Tony Thomas wrote:Which engines performed better than expected?
Well, microMax certainly performed better than I expected. Especially if you take into account that uMax doesn't ponder, which disadvantages it compared to the CCRL conditions under which its rating is measured.
It won against Roce and Vicki (normal), but also against Bird (an engines I did not know), and against Telepath (which had an ICC rating of 2343). It scored a draw against Parrot, (which is well above microMax' league). It was a bit lucky that it got a free point against Timea (we later played the game, and uMax lost...), while a game against Matilde, which would potentially have been very interesting, was interrupted by a failing connection, and lucky that the opponent later agreed to substitute a draw for the forfeit (there was no time left to finish the game before the next round). In addition it had very reasonable games against Tinker and Clarabit, where it both was a pawn ahead, but still lost in the end-game.
Especially the win against Telepath was remarkable:
Code: Select all
[Event "ICC tourney 772 (28 1 u)"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2007.07.22"]
[Round "13"]
[White "Telepath"]
[Black "microMaX"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2366"]
[BlackElo "2000"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[ECO "C70"]
[NIC "RL.09"]
[Time "13:17:55"]
[TimeControl "1680+1"]
1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 e5 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Bd6 5. O-O Nf6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. d4 Nxe4 8. dxe5 Be7 9. Qxd8+ Bxd8 10. Nd4 O-O 11. Re1 f5 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 c5 14. Ne2 Re8 15. Nf4 Bg5 16. Rad1 c6 17. Re2 b6 18. Rde1 Ra7 19. Nh3 Bxd2 20. Rxd2 Rae7 21. f4 Be6 22. a3 h6 23. g3 a5 24. Rd6 Rc7 25. Nf2 a4 26. Nd1 Rcc8 27. Nc3 b5 28. Ne2 Rc7 29. Nc1 c4 30. Ne2 Bd7 31. Kf1 Re7 32. Rd2 Rb7 33. Nc3 Re8 34. Rd6 Re6 35. Red1 Re7 36. h3 Rc7 37. Re1 Re6 38. Kg1 Ra7 39. Re2 Kf7 40. Red2 Re7 41. Kg2 Rb7 42. Rd1 Rc7 43. Re1 Be6 44. Rd2 g6 45. Rde2 Rb7 46. Kg1 Re8 47. Kh2 Ra8 48. Rd1 Rh8 49. Rd6 Rc8 50. Red2 Rcc7 51. Na2 Rc8 52. Nb4 Rbc7 53. Na6 Re7 54. Nc5 Bd5 55. Re2 Rce8 56. c3 Rh8 57. h4 Kg7 58. Re3 Rg8 59. Kg1 Rc8 60. Kf2 Rce8 61. Re1 Rc8 62. Re2 Bf7 63. e6 Be8 64. Re5 Rb8 65. Rd2 Ra8 66. Kf1 h5 67. Re1 Rc7 68. Ree2 Re7 69. Rd1 Rb8 70. Re5 Ra8 71. Kg2 Rc7 72. Kf3 Re7 73. Kf2 Raa7 74. Rd8 Rac7 75. Kg1 Ra7 76. Re3 Kf8 77. Kf2 Rg7 78. Re1 Ke7 79. Rdd1 Rg8 80. Kg1 Rh8 81. Re2 Rg8 82. Rde1 Rh8 83. Rd1 Rg8 84. b4 axb3 85. Rde1 Rxa3 86. Kg2 b4 87. cxb4 c3 88. Nxb3 Rxb3 89. Re5 Rxb4 90. Kf3 Rc4 91. Ke3 c2 92. Kd2 c5 93. Kc1 Ba4 94. Rd5 Rb8 95. Rd7+ Bxd7 96. exd7+ Kxd7 97. Kd2 Rb3 98. Rc1 Rxg3 99. Ke2 Rd4 100. Kf2 Rh3 101. Kg2 Rc3 102. Kf2 Rd1 103. Ke2 Rxc1 104. Kd2 Rb1 105. Ke2 {result 0-1 white resigns}
It is interesting to see how the poor-man's substitute for handling passers works out in microMax. Recognizing real passers takes way too much code to ever pay off in terms of Elo per character, so uMax in stead attaches high scores to having Pawns on 6th and 7th rank (which get piece values 160 and 240 cP, respectively). A Pawn on the 7th is of course always a passer, but even if they are still blocked, Pawns on the 6th are sufficiently dangerous, and a sufficiently big annoyance for the opponent, to warrant the hefty bonus.
So although uMax still unwittingly allows passers to be created for the opponent, like on move 11 of the game above,
[d]r1bb1rk1/1pp2ppp/p1p5/4P3/3Nn3/8/PPP2PPP/RNB1R1K1 b - - 0 11
where it plays 11. ..., f7-f5, it from then on at least starts to direct all its efforts to prevent further advancing of this white e-pawn. E.g., after 21. ..., Be6 we have
[d]4r1k1/4r1pp/ppp1b3/2p1Pp2/5P2/7N/PPPR2PP/4R1K1 w - - 0 22
When white finally involves his Knight, uMax can no longer stop the advance of the passer to 6th rank, (63. e5-e6), despite its best efforts (with a resulting score drop):
[d]2r5/4rbk1/2pR2pp/1pN1Pp2/p1p2P1P/P1P3P1/1P2RK2/8 w - - 0 63
But then the fight focusses on e7, and as uMax really gives utmost priority to prevent this advance, it doesn't undertake anything else, and passively moves its pieces around to get maximum coverage and blocking of e7. This makes it very hard for Telepath to make any progress.
Finally Telepath gets so frustrated that it plays a fatal blunder in the following position (84. b2-b4?):
[d]4b1r1/r3k3/2p1P1p1/1pN2p1p/p1p2P1P/P1P3P1/1P2R3/3R2K1 w - - 0 84
I really suspect an e.p. bug here in Telepath. During the tournament chat it was suggested that uMax doesn't know e.p. capture, but as you can see here this is just false rumour! It immediately takes the b-pawn e.p., the score jumping from about -1 to +1.3. From there, it goes down-hill for Telepath fast, as uMax has no trouble finishing it off.
The 84. b4 by Telepath is inexplicable: there was not even 50-move pressure, as uMax had still moved a Pawn on move 66.