Wow, das gönne ich D. Kittinger - ich finde es wirklich erstaunlich, wie stark sich diese Geräte noch behaupten können. Hoffentlich kommt doch noch mal ein aktuelles Programm für ein Brettgerät - vielleicht ein Citrine II, wenn die nächste Serie wieder so gut verkauft wird (sollte ich den wiki-Artikel noch etwas freundlicher schreiben...)?

Wie kommt es nur, dass der Sparc so abgeschlagen wurde? Auch von den Spracklens würde ich mir so sehr ein neues Programm wünschen. Die Spielweise war immer so erfrischend gegenüber den Lang-Programmen.

Hi,

As far as I can tell about the Sparc, it completely failed in the openings, being out of book several times after 3-4 moves only !
Against the Risc 2500, it was good for the Sparc and it took the lead quite fast, but in the other games, it was lost very soon after the opening :
1) against the Sapphire, the Sparc made a dubious exchange at move 13 and completely blundered at move 15 with Qc6 (Fritz 10 evals jumps from +1.2 for white to +3.5 with this move)
2) against the Risc I, it was completely beaten in the opening : out of book at move 4, and its position deteriorated very fast (-1.5 at move 14)
3) against the Berlin pro, it was also out of book at move 4 or 5 and played a series of bad moves : -1 at move 10, -1.8 at move 14, ...

Strange games indeed...
Best regards,
Alain

Hi,

it looks like the standard opening book has been used, not the tournament book. However, that dosn't have to be necessarily bad; luck is very important, too...

The opening of your game happened in my 30min match against Risc2, and Risc2 played 6...e6 instead of 6...Bg4. After that Sparc had good play and indeed overplayed the Risc2 up to a won endgame!
Anyway, it lost the endgame quite remarkably, you really must have a look

Here's the game:

[Event "30 min"]
[Site "Glashütten"]
[Date "2007.02.18"]
[Round "16"]
[White "Saitek Sparc"]
[Black "Mephisto Risc II"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D03c"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bg5 Ne4 4.Bf4 c5 5.dxc5 Nc6 6.e3 e6 7.Nbd2 Nxd2 8.Qxd2
Bxc5 9.Bd3 f6 10.e4 O-O 11.exd5 exd5 12.O-O-O Re8 13.c3 Bg4 14.Qc2 h6 15.
Bg6 Re7 16.h3 Be6 17.Nh4 Ne5 18.Bxe5 fxe5 19.b4 Rc7 20.Bh7+ Kf8 21.Ng6+
Ke8 22.bxc5 Rxc5 23.Kb1 Qc7 24.Qe2 e4 25.f3 Qa5 26.Rc1 Rxc3 27.Nf4 Bf7 28.
fxe4 Qb6+ 29.Qb2 d4 30.Nd5 Qxb2+ 31.Kxb2 Rxc1 32.Rxc1 Rd8 33.Rc7 Rd7 34.
Rc8+ Rd8 35.Rxd8+ Kxd8 36.Kc2 g6 37.Kd3 Ke8 38.a3 Kf8 39.Nf6 Kg7 40.e5 b6
41.g4 a5 42.Kxd4 Ba2 43.h4 Bf7 44.g5 hxg5 45.hxg5 Be6 46.Kc3 b5 47.Kd3 Bf7
48.Ke4 Be6 49.Ke3 b4 50.axb4 axb4 51.Kd3 Bb3 52.Kd2 Bc4 53.Kc1 Bf7 54.Kc2
Ba2 55.Kd1 Be6 56.Ke2 Ba2 57.Kf2 Bf7 58.e6 Bxe6 59.Ke2 Bf7 60.Kd2 Bb3 61.
Kc1 Be6 62.Kc2 Ba2 63.Kd3 Be6 64.Ke4 Ba2 65.Kd4 Bf7 66.Bg8 Bxg8 67.Kd3 Be6
68.Ne8+ Kf8 69.Nc7 Ke7 70.Nb5 Kd7 71.Kc2 Kc6 72.Nd4+ Kd5 73.Nb3 Ke5 74.Nc5
Kf5 75.Na6 b3+ 76.Kb2 Kxg5 77.Nc7 Bc4 78.Ne8 Kf4 79.Nd6 Bd5 80.Nc8 g5 81.
Nb6 Bf7 82.Nd7 g4 83.Nc5 Ke3 84.Nd7 g3 85.Ne5 Be6 86.Nc6 g2 87.Nd8 Bd5 88.
Nb7 g1=Q 89.Nd6 Qh2+ 90.Ka3 Qxd6+ 91.Ka4 Qb6 92.Ka3 Qa5+ 93.Kb2 Qa2+ 94.
Kc3 Qd2# 0-1


Blunder regards,
Dirk

Hi Alain,
this is very interesting, but how can it be (out of book at move 4 and 5)? I wonder cause of the huge book: according to wiki (based on eurochess 1995) the opening book contains 300.000 pos., but only on tournament-levels (f1-f8) it uses a special tournament-book. Maybe the Sparc doesn´t play at tournament level?

Greetings - bretti

Hi,

No, it did not play at tournament level because there is no tournament level as fast as 30s/move.
So, the full opening book was used...

Anyway, my understanding of tournament books is that the computer selects only the best answers in this mode but I don't think that the number of positions will be reduced so my guess is that it should not be "out of book" sooner with a tournament book than with the normal book.
But may be I am wrong here ? (it would not be the first time )

Best regards,
Alain

Hello Alain,

On wich level did u play?
Because from A till D the computer plays with his original program wich is very weak, from F till H levels , then is activated the SPARC module.
Perhaps u already know this,then i haven't say anything
But mine experience with the SPARC is, very good play at long levels.
He is not a good speedchesser.

Best Regards,
Hans

Hi Hans,

I played with level E4 which is the only level from the Sparc module which plays in 30 seconds.

I just think it was bad luck. In some way, it lost its three games a bit like it won one against the Risc 2500 : in this game, the Risc made a few weak moves in the opening and the game was finished, there was not really a fight.

Best regards,
Alain

Hello Alain,

Yes , i did mean E to H Error overhere
Yes , in long games the program comes better to his style of play.
Somethimes u have bad luck,somethimes he play's from a other planet
Ok, but keep going with ure Tournament in Paris ! Perhaps some day.....

Kind regards,Hans