cv editor wrote on Thu, Aug 31, 2006 01:52 PM UTC:
Ed Trice writes about a game of Vortex vs. SMIRF
Vortex had an opening advantage against SMIRF, which it consolidated into
a few pawns worth of material by the middlegame. As the early endgame
approached, this advantage was significant.
But what was strange was that Vortex traded this advantage almost
completely away, while announcing mate in 143!
I could not believe this, and I think Reinhard could not believe this
either. Vortex had only pawns in the end, and SMIRF had a Knight + fewer
pawns, yet Vortex did win a very long checkmate!
This is one 'problem' with very large endgame tablebases. The program
will throw away material, in this case about 4 pawns worth, in order to
announce 'mate in X.'
It may be that Vortex could have mated sooner by holding onto the
material, but the nominal depth was nowhere near this, while the endgame
mates could not be avoided.
Ed Trice writes about a game of Vortex vs. SMIRF
Vortex had an opening advantage against SMIRF, which it consolidated into a few pawns worth of material by the middlegame. As the early endgame approached, this advantage was significant.But what was strange was that Vortex traded this advantage almost completely away, while announcing mate in 143!
I could not believe this, and I think Reinhard could not believe this either. Vortex had only pawns in the end, and SMIRF had a Knight + fewer pawns, yet Vortex did win a very long checkmate!
This is one 'problem' with very large endgame tablebases. The program will throw away material, in this case about 4 pawns worth, in order to announce 'mate in X.'
It may be that Vortex could have mated sooner by holding onto the material, but the nominal depth was nowhere near this, while the endgame mates could not be avoided.
Here is the game link and the game:
http://www.gothicchesslive.com/javascript/game.php?gameid=1607
BetaSmirf - GothicVortex
0-1
1.Nh3 d6 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bxc6 bxc6 4.c4 h6 5.Nc3 g5 6.d4 Aj5 7.f3 g4 8.fxg4 Bxg4 9.j4 Qd7 10.Rj3 Bh5 11.Rj1 Bi4 12.Kg2 Nj6 13.Bf4 e5 14.dxe5 Bxe5 15.Cf3 Bxf4 16.Cxf4 Nh5 17.Cf3 O-O 18.Qd3+ Ah7 19.Qd4 Nj6 20.Af2 Ce6 21.Qd2 Ag5 22.Qd3+ Cg6 23.Rad1 Rh7 24.Cd4 Nh5 25.Qf3 Ce5 26.Kh1 Bxh3 27.Axh3 Axh3 28.ixh3 Cxf3 29.exf3 Nxg3+ 30.hxg3 Qxh3+ 31.Ki1 Qxg3+ 32.Ki2 Qf2+ 33.Kj3 Qxb2 34.Ce2 Qb4 35.Rd4 Qc5 36.Rh1 Rg8 37.Ri4 i6 38.Ce4 Qf5 39.Rf4 Qg6+ 40.Ki2 f5 41.Ce3 h5 42.Nd1 h4 43.Rfxh4 Rgh8 44.Rxh7 Qi4+ 45.Kj2 Qxj4+ 46.Ki2 Qi4+ 47.Kj2 Rxh7 48.Rxh7 Qj4+ 49.Ki2 Qi5+ 50.Kh1 Kxh7 51.Ce7+ Qg7 52.Cxf5 Qh8 53.Ch4+ Kg7 54.Cxh8 Kxh8 55.Ne3 Kh7 56.Nf5 j5 57.Ne7 d5 58.cxd5 c5 59.Ki2 c4 60.Nc6 c3 61.Nd4 i5 62.f4 Kh6 63.Kj3 Kh5 64.Ki3 Kg4 65.Kj2 a6 66.a4 Kh4 67.Nf5+ Kh5 68.Nd4 i4 69.Ki3 Ki5 70.Kh2 j4 71.f5 Kh6 72.a5 Kg5 73.Kh1 Kf6 74.Ne2 c2 75.Ki1 Ke5 76.Kh1 Kxd5 77.f6 Kd6 78.Kh2 c5 79.f7 Ke7 80.f8=C Kxf8 81.Nc1 Ke7 82.Ki2 Kd6 83.Kh1 Kd5 84.Nd3 Kd4 85.Nc1 Kc3 86.Kg2 c4 87.Kh2 Kb2 88.Ne2 c1=C 89.Nxc1 Kxc1 90.Kg3 c3 91.Kh4 c2 92.Kxi4 Kb2 93.Kxj4 Kc3 94.Ki5 Kd3 95.Kh6 Ke4 96.Kg7 Kf5 97.Kf7 c1=Q 98.Kg7 Qi7+ 99.Kf8 Kf6 100.Kg8 Qg7#