slowly built an expected win, until a first noticeable mistake on move 49. It was during the endgame phase, known to be a weakness from Nelson's program, and the position required positional awareness rather than material calculation. Ivan missed the opportunity to achieve the win; nevertheless a draw was still possible. But a similar positional choice occured few moves later, same mistake repeated from Ivan and the game is now lost.
On the revenge game, no such a chance for the Chess Companion III: a mistake in the early endgame leaves it with some material disadvantage Ivan could easily turn into a win.
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.10"]
[Round "2-2"]
[White "Excalibur Ivan the Terrible (lv 48)"]
[Black "Scisys Chess Companion III (lv 3)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1851"]
[BlackElo "1523"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "A40"]
[PlyCount "144"]
1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 {Out of book} 2...d5 {Out of book} 3.e3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Nbd2 Nge7 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bxd6 cxd6 8.Bd3 O-O 9.O-O Qb6 10.Qb3 Qxb3 11.axb3 e5 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.c4 Bg4 14.cxd5 Nxd5 15.Bb5 Bxf3 16.Nxf3 e4 17.Bxc6 bxc6 18.Ne5 c5 19.Rfc1 Rfe8 20.Nc6 Rec8 21.Rxc5 Kf8 22.Rac1 Ne7 23.Nxe7 Rxc5 24.Rxc5 Kxe7 25.Re5+ Kd6 26.Rxe4 Rc8 27.Rc4 Rc5 28.Kf1 Kd5 29.e4+ Kc6 30.Ke2 Kb5 31.Rxc5+ Kxc5 32.Kd3 Kb4 33.Kc2 h5 34.h4 a5 35.f3 Kb5 36.Kc3 Kc5 37.f4 Kb5 38.f5 Kc5 39.g3 Kd6 40.Kd4 f6 41.Kc4 Ke5 42.Kd3 Kd6 43.Kd4 Kc6 44.Kc4 Kd6 45.Kd3 Ke5 46.Ke3 Kd6 47.Ke2 Kc5 48.b4+ Kxb4 49.Kd2 $2 {With the Black King far enough on Queen side, time was up for Ivan to push its King side Pawns:} ( 49.e5 fxe5 50.g4 hxg4 51.h5 g3 52.f6 {and either f or h White Pawn will be promoted.} ) 49...Kc4 50.Ke3 Kb3 51.Kd4 $2 {again, White's counter-play was on King side, leveraging the majority of Pawns. But Ivan has lost tempi, the Chess Companion's King is now in for a fast enough a-file promotion.} 51...a4 52.e5 fxe5+ 53.Kd5 {Ivan says: I didn't see that one coming...} 53...Kxb2 54.Kxe5 a3 55.Kf4 a2 56.Kg5 a1=Q 57.Kxh5 Kb3 58.Kg5 Qf6+ 59.Kg4 Qe5 60.Kf3 Qxf5+ 61.Kg2 Kc4 62.Kg1 Qc2 63.Kf1 Qh2 64.h5 Qxg3 65.Ke2 Qe5+ 66.Kf3 Qxh5+ 67.Ke4 Qg5 68.Kf3 Kd3 69.Kf2 Qh4+ 70.Kg2 Ke2 71.Kg1 Kf3 72.Kf1 Qf2# 0-1
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.10"]
[Round "2-2"]
[White "Scisys Chess Companion III (lv 3)"]
[Black "Excalibur Ivan the Terrible (lv 48)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1523"]
[BlackElo "1851"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "E21"]
[PlyCount "82"]
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nc3 {Out of book} 4...c5 5.Be3 Bxc3+ {Out of book} 6.bxc3 cxd4 7.cxd4 O-O 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bxf6 Qxf6 10.e4 d6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Nxe5 $6 {PxP was safer, as now d4 Pawn will be hardly defended.} 12...Rd8 13.Be2 Nc6 14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.O-O Rxd4 16.Qa4 e5 17.Rab1 Rd2 18.Bf3 Bf5 19.Qxc6 Qxc6 20.Bxc6 Rc8 21.Bb7 Rxc4 22.Rb5 $2 {vulnerable to an X-Ray attack from Ivan's Bishop if it moves to d3, also threatening the f1 Rook.} 22...Bd3 $1 23.Rd5 Rb4 24.Rd8+ Kh7 25.Bf3 e4 26.Bh5 g6 27.Bg4 Rbb2 28.Rxd3 {otherwise, BxR} 28...Rxd3 29.a4 Kg7 30.Re1 f5 31.Bh3 Ra2 32.Rb1 Kf6 33.Rc1 Rxa4 34.Kf1 Ra2 35.Ke1 Rdd2 36.Rc6+ Ke5 37.Rxg6 Rdb2 38.Bg4 fxg4 {Ivan says: you must be terrified of me...} 39.f4+ gxf3 40.Re6+ Kxe6 {Ivan announces mate in 1} 41.gxf3 Rb1# 0-1
MfG,
Tibono