Next Komodo vs human match

[lkaufman]

This was the closest game. Gilden reached a much superior endgame, but missed a tactic.

[pgn][Event "Live Chess - knight odds"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "Sept. 10, 2019"] [Round "6"] [White "PlayKomodo"] [Black "(FM)lgilden"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 1"] [TimeControl "900+10"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O e6 8. c4 Bd6 9. Be3 O-O 10. a3 Ne4 11. Bd3 Nxg3 12. hxg3 e5 13. Bxg6 hxg6 14. b4 Qf6 15. Qd2 exd4 16. Bxd4 Be5 17. Bxe5 Qxe5 18. Rfe1 Qf6 19. Rad1 Na6 20. Qd7 Rab8 21. Re7 Qc3 22. Re3 Qxc4 23. Rd6 Rbd8 24. Qxd8 Rxd8 25. Rxd8+ Kh7 26. Rd7 c5 27. Ree7 cxb4 28. axb4 Nxb4 29. Rxf7 Qc3 30. Kh2 Nc6 31. Rxb7 g5 32. Rbc7 a5 33. Rf3 Qc5 34. Rf6 a4 35. Rcxc6 Qe7 36. Rf3 g4 37. Rf4 Qb7 38. Rc5 a3 39. Rh5+ Kg8 40. Ra5 Qb2 41. Rxg4 Qxf2 42. Rxa3 Qb2 43. Ra7 Qe5 44. Raxg7+ 1-0[/pgn]

[lkaufman]

Yet another crushing win for Komodo. Seems that Contempt and MCTS go very well together! We'll play another game beyond the scheduled four, I want to give him a chance to score.

Fantastic result, clearly ready for the next level!

What is the contempt value for this match?
Even with Komodo MCTS is recommended use half disadvantage points? (About 175 for knight odd)

Yes, I recommend half. Komodo MCTS eval for knight odds is close to -300 after some time (normal Komodo about -350), so I used 150. I could vary it to produce more variety, but there was no need for that in this match. Curiously, at b1 handicap it chose 1.e4 twice but 1.Nf3 once, even though nothing was changed! Well, MP search and MCTS are not deterministic, they don't always play the same. I think I could win a match from Komodo under these same conditions, but that's because I know so much about both handicap play and computer play, not so much due to my present playing strength. Next opponent for knight odds should probably be an IM, perhaps my son or perhaps IM Eugene Meyer or someone else.

[mjlef]

Yet another crushing win for Komodo. Seems that Contempt and MCTS go very well together! We'll play another game beyond the scheduled four, I want to give him a chance to score.

Fantastic result, clearly ready for the next level!

What is the contempt value for this match?
Even with Komodo MCTS is recommended use half disadvantage points? (About 175 for knight odd)

Yes, I recommend half. Komodo MCTS eval for knight odds is close to -300 after some time (normal Komodo about -350), so I used 150. I could vary it to produce more variety, but there was no need for that in this match. Curiously, at b1 handicap it chose 1.e4 twice but 1.Nf3 once, even though nothing was changed! Well, MP search and MCTS are not deterministic, they don't always play the same. I think I could win a match from Komodo under these same conditions, but that's because I know so much about both handicap play and computer play, not so much due to my present playing strength. Next opponent for knight odds should probably be an IM, perhaps my son or perhaps IM Eugene Meyer or someone else.

I just wanted to mention to Komodo owners that the version used in this match had a code change to allow Contempt to work with the MCTS mode. In released Komodos, in MCTS search mode, Contempt is internally set to 0. We did this because we figured that the way MCTS works, it acts a lot like some Contempt is being used. But these matches required higher Contempt values. We did some testing of Komodo's default Contempt in MCTS mode and found it only effects strength by a couple of elo. So we will likely have Contempt usable in a future release, just in case you want to have some big odds games that might require a larger Contempt.

Mark

[duncan]

Sixth game was Gilden's best game, but ultimately yet another loss. He reached a normal opening position in the Caro-Kann with White just missing a knight, and it was difficult to imagine how Komodo would even make a fight of it. Komodo managed to trade queen for two rooks, but was still quite lost, but a surprise tactic won the extra knight and ultimately the game. So a perfect six to zero sweep. Clearly, we need a much stronger player or a longer time limit for knight odds to be competitive. It does seem that Komodo MCTS with Contempt (I set it to 150 for this match) is amazingly strong at giving such handicaps. I think we're still a ways off from giving knight odds at this TC to a 2500 GM, but it doesn't look so farfetched any more.

Congratulations on this excellent result. What was Gilden's take on this. Does he need more time, a bigger handicap,lose 20 years?

[Nordlandia]

I don't know if it's feasible but many will enjoy a revamp if Chessmaster face some strong GMs without odds. Or even using some of the grandmaster personalities available from selection. Chessmaster can give time odds i suppose.

[lkaufman]

Sixth game was Gilden's best game, but ultimately yet another loss. He reached a normal opening position in the Caro-Kann with White just missing a knight, and it was difficult to imagine how Komodo would even make a fight of it. Komodo managed to trade queen for two rooks, but was still quite lost, but a surprise tactic won the extra knight and ultimately the game. So a perfect six to zero sweep. Clearly, we need a much stronger player or a longer time limit for knight odds to be competitive. It does seem that Komodo MCTS with Contempt (I set it to 150 for this match) is amazingly strong at giving such handicaps. I think we're still a ways off from giving knight odds at this TC to a 2500 GM, but it doesn't look so farfetched any more.

Congratulations on this excellent result. What was Gilden's take on this. Does he need more time, a bigger handicap,lose 20 years?

He requested a rematch at 30' + 10" instead of 15' + 10". He thinks that with the experience of this match plus the longer time control he can be competitive, and I don't disagree. Since 15' + 10" is the time limit of the FIDE World Rapid championship, I think it should be our standard for matches with IMs and GMs, but for players below that level it's not enough even with knight odds, especially for players over age 70. But he didn't make obvious blunders or miss trivial wins (he did miss one chance to force a draw right before losing one game).

[duncan]

Sixth game was Gilden's best game, but ultimately yet another loss. He reached a normal opening position in the Caro-Kann with White just missing a knight, and it was difficult to imagine how Komodo would even make a fight of it. Komodo managed to trade queen for two rooks, but was still quite lost, but a surprise tactic won the extra knight and ultimately the game. So a perfect six to zero sweep. Clearly, we need a much stronger player or a longer time limit for knight odds to be competitive. It does seem that Komodo MCTS with Contempt (I set it to 150 for this match) is amazingly strong at giving such handicaps. I think we're still a ways off from giving knight odds at this TC to a 2500 GM, but it doesn't look so farfetched any more.

Congratulations on this excellent result. What was Gilden's take on this. Does he need more time, a bigger handicap,lose 20 years?

He requested a rematch at 30' + 10" instead of 15' + 10". He thinks that with the experience of this match plus the longer time control he can be competitive, and I don't disagree. Since 15' + 10" is the time limit of the FIDE World Rapid championship, I think it should be our standard for matches with IMs and GMs, but for players below that level it's not enough even with knight odds, especially for players over age 70. But he didn't make obvious blunders or miss trivial wins (he did miss one chance to force a draw right before losing one game).

It would be nice if you could offer him 30' + 10" both for him and the computer chess world.

[lkaufman]

Sixth game was Gilden's best game, but ultimately yet another loss. He reached a normal opening position in the Caro-Kann with White just missing a knight, and it was difficult to imagine how Komodo would even make a fight of it. Komodo managed to trade queen for two rooks, but was still quite lost, but a surprise tactic won the extra knight and ultimately the game. So a perfect six to zero sweep. Clearly, we need a much stronger player or a longer time limit for knight odds to be competitive. It does seem that Komodo MCTS with Contempt (I set it to 150 for this match) is amazingly strong at giving such handicaps. I think we're still a ways off from giving knight odds at this TC to a 2500 GM, but it doesn't look so farfetched any more.

Congratulations on this excellent result. What was Gilden's take on this. Does he need more time, a bigger handicap,lose 20 years?

He requested a rematch at 30' + 10" instead of 15' + 10". He thinks that with the experience of this match plus the longer time control he can be competitive, and I don't disagree. Since 15' + 10" is the time limit of the FIDE World Rapid championship, I think it should be our standard for matches with IMs and GMs, but for players below that level it's not enough even with knight odds, especially for players over age 70. But he didn't make obvious blunders or miss trivial wins (he did miss one chance to force a draw right before losing one game).

It would be nice if you could offer him 30' + 10" both for him and the computer chess world.

I expect we'll do so before too long, but I want to get in a 15' + 10" knight odds match with an IM first if possible, and perhaps one or two other opponents for variety.