Larry Kaufman

[lkaufman]

Larry is a very important person in Computer Chess World. Everyone interested in computer chess knows that he's the author of Komodo engine.

I keep learning new interesting things about him.
"On January 21-23, 1967, MacHack VI played in the Massachusetts Amateur Championship in Boston. It was the first time an electronic computer played chess against human beings under regular tournament conditions. Technical advice in the programming was given by Larry Kaufman (1966 American Open winner), "
https://www.chess.com/article/view/machack-attack

He has been active in chess computer at least 53 years. Really impressive.

And another thing. He is one of the 10 strongest shogi players in the world and he is the strongest American shogi player. Incredible success for a 72-year-old person.
http://www.shogi.net/fesa/index.php?mid=5

Thanks for the kind words. I must correct that I'm far from the top 10 shogi players in the world, the FESA list is only of players who have competed in the West, so at best you might say top 10 non-Japanese (or perhaps non-Asian) shogi players. In chess competition, although I've never been a top player (best was world #102 per Chessmetrics), my span of successes might be at or near a record; I took second place in the 1961 Maryland Junior championship, and tied for second place a couple weeks ago in the 2020 U.S. Senior Championship of (state) champions tournament (online due to pandemic). I suppose someone must have a sixty year span, but who?

it's not too often that one gets to hear their eulogy before they kick the bucket... ;>)

all praise well deserved - here's to many, many more years setting world longevity records and the like ... all the best Larry!

Thanks. My good friend, the late chessmaster Steve Brandwein had a similar experience. A memorial blitz tournament was held in his name/honor at the Mechanics institute chess club in San Francisco which he was able to attend (my son placed second); he died about a year later. But in his case he had terminal cancer. I'm still in good health except for a bad back, and my parents lived to an average age of 100, so I may be around for a while.

[Laskos]

Larry is a very important person in Computer Chess World. Everyone interested in computer chess knows that he's the author of Komodo engine.

I keep learning new interesting things about him.
"On January 21-23, 1967, MacHack VI played in the Massachusetts Amateur Championship in Boston. It was the first time an electronic computer played chess against human beings under regular tournament conditions. Technical advice in the programming was given by Larry Kaufman (1966 American Open winner), "
https://www.chess.com/article/view/machack-attack

He has been active in chess computer at least 53 years. Really impressive.

And another thing. He is one of the 10 strongest shogi players in the world and he is the strongest American shogi player. Incredible success for a 72-year-old person.
http://www.shogi.net/fesa/index.php?mid=5

Thanks for the kind words. I must correct that I'm far from the top 10 shogi players in the world, the FESA list is only of players who have competed in the West, so at best you might say top 10 non-Japanese (or perhaps non-Asian) shogi players. In chess competition, although I've never been a top player (best was world #102 per Chessmetrics), my span of successes might be at or near a record; I took second place in the 1961 Maryland Junior championship, and tied for second place a couple weeks ago in the 2020 U.S. Senior Championship of (state) champions tournament (online due to pandemic). I suppose someone must have a sixty year span, but who?

it's not too often that one gets to hear their eulogy before they kick the bucket... ;>)

all praise well deserved - here's to many, many more years setting world longevity records and the like ... all the best Larry!

Thanks. My good friend, the late chessmaster Steve Brandwein had a similar experience. A memorial blitz tournament was held in his name/honor at the Mechanics institute chess club in San Francisco which he was able to attend (my son placed second); he died about a year later. But in his case he had terminal cancer. I'm still in good health except for a bad back, and my parents lived to an average age of 100, so I may be around for a while.

Good, be well!

[mehmet123]

While I was researching Larry Kaufman's shogi career, I learned that Kasparov played two chess matches with a legend shogi master.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/kasparov- ... ogi-legend

Kasparov played a shogi match with a 3 dan shogi player.
https://www.chessvariants.com/shogi.dir ... shogi.html

[lkaufman]

While I was researching Larry Kaufman's shogi career, I learned that Kasparov played two chess matches with a legend shogi master.
https://en.chessbase.com/post/kasparov- ... ogi-legend

Kasparov played a shogi match with a 3 dan shogi player.
https://www.chessvariants.com/shogi.dir ... shogi.html

I played shogi with Habu, and my son Raymond played chess with Kasparov. Ray was the "last man standing" in an 8 board clock simul by Kasparov in Baltimore when Ray was still in middle school, and missed a chance to force a draw with a rook sac. In shogi I played against Habu when he was already a strong pro, but not yet a titleholder at age 16. I took bishop handicap (quite normal in shogi for a master level player to take this handicap from a top grandmaster) and lost. The funny thing about this game is that I only learned about it when Habu reminded me of the game! I remembered the game, but I didn't realize that my 16 year old opponent was the same person who became the greatest champion of all!

[mehmet123]

I played shogi with Habu, and my son Raymond played chess with Kasparov. Ray was the "last man standing" in an 8 board clock simul by Kasparov in Baltimore when Ray was still in middle school, and missed a chance to force a draw with a rook sac. In shogi I played against Habu when he was already a strong pro, but not yet a titleholder at age 16. I took bishop handicap (quite normal in shogi for a master level player to take this handicap from a top grandmaster) and lost. The funny thing about this game is that I only learned about it when Habu reminded me of the game! I remembered the game, but I didn't realize that my 16 year old opponent was the same person who became the greatest champion of all!

Here' s the link of Gary Kasparov _ Raymound Kaufman match.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1070956

Very good game for a 15 years old boy

[mehmet123]

Mac Hack VI, was a very important chess engine at computer world.
Mac Hack VI, was the first chess program to play in human tournament conditions, the first to be granted a chess rating, the first to draw and win against a person in tournament play, the first which uses an opening book and the first which uses a transposition table,


Excerpts from the interview of Richard Greenblatt (author of Mac Hack VI):

A guy named Larry Kaufman. He was probably the strongest one. He’s a chess journalist of a sort to the present day. He lives in the D.C. area. He’s an international master. He’s not super strong, but he’s pretty good. And then there was another guy named Alan Baisley, who which a long story connected with. And a third guy named Carl Wagner, who just played a couple of games. I really didn’t get to know him that well, but he was also an MIT student. Anyway, all three of these guys came in and they started playing the machine.

This guy Larry Kaufman generated our opening book. And I had a thing that encoded the opening moves and you know in a small amount of memory so that it fit in the computer memory and so forth. And he – so he did that.

Kaufman spent quite a while doing it. Of course, a number of the moves, you know, would – the game would just play it. There was very little chance of it actually staying in the book. You know, the – but I think Kaufman did a good job and he did – we did perceive some of the – well of course, one of the basic things about computer programs, really to the present day, is that they're very tactical. It's much easier for them to see that the tactics than the strategy. So what's called a closed position is hard for a computer. That's where all the pieces are blocking each other and it's very long maneuvering. Whereas, an open position which is sort of tactical combinations is much more to the computer's liking. So therefore, when designing the opening book, you want to kind of play offbeat and kind of unbalanced type openings that tend to lead to these closed position – open positions, which are then good for the computer. And so we realized that and you know, I think Kaufman did a fairly good job of
http://archive.computerhistory.org/reso ... 657935.pdf

The endgame, so we knew that it might not pull it off. A master-level player working with the team was observing the game with us. I think it may have been Larry Kaufman, a student at MIT who was a national master, but I'm not sure of that. Suddenly, he said something like, "Wow, look at this!", and he pointed out a mating combination for the program - the game was won! Except, of course, there was the question of whether or not the program would "see" the same possibility he had spotted. After all, of all the people following the game, only he had seen it. "
https://ljkrakauer.com/LJK/60s/machack.htm

[pgn][Event "Massachusetts State Championship"]
[Site "Massachusetts"]
[Date "1967.??.??"]
[EventDate "1967.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Mac Hack VI "]
[Black "Ben Landey (1510 USCF Elo)"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "1510"]
[PlyCount "41"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nf3 d6
7. Bf4 e5 8. Bg3 a6 9. O-O-O b5 10. a4 Bh6+ 11. Kb1 b4
12. Qxd6 Bd7 13. Bh4 Bg7 14. Nd5 Nxe4 15. Nc7+ Qxc7 16. Qxc7
Nc5 17. Qd6 Bf8 18. Qd5 Rc8 19. Nxe5 Be6 20. Qxc6+ Rxc6
21. Rd8# 1-0
[/pgn]

[MikeB]

[pgn][Event "Massachusetts State Championship"]
[Site "Massachusetts"]
[Date "1967.??.??"]
[EventDate "1967.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Mac Hack VI "]
[Black "Ben Landey (1510 USCF Elo)"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "1510"]
[PlyCount "41"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nf3 d6
7. Bf4 e5 8. Bg3 a6 9. O-O-O b5 10. a4 Bh6+ 11. Kb1 b4
12. Qxd6 Bd7 13. Bh4 Bg7 14. Nd5 Nxe4 15. Nc7+ Qxc7 16. Qxc7
Nc5 17. Qd6 Bf8 18. Qd5 Rc8 19. Nxe5 Be6 20. Qxc6+ Rxc6
21. Rd8# 1-0
[/pgn]

I'm sure Ben would be surprised that this game would be talked talked about nearly 40 years after his passing.
http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com ... andey.html
( note how "online chess" was played back in the day ;>)

Benjamin Landey (1912-January 20, 1981).
For many years, he was the ceremonial chess leader of New England: Landey was President of the MSCA, the Boylston Chess Club, the Boston Metropolitan Chess League, the New England Chess Association, and the USCF Regional Vice-President. He was a truly regional chess entrepreneur, a notable chess organizer, a man of remarkable poise and intelligence, a master of parliamentary procedure and a skillful politician, that is, a leader among leaders in the region. He worked for long hours at his job and then spend evenings and weekends on numerous chess projects and clubs.

While Ben Landey was a tournament director for M.S.C.A., he brought to Boston the U.S. Open in 1970 and the U.S. Junior Open in 1965 and 1969, held at Northeastern University. Ben Landey's most active years were from 1965 to 1970; after this year his health impeded more time in his passion for the royal game of chess. Despite his failing health, he was an extremely successful teacher of chess for beginners, though he himself was rated only about 1500 during most of his over the board career; he also, worked with the Massachusetts Association for Retarded Citizens and several local groups. Along with Emil Reubens, Landey was a major sponsor of prison chess programs, and the two of them sought the parole of a number of inmates who were avid chess players. In addition to being a regular tournament player, Ben Landey was very active in postal chess with the Nights of the Square Table (NOST)."

Landey’s most glorious moment in the spotlight as an organizer was winning the bid for the 1970 US Open for Boston. It was Ben Landey’s rhetoric that easily won the bid at the 1969 U.S.C.F. meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was unfortunate that the then M.S.C.A. was not ready to host such a major event. The host site, Boston's Parker House, was a less than welcoming host, and a great number of participants complained about the space designated for the playing room, that the light was not good enough for many, etc. Also, Ben Landey got sick a few months before the event along with his co-organizer Lewis Icenogle. It was not Landey's shining hour. `

Ben was treasurer of the Greater Boston Committee of the U.S. Peace Council, past President of the South Shore Assn. for Retarded Citizens. He was the President of the Boylston Chess Club at the time of his death.

The Boylston Chess Club has honored Ben Landey since 1986, when the Board of Directors dedicated a qualifier tournament to those members of the club rated 1800 to 2199 plus the winners of the Weaver Adam's; the winner to participate in the fall championship.

[mehmet123]

To watch Larry Kaufman 's Games at Chess.com.
https://www.chess.com/member/hissha

The vast majority of games are handicap games vs. Komodo

[pgn] [Event "Live Chess - Odds Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2020.08.29"]
[Round "?"]
[White "hissha"]
[Black "PlayKomodo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1pp1pp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq -"]
[ECO "B00"]
[WhiteElo "2267"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[EndTime "19:27:15 PDT"]
[Termination "hissha won by checkmate"]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:15:07]} 1... Qa5 {[%clk 0:15:03.7]} 2. Na3 {[%clk 0:14:59.1]}
2... Nf6 {[%clk 0:15:13.6]} 3. Nc4 {[%clk 0:15:05]} 3... Qc7 {[%clk 0:15:03.3]}
4. e5 {[%clk 0:15:09.1]} 4... d5 {[%clk 0:14:16.1]} 5. exf6 {[%clk 0:15:15.1]}
5... dxc4 {[%clk 0:13:53.4]} 6. fxg7 {[%clk 0:15:04.7]} 6... Qe5+ {[%clk
0:13:29.6]} 7. Qe2 {[%clk 0:14:47.2]} 7... Qxe2+ {[%clk 0:13:39.5]} 8. Bxe2
{[%clk 0:14:52.9]} 8... Bxg7 {[%clk 0:13:36]} 9. Bxc4 {[%clk 0:14:57.3]} 9...
Nc6 {[%clk 0:13:21.4]} 10. c3 {[%clk 0:14:49.1]} 10... Ne5 {[%clk 0:13:27.7]}
11. Bb5+ {[%clk 0:14:52.8]} 11... Bd7 {[%clk 0:13:19.1]} 12. Bxd7+ {[%clk
0:14:59.3]} 12... Nxd7 {[%clk 0:12:51.3]} 13. d4 {[%clk 0:10:55.1]} 13... O-O
{[%clk 0:13:01.2]} 14. Nf3 {[%clk 0:10:59.4]} 14... a5 {[%clk 0:12:19]} 15. a4
{[%clk 0:10:58.3]} 15... Rf5 {[%clk 0:11:10.3]} 16. O-O {[%clk 0:11:03.4]} 16...
Re8 {[%clk 0:10:20.9]} 17. Re1 {[%clk 0:10:31.2]} 17... e5 {[%clk 0:10:30.8]}
18. dxe5 {[%clk 0:10:28.4]} 18... h5 {[%clk 0:10:31.6]} 19. h3 {[%clk 0:10:01]}
19... Nxe5 {[%clk 0:09:28.3]} 20. Nxe5 {[%clk 0:08:14.5]} 20... Bxe5 {[%clk
0:09:38.2]} 21. Be3 {[%clk 0:08:09.5]} 21... Ref8 {[%clk 0:08:28]} 22. Rad1
{[%clk 0:07:55]} 22... Bf6 {[%clk 0:07:49.8]} 23. Rd7 {[%clk 0:07:07.7]} 23...
Rf7 {[%clk 0:07:59.7]} 24. Rxf7 {[%clk 0:07:09.2]} 24... Kxf7 {[%clk 0:07:54.9]}
25. Bd4 {[%clk 0:06:32]} 25... Rd5 {[%clk 0:08:04.8]} 26. Bxf6 {[%clk
0:06:27.7]} 26... Kxf6 {[%clk 0:07:51.5]} 27. b4 {[%clk 0:05:36.3]} 27... b6
{[%clk 0:08:01.4]} 28. bxa5 {[%clk 0:05:24.6]} 28... bxa5 {[%clk 0:07:49.8]} 29.
c4 {[%clk 0:05:28.8]} 29... Rd4 {[%clk 0:06:30.1]} 30. Rc1 {[%clk 0:05:34.9]}
30... Ke6 {[%clk 0:05:49.4]} 31. Kf1 {[%clk 0:05:20.6]} 31... Kd6 {[%clk
0:04:37.2]} 32. Ke2 {[%clk 0:05:27.1]} 32... Re4+ {[%clk 0:03:29.6]} 33. Kd3
{[%clk 0:05:26.4]} 33... Rf4 {[%clk 0:03:01.1]} 34. Ke3 {[%clk 0:05:31.6]} 34...
Rf8 {[%clk 0:03:03]} 35. c5+ {[%clk 0:05:25.7]} 35... Kc6 {[%clk 0:02:34.6]} 36.
g4 {[%clk 0:04:35.7]} 36... Re8+ {[%clk 0:02:31.5]} 37. Kf3 {[%clk 0:04:07.3]}
37... Rf8+ {[%clk 0:02:16.9]} 38. Kg3 {[%clk 0:04:12.7]} 38... h4+ {[%clk
0:02:13.1]} 39. Kxh4 {[%clk 0:04:11.7]} 39... Rc8 {[%clk 0:01:35]} 40. f4 {[%clk
0:04:03.4]} 40... Rf8 {[%clk 0:01:40.1]} 41. f5 {[%clk 0:04:08.7]} 41... Rh8+
{[%clk 0:01:31.1]} 42. Kg5 {[%clk 0:04:14.4]} 42... Rxh3 {[%clk 0:01:40]} 43. f6
{[%clk 0:04:22.6]} 43... Rf3 {[%clk 0:01:49.9]} 44. Kg6 {[%clk 0:04:27.9]} 44...
Rf4 {[%clk 0:01:59.8]} 45. g5 {[%clk 0:04:32.8]} 45... Rxa4 {[%clk 0:02:09.7]}
46. f7 {[%clk 0:04:40.4]} 46... Rf4 {[%clk 0:01:29.7]} 47. Kg7 {[%clk
0:04:47.4]} 47... Rg4 {[%clk 0:01:38.4]} 48. g6 {[%clk 0:04:53.2]} 48... Kb5
{[%clk 0:01:48.3]} 49. f8=Q {[%clk 0:04:57.7]} 49... Rxg6+ {[%clk 0:01:58.2]}
50. Kxg6 {[%clk 0:05:03.6]} 50... Kc6 {[%clk 0:02:08.1]} 51. Qe8+ {[%clk
0:05:10.7]} 51... Kc7 {[%clk 0:02:18]} 52. Qe7+ {[%clk 0:05:16.7]} 52... Kc6
{[%clk 0:02:27.6]} 53. Qd6+ {[%clk 0:05:23.7]} 53... Kb7 {[%clk 0:02:37.5]} 54.
Qb6+ {[%clk 0:05:30.4]} 54... Ka8 {[%clk 0:02:47.4]} 55. c6 {[%clk 0:05:30]}
55... a4 {[%clk 0:02:57.3]} 56. Qb7# {[%clk 0:05:38.1]} 1-0

[/pgn].

[mehmet123]

1967

"On January 21-23, 1967, MacHack VI played in the Massachusetts Amateur Championship in Boston. It was the first time an electronic computer played chess against human beings under regular tournament conditions. Technical advice in the programming was given by Larry Kaufman (1966 American Open winner), "
https://www.chess.com/article/view/machack-attack

2021

Komodo Dragon beat Stockfish with a 25.5 - 24.5 score and won the S20 - FRC3 Final.

Program Elo + - Games Score Av.Op. Draws

1 KomodoDragon 2671.00 :7 27 21 50 51.0 % 2397 94.0 %
2 Stockfish 20210226 : 0 21 27 50 49.0 % 2403 94.0 %

Individual statistics:

1 KomodoDragon 2671.00 : 7 50 (+ 2,= 47,- 1), 51.0 %

Stockfish 20210226 : 50 (+ 2,= 47,- 1), 51.0 %

2 Stockfish 20210226 : 0 50 (+ 1,= 47,- 2), 49.0 %

KomodoDragon 2671.00 : 50 (+ 1,= 47,- 2), 49.0 %

https://tcec-chess.com/


Congrats to Komodo team.

Has anyone managed to achieve a major victory in any branch other than Larry Kaufman, even 54 years later? I don't know.

[Jouni]

Dragon is trained specially for FRC? "Our testing also shows that Dragon is especially strong in Fischerandom (960) chess." But finally SF is beaten in TCEC!