After some things have been improved at Ed Trice's server (e.g. started game notation and enabled kibitzing), Smirf's Beta BC-058 has made another approach to stand a game against the GC master. But when the remaining time was getting low, it finally was overplayed by Ed again:

[Event "20 min + 5 sec game"]
[Site "GothicChessLive"]
[Date "2005.05.19"]
[Time "08:29:16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Smirf Beta-BC-058"]
[Black "Ed Trice"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Reinhard Scharnagl"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB


QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

{White is resigning seeing a mate come.} 1.d3 {(12.18) +0.147} g5 2.g3 {(11.31)
+0.314} Nh6 3.Nj3 {(12.00) +0.432} Nc6 4.c4 {(11.37) +0.445} d6 5.Qa4 {(11.40)
+0.724} Bg7 6.Nc3 {(11.18) +1.101} Af6 7.Bxc6 {(12.06) +1.451} bxc6 8.Ne4
{(12.30) +1.316} Ad4 9.Nxg5 {(13.04) +1.438} O-O 10.h3 {(13.01+) +1.322} Bd7
11.Ni5 {(12.09) +1.521} c5 12.Qd1 {(12.01+) +1.522} Cf6 13.e3 {(12.19) +1.650}
Ae5 14.Ae2 {(12.05) +1.786} i6 15.f4 {(12.07) +1.687} Ac6 16.g4 {(12.01+)
+1.687} Nj5 17.Ag3 {(11.41) +2.085} Kj8 18.Nixh7+ {(12.42) +1.358} Rxh7
19.Nxh7+ {(14.11) +1.433} Cxh7 20.Ai4 {(13.20) +1.433} Bi5 21.Cc2 {(12.04)
+1.532} Ki8 22.Bd2 {(12.25) +1.656} Nh4 23.Be1 {(12.45) +1.475} Nxi2 24.Bxi5
{(12.36) +3.235} Qh8 25.Bj6 {(12.55) +3.024} Cxh3 26.Bxh8 {(13.24) +2.526} Ng3+
27.Axg3 {(19.00) +0.000} Cxg3+ 28.Kf2 {(18.00) -0.199} Ch3+ 29.Kf1 {(18.00)
-1.395} Af3 30.Bj6 {(18.01+) -0.114} Ah2+ 31.Ke1 {(18.03) -0.697} Bxg4 32.Rf1
{(19.37) -0.996} Bxd1 33.Rxd1 {(18.00) -1.594} Rg8 34.Cxh2 {(19.37) -1.656}
Cxh2 35.Rd2 {(21.24) -1.656} Cj3 36.Bf2 {(21.28) -1.807} j5 37.Ke2 {(17.09)
-1.634} Rg2 38.a3 {(17.14) -1.997} Cg3+ 39.Ke1 {(21.01) -2.083} Cf3+ 40.Kd1
{(21.00) -2.122} Rxj2 41.Rc2 {(21.00) -2.281} i5 42.b4 {(18.11) -2.256} cxb4
43.axb4 {(21.00) -3.438} i4 44.Ra2 {(19.15) -3.549} i3 45.Ke2 {(21.04) -3.736}
Rxf2+ 46.Rxf2 {(22.01) -4.261} Cg1+ 47.Kd2 {(22.00?) -4.569} i2 48.Ra1 {(21.08)
-4.713} Cxa1 49.Rxi2+ {(21.12) -4.912} Kj7 50.Re2 {(22.16) -4.912} Cb1+ 51.Kc2
{(20.00?) -4.912} Cxb4+ 52.Kc3 {(24.03) -5.211} Cb1+ 53.Kc2 {(23.01) -5.211}
Ca3+ 54.Kd2 {(23.03) -5.410} j4 55.Rj2 {(25.04) -6.175} Ca2+ 56.Ke1 {(15.02-)
-M~???} Cxj2 57.Kf1 {(13.06-) -M~???} 0-1

Sumerian:

Thanks for the game Reinhard. It was interesting in that Black (my side) had, on the surface, what everyone would identify as a "lead in development" at first glance, yet White (S.M.I.R.F.) was uncastled with fewer pieces in play, yet stood better in my opinion (after I reviewed the game.) There were some interesting "passive sacrifices" by Black where a Bishop was left hanging "on purpose", as well as a Queen. These were more akin to "traps" rather than tactically sharp play, but again, they added to the interest of the game.

I will add my notes a little later.

1.d3 g5?!

The point of this unusual first move is that if 2. Bxg5? then 2...Bxb2 wins The Exchange of Rook for Bishop. If 1. d4 instead, then this ...g5 "trap" cannot be played.

2.g3 Nh6

Usually I play 2...h6 to support the over-extended g-pawn.

3.Nj3?! Nc6

S.M.I.R.F. had completed an 11-ply search and was starting on ply 12. I guess it did not like Nh3 with the idea that ...g4 could chase it.

4.c4 d6 5.Qa4

An interesting move choice by white, aimed at winning a pawn with Bxc6 bxc6 then Qxc6. I thought maybe S.M.I.R.F. is expecting ...Bd7 so I played something else to test this.

5...Bg7 6.Nc3

If 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Qxc6 I had planned on 7...Bd7 8. Q(g2 or h1) Af6 then castling with some compensation for the pawn.

6...Af6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Ne4!

This is better than 8. Qxc6, and S.M.I.R.F. wins the weakened g-pawn now.

8...Ad4 9.Nxg5 O-O 10.h3 Bd7 11.Ni5

An interesting position. White has 2 Knights on the 5th rank (i5 and g5) and a Queen on a4, with nothing else in play. Black has all of the minors developed to good posts, and Archbishop that is a little "out there" but with excellent retreating destinations that only improve its location, and is castled. At this point I made a "strategic move" without thinking tactically at all. I played the pawn push to follow instantly, which revealed the Bishop to hit on White's Queen, and I carelessly thought "this was all that mattered." S.M.I.R.F. was able to prove me wrong.

11...c5? 12.Qd1!

What a difference seeing a move being made does for your positional clarity! The j7 pawn will now come into range of the Queen on d1. With the e-pawn push, my Archbishop must retreat, and White gains another "free move" to compound the attack against j7 by adding the White Archbishop to e2. Black needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get back into this game.

12...Cf6 13.e3 Ae5 14.Ae2 i6

Black's play was pretty much forced. The i-pawn push reduces the scope of the threat against j7, but it also weakens the kingside pawn structure tangibly.

15.f4

Such a move, which hits on the Archbishop, is an obvious first reaction. I did not think this was best here. I was worried about my kingside being destroyed with 15. Nxj7!? Nxj7 16. Nxi6!? hxi6 and Black would have to play very accurately to marshall the resources necessary for a satisfactory defense. I have the threat of ...Axg3+! going for me since the Chancellor in the f-file pins the pawn, but at fast time controls, I have no idea how such a line will play out.

15... Ac6

And now my Archbishop surveys the board from an excellent post.

16.g4 Nj5 17.Ag3

I remember my discussions with Reinhard about the value of his pieces. My thinking at this point: his 2 knights are strong, and the game is far from needing Rooks in open files to control the endgame. Would S.M.I.R.F. trade 2 Knights for a Rook + Pawn? I think it will, so I play...

17...Kj8 18.Nixh7+ Rxh7 19.Nxh7+Cxh7

...and I am correct. Black liquidated White's strong assets and gets an easier game. Now I can focus on setting traps.

20.Ai4 Bi5 21.Cc2

In the sum of all of my experience, I have never seen Cc2 for White or Cc7 for Black lead to "promising play". In the "old days" of the first Gothic Chess Live site, back in 2000, ChessCarpenter (Rob Colanzi) handed me my first defeat ever by forcing my Chancellor onto c2. Now, such a "general statement" as "Cc2 is bad" is of course, oversimplified, but in all of my games, I have noticed that when a Chancellor is able to be deployed to the Kingside FIRST, things always go much better for that player. By heading towards the Queenside first, the Chancellor tends to be under-utilized.

21...Ki8 22.Bd2 Nh4 23.Be1 Nxi2?! 24.Bxi5

The first part of the "trap". Black loses the Bishop for just a pawn.

24... Qh8! 25.Bj6 Cxh3!!

And now my Queen is hanging as well! Hopefully the plan is too deep for S.M.I.R.F. to see. The "patient" move 26. Qe2 is best so that if 26...Ng3+ the Bishop can still retreat and play 27. Bxg3.

26.Bxh8

S.M.I.R.F. grabs the Queen, which is hard to resist.

26...Ng3+!! 27.Axg3 Cxg3+ 28.Kf2 Ch3+ 29.Kf1 Af3!!

At one point S.M.I.R.F. ran through 18 plies of search and scored the position as a repetition draw, but the whole point of the attack was to get my Archbishop into play.

30.Bj6 Ah2+!!

The role of the Archbishop was not to just capture the Queen with ...Axd1, but worsen the position of the White King first.

31.Ke1 Bxg4!!

This functionally ends the game.

32.Rf1 Bxd1 33.Rxd1 Rg8 34.Cxh2Cxh2 35.Rd2 Cj3

And the rest is just technique.

36.Bf2 j5 37.Ke2 Rg2 38.a3 Cg3+ 39.Ke1 Cf3+ 40.Kd1
Rxj2 41.Rc2 i5 42.b4 cxb4 43.axb4 i4 44.Ra2 i3 45.Ke2
Rxf2+ 46.Rxf2 Cg1+ 47.Kd2 i2 48.Ra1 Cxa1 49.Rxi2+ Kj7 50.Re2 Cb1+ 51.Kc2 Cxb4+ 52.Kc3 Cb1+ 53.Kc2 Ca3+ 54.Kd2 j4 55.Rj2 Ca2+ 56.Ke1 Cxj2 0-1

EdTrice: thank you for putting so much time in commenting that game. It is obviously that you are seeing the game from the viewpoint of a chess master. Thank you for that!

What I am learning from such games for sceduled modifying of the program SMIRF has been following: a) SMIRF actually seems to have no more that sort of crashing I reported during the last time - positive; b) Ed very correctly is detecting weaknesses on SMIRF's placing the pieces, thus I am very sure that some future tasks might help SMIRF a little bit: to rewrite its evaluation function focussing three points: 1) making the evaluation faster (three times seems to be realistic), 2) general review of the evaluation - especially king's safety, 3) adding a component for pieces mobility - which actually is missing.

Sumerian: Hi Reinhard,

One thing that is very interesting is SMIRF's handling of the opening. It "has no fear" so it plays moves that appear unusual to a human, but as it has verified with its search that material is not lost within its horizon, we (humans) have to be careful about handling these positions!

I found myself down a pawn and in a disorganized retreat, and I had to rely on "tricks" to turn things around. From this I learned a few things:

1. There are tactical opportunities in the opening that I have obviously been overlooking.

2. Just developing "for the sake of developing" is clearly not good enough. In the overall scheme of things, getting more pieces in play is the best choice over 90% of the time, but S.M.I.R.F. was able to make the most of its chances with selective deployment of its pieces.

3. Apparently strong kingside attacks can be carried out with just 2 Knights if the opponent's pawn structure surrounding the castled king has been compromised only slightly. This is something that is virtually impossible in chess that is not only possible as in our game, but could be a theme to underwrite an entire strategy. Aiming long-range pieces at the castled King while "waiting" to push pawns to release their full force (as your e3 and Ae2 moves accomplished) could be an interesting, previously untried strategical motiff.

I will have to figure out how to deal with this in my own home preparation

Thanks for a great game.

Since the 10x8 board has merged with other boards, and since there is a live site alternative only for players of Gothic Chess, the

Gothic Chess Steamrollers

... fellowship has ammended its doctrine to also serve as the conduit for requests for live games.

This will alleviate the need to use this board for requests for live games, but at the expense of requiring membership in the fellowship. This will exclude pawns from being able to post announcements or make requests for games, but it will reduce the load on the DB here.

So, for all those who are interested, send me a request to join the fellowship, post requests for live games within the fellowship, and I will look for you all there.

---------

This fellowship has three primary purposes:

1. To post announcements for requests to play live games at http://www.GothicChessLive.com


2. To create a very strong Gothic Chess team for the playing of team tournaments.

3. To offer an alternative discussion board to discuss Gothic Chess tactics, strategies, openings, and endings.

This is a "high octane" fellowship catering to the true Gothic Chess junkie.

EdTrice:I would like to upgrade my membership;and have asked many times how to do it. But,I do not use credit cards;and I do not know the value of a euro in U.S.dollars. I am also a Gothic Chess Fanatic;but certainly not in your league. I am totally unable to figure out how to upgrade;because I do not understand the method required. I would love to have it explained to me where to send the money to upgrade,the U.S. Dollar amount(not the totally unknown,to me,Euro)and where to send the dues using a U.S. money order. Since this is the only way I have of paying.

tedbarber: I was going to send you a message, bur for some reason you have me blocked - so I'll post it here for you.

If you don't want to use one of the on-line ways to pay, BrainKing has some "representives" around the world which can accept money orders from people in their area - and which they will then turn and send the payment to Fencer.

http://www.brainking.info/payment.html - this page has the information, with Eriisa - being the one in the USA who has done this for MANY people and very trustworthy. I would suggest sending her a message here and ask her for details - where she can give you her mailing address and such.

To check out exchange rates, http://www.xe.com is a good place.

At the bottom of the page, you can find a place to do a quick converter from EURO to US.

So the rates right now for memberships are:

For Knights, 10/18 EUR will equal $12.58 / $22.65 US

For Rook, 16/28 EUR will equal $20.13 / $35.22

I will be happy to help if you have any questions.

Looks like Andreas is the new "man to beat" these days

Grim Reaper: Too late, I already switched to Backgammon

As I read the German board, I see there was a request for Janus Chess discussion. I posted this link to start things off:

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=417877

And the link disappeared. I am not sure why.

Grim Reaper: That looks like a very tight game, I am not sure who is going to win it based on the remaining men.

whatdidyousay / Grim Reaper: Yes, it is an interesting game, but as it is still in progress, please do not discuss future moves or who may have an advantage, the discussion should be limited to how the game has reasched this position (all non-complying posts will be deleted without notice).

Cheers WQ :)

WhisperzQ: I am not sure about the advantage discussion, but future moves discussion makes sense to avoid.

As an aside, for those of us that do not visit the game db's regularly, it may be a good idea to edit the top layout including a description of what we are allowed to discuss here and what is not allowed. Just a thought.

Caissus: I went to the German board. Unfortunately for me it's all in German and I could only make out about 5% of the words. I'll just have to wait until you post something in this part of the discussion board as I don't know German. I suppose I'll gradually learn it if I read the board from time to time. I went to your Janus Chess link. From the positioning and use of buttons and windows I gathered Weiter means "Enter". I hit that button, but it was all in German when I got inside. Is there an English version of this site? I really like Janus Chess and would like to try playing it live someday.

A number of posts have been deleted which did not contribute useful discussion to this board.

The link Walter refered to is: http://www.janusschach.de/

Now here is something interesting. Since all of the conversation that happened in the German board, I have 5 orders for Gothic Chess sets from that country alone. Usually we get 1 about every 3 days from Germany, not 5 in a 48 hour span.

So thanks guys, keep up the good work, lol.

It does not matter if a product is talked about badly or not, just if it is talked about... I keep trying to tell you that. Keep hammering away at Gothic Chess, I'll keep selling

6'4 Alexis Skye has agred to be our new Gothic Chess supermodel.

http://alexisskye.com/gothic_chess/new%20pic%20with%20heel%20and%20ruler%202.jpg

She is about 6'10 with the heels on.

Grim Reaper: Sex sells ... , but is she able to play Gothic Chess (well)?

6'10 what? How this is translated to cm or m.......?
Damn Americans

Chessmaster1000: 6 feet 10 inch equals 2 metres, 8 centimeters, and 2.8 millimetres.

Oh that was feet and inch? OK............

So she is 6'4 = 6·12*2.54 + 4·2,54 = 193,04 cm
WOW! She is really tall............!

Chessmaster1000: Well, yes. The ' symbol is used to denote feet. (And " for inches). Just like Europeans write 2m08, an American writes 6'10.

Do you know, who invents FEET mesurements?

http://www.chessbox.de/Wissen/matheellemass2.html

(German language text)

No logical European writes 2m08.............!

Don't try to compare the "illogical" American and British way of writing the units with our international way.........
I wonder why it's so difficult to the 2 aforementioned "illogical in this matter" countries to accept the S.I..............?

P.S: I don't have any problem OF COURSE with these countries, i just comment their unit system.......

Chessmaster1000: No logical European writes 2m08.

Oh, sure they do. Both in writing, and speech. Of course, there are variations in usuage between countries and languages. (Generalisation over all Europeans usually doesn't work out well).

Don't try to compare the "illogical" American and British way of writing the units with our international way.

Illogical is in the eye of the beholder. What's percieved as "logical" is just what one is used to.

I wonder why it's so difficult to the 2 aforementioned "illogical in this matter" countries to accept the S.I.

The UK has been metric for decades. But habits are hard to die. Europeans have the Euro for several years now, but in all countries, many people still use marks, franks, lires, guilders and pesatas in their heads. Not to mention that many European cookbooks still use 'cups' and 'teaspoons' for measurements.

Now back to chess variants please.

AbigailII: Well said. I pointed out some of these things to him in a private message.
The systems, both Metric and Standard, aren't illogical, they are arbitrary. Whether or not they are designed logically is a whole different debate.

No, i didn't say that the systems are illogical BUT that the people who still use them are, because they are old and because all world except them uses another system(S.I).......
Of course it's none of my business to criticize what they should use or not, but i find it not so logical to still use the old unit-systems........

Further posts about unit systems will be deleted unless you demonstrate some connection with 10x8 chess variants.

Chessmaster1000: In the end, it not just the theoretical logic which makes a measurement system useful, it is the the way the base units reflect aspects of life ... and this is both a learned phenonenum (sp?) and a function of our environment. Something which is measured in inches can usually be (physically) grasped in the hand, items measured in centimeters and millimeters are generally too small.

But with that, nuff sed ... further comments on this will be deleted, please continue this conversation at General Chat.

WQ :)

We have pictures taken from the Alexis Skye vs. Claude Jeruchim Gothic Chess games today. A very interesting match that drew a big crowd at the resteraunt at the bottom of the Empire State Building

Next Thurday night at 9 PM Eastern I will be the guest speaker on chess.fm radio.

If you go to http://www.chess.fm just turn on your computer's speakers, and you can hear the broadcast.

What time is that for the UK?

harley: The UK is five hours ahead of EST/EDT (except for one or two weeks a year, as Europe and the US don't switch to/from daylight saving time on the same dates). So Thursday 9 PM EDT is Friday 2 AM BST.

Thanks, Abigail! I might have a listen if I'm still up!

I think they do occasional rebroadcasts as well, I will ask Dan.

Join fast Janus chess tournament for advanced players
http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?trg=9028&tri=44300&trnst=0

Ideal for pawns who don't like to spend years waiting for tournament to finish or for players who like to play fast.

fungame: "Ideal for pawns who don't like to spend years waiting for tournament to finish or for players who like to play fast."

You must be kidding or you don't remember when you were a pawn - if you ever were. Even when your tournament games as a pawn are over, you still have to wait until EVERYBODY ELSE has finished, NOT until YOU have finished and have either:

- won your group and, therefore, are happy to wait next round, or
- been eliminated and SHOULD be allowed to go and sign up to your next tournament, since you have no more contribution or influence on the present tournament.

I mean REALLY!!!

WhiteTower: I wonder what you mean... Isn't it very logical, that "fast" tournament with 1 or 2 days per move ends up faster than 7 days per move tournament, thus making life for pawns easier?
Thats what I mean, of course you have to wait until others finish their games or you can ask Fencer to free you in case you have all your games completed and no chance to advance further.

.. Or buy a membership

WhiteTower: You can send a message to Fencer when you are eliminated from a tourney, and he will fix it so you can join another.

This is not very convenient and it should be automaticaly happen. But that belongs to feature requests! Since i don't have this problem and i believe that it should not be fixed (for the obvious reason......) i will not report it.......

Chessmaster1000: I think the main reason it does not happen automaticaly now is that it would take extra server processing to do the extra processing.... and least that is the reason I remember hearing when it was suggested before.

Oh....... My reason is that more extra features/abilities should not be given at Pawns, since they would have one reason more to become a Knight or Rook.......
By giving to Pawns the ability to participate quickly in new tournaments, then the difference between a paying membership and a non-paying membership becomes a lot closer, yet there is a huge difference of course.......

Pawns are important for this site and perhaps they are the soul of Brainking, but without Rooks and Knights.............?!?!?!??!?

I plugged BrainKing.com a few times tonight on http://www.chess.fm if anyone caught the show. It will be rebroadcast during the week. Look for the "Renaissance Man" feature with Dan Heisman, and just turn on your speakers.

Grim Reaper: Is the broadcast available anywhere to download and hear it offline?

andreas: I heard most of it this morning before heading off to work. It was mostly e-mail questions by the chess.fm public, who were obviously curious about Gothic Chess :) In the end, the presenter put it appropriately: "We can only have this kind of topic once a year, as most of our listeners are interested in standard chess." (or something along those lines)

The listeners seemed to ask plenty of varying questions, mentioning "why not 10x10?" or "what about making it like FRC?" or "what differences to Bird/Capablanca?" etc.

Ed was guite thorough, even quoting specific endgame URLs from his website :)

It should be noted that I was guest of chess.fm because of the request to have me on the show by those same listeners. When NM Dan Heisman contacted me originally he said "Do you think there is enough interest to sustain 20 minutes worth of questions?" and I really was not sure.

After 30 minutes of "Gothic Chess only", Tony Rook signalled that we should take a break. During the break commercials from sponsors were aired and they went over the tabulation of chess-specific questions to Gothic Chess-specific ones. The margin was heavily in favor of continuing, as there were about 50 unanswered questions in pipeline.

I honestly did not expect it to run the whole hour, but we went down to the wire with questions coming in down to the last second.

Dan issued the commentary to let people know Gothic Chess had not "taken over" chess.fm, that this was one week out of 52 that was dedicated to this variant. After the show, Tony and Dan both disclosed that this was one of the most active question & answer sessions that they had experienced with an "unknown" player (me) and they both thought it was very worthwhile.

I'd like to thank all of those who submitted some of those very interesting questions, and if you have any more, you know how to reach me.

Well done, sir.

I was a counselor at Emory's Castle Chess Camp in June, and I took my Gothic board and pieces with me. The kids LOVED the game, and it would often be played for hours after class. IMs Jon Schroer and Jim Mundy also had played (and enjoyed) the game. I played FM Andrew Whatley 3 blitz games; I "won" the first one -- he had played before, but he was getting his "gothic legs" back. The second game, he slaughtered me; but game 3 I played more aggressively, and though I lost on time, he admired the mate in 2 I had on the board.

As for the kids, a good many of them wanted to play--we decided 7 min/game with 3 sec/move delay would give them plenty of time, but would keep the board open to new players.

The thing I did not foresee was that the kids wanted to use my board as one of the boards for a bughouse game, with one 8x10 board, and one 8x8 board, with the gothic pieces dropping in and out of both boards as they were captured. They would scream in delight as the chancellor and archbishop changed hands. Other counselors came running at one point because they thought some kids were fighting, but they were yelling and screaming and laughing because of the predicaments the knighted-bishops and knighted-rooks were giving both teams. It was hilarious. One player, David M., age 10, said it was "the future of chess." Several kids agreed. I wanted two of the GMs to play one another, and they were for it--but classes ran so long, and we packed so much into the week, that I couldn't ever get them all together. But I wrote down your website several times for the kids and for the counselors too. I hope the exposure sends some business to some eager chess fans; the kids really loved the game, and some of the counselors suggested that I bring more boards next year to have a gothic tournament there. I figured I could be a bird on your windowsill, GM--had I known I was going to particpate in this camp earlier, I would have suggested it to the organizers this year. But it is held in June here in Atlanta, usually the first week.

Hope for the future.

I took some pics with the kids playing on the gothic board.

Ed and 8x10 fans, I wish you could have seen the "Gothic bughouse". Never have I seen kids have such a good time. I played a couple of times -- it made my head hurt. ;-)

But fun it was indeed.

Good job, Ed. Your work made a lot of kids happy 2 weeks ago.