Are you kidding? Gothic vortex is a baby*** right now and with a clever or strong play it's rather easy to beat. Altough my Chess rating(not at Brainking) is not something big (about ~1930) i had a crushing winning score against G.V 1.0 and G.V 1.0.3, at every time control.
***Although i think in comparison with the baby PC-Chess programs of 1991-1992, it is far better. Logical since we are on 2004 and programming techniques for Chess-related programs are well developed.


The winning strategy is simple: Build an attack which should be away from it's horizon and let it conquer your "Queen side" (actually the opposite side where it's king has castled) or make a sacrifice of one or more pieces. Then the right time you should start your attack.

Here are 2 won blitz games against Gothic Vortex 1.0 (out of 40-50). The second is the most spectacular Gothic Chess game i have ever played(although blitz)! At one minute per game i had played only 11 games and i have +8 -3 =0.

Me Vs Vortex 1.0 -- 3 seconds per move:
1. f2f4 d7d5
2. g2g3 g7g6
3. c2c3 Bh8f6
4. d2d4 Ni8h6
5. h2h3 Nh6f5
6. Ag1h2 Ag8h6
7. e2e4 d5xe4
8. Bh1xe4 O-O
9. Ni1g2 Nf5d6
10. Be4f3 Bc8d7
11. g3g4 Bd7b5+
12. Kf1g1 Ah6i5
13. Ce1e3 Bf6g7
14. h3h4 Ai5j4
15. Ah2xj4 Bg7xj4+
16. i2i3 Bj4g7
17. i3i4 Nd6c4
18. Ce3e1 Bb5c6
19. j2j4 Qd8d6
20. h4h5 g6xh5
21. g4xh5 Qd6j6
22. i4i5 Bg7xi5
23. j4xi5 Qj6xj1+
24. Kg1f2 Qj1h3
25. d4d5 Bc6d7
26. Ce1i1 Qh3f5
27. b2b3 Nc4b6
28. h5h6 i7i6
29. Ng2h4 Qf5f6
30. Ci1j3 Ce8d6
31. Qd1i1 j7j5
32. Nh4xj5 Qf6g6
33. Cj3j4 Qg6c2+
34. Bc1d2 Bd7h3
35. Nj5h4 Bh3j5
36. Nh4xj5 Cd6xd5
37. Bf3xd5 Qc2xc3
38. Nb1xc3 Rh8g8
39. Nj5h4 Rg8g2+
40. Nh4xg2 Nb6xd5
41. Cj4j6+ Ki8h8
42. Cj6j8# 1-0

Me Vs Vortex 1.0 -- 3 or 10 seconds per move(i don't remember):
1. f2f4 d7d5
2. g2g3 g7g6
3. d2d3 Nb8c6
4. e2e3 Bh8f6
5. h2h3 e7e5
6. Bh1f3 e5xf4
7. g3xf4 Ag8h6
8. Ni1g2 Ni8g7
9. Nb1c3 Bc8e6
10. Ng2i3 O-O
11. Ce1g2 Bf6h4
12. Ag1e2 Ng7i6
13. Bc1d2 Ah6g7
14. d3d4 Bh4i5
15. Ni3j5 Ag7f6
16. Ae2d3 Ra8c8
17. Bd2e1 Bi5f8
18. Be1f2 Nc6b4
19. Ad3e5 Af6e7
20. a2a3 Bf8g7
21. Cg2h2 Bg7xe5
22. d4xe5 Nb4c6
23. i2i4 f7f6
24. e5xf6 Ae7xf6
25. j2j4 Qd8d7
26. Rj1j3 g6g5
27. h3h4 g5xf4
28. e3xf4 d5d4
29. Nc3e4 Be6c4+
30. Kf1g1 Rh8g8+
31. Ne4g5 Bc4e6
32. Kg1h1 Be6f5
33. Kh1i1 d4d3
34. c2c3 Ce8d6
35. Nj5i3 Cd6b5
36. Qd1d2 Cb5b3
37. Ra1d1 Cb3xd2
38. Rd1xd2 Af6e7
39. j4j5 Ni6g7
40. i4i5 Ae7g6
41. Bf2g3 Rc8d8
42. h4h5 Ag6f8
43. Ni3g2 Nc6a5
44. Ng2h4 Na5c4
45. Rd2d1 d3d2
46. h5h6 Bf5c2
47. Rd1xd2 Nc4xd2
48. Bf3g4 Qd7e7
49. Ch2i4 Ng7i6
50. j5xi6 h7xi6
51. Nh4xi6 Qe7e8
52. Ci4i3 Nd2f3
53. Rj3xj7 Rd8d1+
54. Ki1j2 Rd1d2+
55. Bg4i2 Rd2xi2+
56. Ci3xi2 Qe8j3+
57. Kj2xj3 Af8g6+
58. Kj3j2 i7xh6
59. i5xh6 Nf3xg5
60. f4xg5 Rg8e8
61. Ci2j4 Re8e2+
62. Kj2i3 Re2i2+
63. Ki3xi2 Bc2f5+
64. Ki2i1 Ag6h5
65. Cj4xh5 Ki8xj7
66. Ch5i7# 1-0

And finally what is this "odd bug" you're saying?