the art of coffeehouse play

[carldaman]

This game I'm posting just finished a little while ago and I found it to be wild and exhilarating, full of audacious and unexpected moves.

There have been other attempts at creating engines (or engine personalities) with such a speculative style, but I really like CyberNezh's approach the best, since it's so un-machine like in terms of the seemingly unnatural risks it assumes. Nezh flirts with disaster throughout the game, walking a tightrope that's just about to snap, only to be nicely rewarded for its brilliant attacking effort in the end.

Needless to say, not all the sacs were completely sound, mind you!

RomiChess benefited from its learning function in the opening, but Nezh played the game entirely on its own (no book was used). The time control was 8m+5s.

Before going thru the game take a look at the following position and try to conjure up a normal move for White here
[d]r1bq2kr/pp2b2p/2p4B/3p3Q/3n2P1/1PN5/P4P1P/R3R1K1 w - - 0 22
and then check the game itself to see what Nezh actually uncorked.


[pgn] [Event "8m+5s"] [Date "2019.01.04"] [Round "1"] [White "CyberNezh"] [Black "RomiChess P3N"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [BlackElo "2400"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 $5 d6 (4... Nf6 5. e5 $13) 5. c3 $5 Nf6 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. O-O Na5 9. Qe3 Nxc4 10. Qxe4+ Be7 (10... Qe7 11. Qd3 d5 12. Re1 Be6 13. Nc3 c6 14. b3 Nb6 15. Ng5 Qf6 16. Nxh7 Rxh7 17. Qxh7 Qxd4 18. Bb2 O-O-O 19. Qc2 Qg4 20. Nb5 Bf5 21. Qc3 Bb4 22. Nxa7+ Kd7 23. Qe3 Bxe1 24. Rxe1 Nc8 25. Nxc8 Kxc8 26. Bd4 Be4 27. Qg3 Qxg3 28. hxg3 f6 29. f3 Bg6 30. b4 Re8 {1/2-1/2 (30) Pedersen,H (2324)-Granberg,N (2482)}) 11. Re1 d5 12. Qe2 Qd8 13. b3 Nd6 14. Qe5 Nf5 15. Nc3 c6 16. g4 f6 17. Qf4 $5 g5 18. Nxg5 $1 fxg5 19. Qxg5 Nxd4 20. Qh5+ Kf8 21. Bh6+ Kg8 22. Ne2 $3 {!!?} (22. Re3) 22... Nf3+ 23. Kg2 Nxe1+ $2 (23... Nh4+ 24. Kf1 Ng6) 24. Rxe1 Bd7 25. Nf4 Be8 26. Qe5 Bf6 27. Qf5 Bd7 28. Re6 $1 $18 Qe7 $1 29. Qxf6 $1 Qxf6 30. Rxf6 Bxg4 31. Kg3 $18 Bd7 32. Nd3 $1 Re8 33. Ne5 $1 (33. Ne5 Be6 34. Kh4 $1 d4 35. Rf3) 1-0 [/pgn]

Game 2, where Nezh had Black was equally entertaining, but I'll save that for later, till I get back.

[zullil]

This game I'm posting just finished a little while ago and I found it to be wild and exhilarating, full of audacious and unexpected moves.
[pgn] [Event "8m+5s"] [Date "2019.01.04"] [Round "1"] [White "CyberNezh"] [Black "RomiChess P3N"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C44"] [BlackElo "2400"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 $5 d6 (4... Nf6 5. e5 $13) 5. c3 $5 Nf6 6. cxd4 Nxe4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. O-O Na5 9. Qe3 Nxc4 10. Qxe4+ Be7 (10... Qe7 11. Qd3 d5 12. Re1 Be6 13. Nc3 c6 14. b3 Nb6 15. Ng5 Qf6 16. Nxh7 Rxh7 17. Qxh7 Qxd4 18. Bb2 O-O-O 19. Qc2 Qg4 20. Nb5 Bf5 21. Qc3 Bb4 22. Nxa7+ Kd7 23. Qe3 Bxe1 24. Rxe1 Nc8 25. Nxc8 Kxc8 26. Bd4 Be4 27. Qg3 Qxg3 28. hxg3 f6 29. f3 Bg6 30. b4 Re8 {1/2-1/2 (30) Pedersen,H (2324)-Granberg,N (2482)}) 11. Re1 d5 12. Qe2 Qd8 13. b3 Nd6 14. Qe5 Nf5 15. Nc3 c6 16. g4 f6 17. Qf4 $5 g5 18. Nxg5 $1 fxg5 19. Qxg5 Nxd4 20. Qh5+ Kf8 21. Bh6+ Kg8 22. Ne2 $3 {!!?} (22. Re3) 22... Nf3+ 23. Kg2 Nxe1+ $2 (23... Nh4+ 24. Kf1 Ng6) 24. Rxe1 Bd7 25. Nf4 Be8 26. Qe5 Bf6 27. Qf5 Bd7 28. Re6 $1 $18 Qe7 $1 29. Qxf6 $1 Qxf6 30. Rxf6 Bxg4 31. Kg3 $18 Bd7 32. Nd3 $1 Re8 33. Ne5 $1 (33. Ne5 Be6 34. Kh4 $1 d4 35. Rf3) 1-0 [/pgn]

Game 2, where Nezh had Black was equally entertaining, but I'll save that for later, till I get back.

25...Be8 is the losing move.

[carldaman]

Yes, 25...Be8 turned out badly for Black. 25...Bf8 was far better -- aiming to trade off dark squared bishops and then both the King and the Rh8 would be released from their prison. Against a very strong engine, White's attack would have been foiled.

I trust you had a first look at the game without the aid of Stockfish, just like any 19th century coffeehouse kibitzer would have.

It was a difficult game for both sides and that can be best appreciated when seeing it with our naked eyes. With the two opponents brawling in such a minefield, it is usually the weaker one that makes the graver errors, especially when coming under so much pressure. Still, Romi is 2400+ CCRL, so by no means weak in an absolute sense. The match ended 4-0 in favor of CyberNezh. All the risk taking paid off in the end.

Now on to game 2:

Nezh went for the swashbuckling Albin countergambit, and a key position was soon reached:

[d]r1bq1rk1/1p2b1pp/p7/nPp5/2P3n1/P1B2N1P/3NPPP1/R2QKB1R b KQ - 0 13

Romi has just played 13.h3? and those familiar with the sac from the famous Gibaud-Lazard encounter
will have no trouble guessing Black's next move. Here it doesn't win by force but it sows enough chaos
that Romi can't cope with the ensuing attack. This is one the main goals of a good coffeehouse player!

[pgn] [Event "8m+5s"] [Date "2019.01.04"] [Round "2"] [White "RomiChess P3N"] [Black "CyberNezh"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D08"] [WhiteElo "2400"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2019.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. a3 f6 6. exf6 Nxf6 7. b4 Be7 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Nbd2 Ng4 10. b5 Na5 11. Bxd4 c5 12. Bc3 a6 13. h3 $2 (13. Qc2 $5) 13... Ne3 $3 14. Bxa5 Qxa5 15. fxe3 Qc7 16. Qb3 Bf5 17. e4 Qg3+ 18. Kd1 Bg6 19. bxa6 bxa6 20. Qb7 Bf6 21. e5 Bh4 22. e4 $6 (22. Nxh4) 22... Rad8 23. Kc2 Bg5 $6 ( 23... Rf7 $5) (23... Be8) 24. Rd1 Bh5 25. e6 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Qe5 27. Qb3 Qf4 28. Qc3 Bf6 29. Qa5 Rd6 $5 30. h4 $2 (30. Qxc5 Rb8 31. Bd3 Rb2+ 32. Kc1 Rxd3 33. Qc8+ Rd8 34. Qxd8+ Bxd8 35. Kxb2 Qf6+ $44) (30. e7 $5 Bxe7 31. Be2 $1 Rb8 32. e5 $5 Qxe5 33. Qc3) 30... Rb8 $19 31. e7 Kf7 32. e8=Q+ Kxe8 33. Rh3 Rb2+ 34. Kc1 Qe5 35. f4 Rb1+ $1 36. Kxb1 Qb2# 0-1 [/pgn]