MVL vs. Komodo handicap match

[lkaufman]

Chess.com has announced a rapid match on Sept. 5 (beginning 3 pm Eastern time) between Komodo and "MVL", Maxime Vachier-LaGrave, who is World number 7 on the live FIDE rating list, and World number 2 on the live FIDE blitz list, only two elo behind Magnus Carlsen! There are actually two matches that day. First, MVL will play blitz (5' + 5") games against Komodo levels 16 thru 20. He will have to beat levels 16 thru 19 to keep up with what Hikaru Nakamura did under the same conditions. Level 20 is uncrippled Komodo, but limited to one thread, no ponder, no tablebases, and Komodo plays Black. Of course Komodo is favored to win that game, as it did against Hikaru, but perhaps MVL has some chance to draw.

Then comes the rapid match, against Komodo MCTS (latest version, much stronger than last release) playing on my 16 core i9 at 4.1 GHz. It's a six game match, time limit 15 minutes plus two seconds increment, the same as the Pro Chess League, which has MVL listed as World number 2 after MC, so he obviously excels at this tc. Each game will feature a different handicap, all of which are judged by Komodo MCTS to be about two good pawns advantage, give or take a few centipawns. Here they are:

1. Traditional "pawn and two moves". Komodo removes f7 pawn, MVL plays 1.e4 and a second move of his choice. No one has beaten Komodo at this handicap yet, but there have been several draws.

2. Komodo removes White queen, MVL removes Black queen's rook and queen's knight. Never tried in public game.

3. Komodo removes f2 and g2 pawns (!). Tried once with GM Lenderman, result draw.

4. Komodo removes knight g1, MVL removes f7 pawn. No one has beaten Komodo yet in official game at any knight for pawn handicap game, although my son IM Raymond Kaufman won a game in testing.

5. Exchange and a pawn. Komodo removes rook a1 and pawn a2, MVL removes knight b8. Tried once with IM Danny Rensch, Komodo won.

6. "Knightmare". Ok, this isn't really chess; Komodo has only knights and the king on first rank, MVL has all pieces except the two knights. Big material advantage for MVL, but it's not so easy to actually win the game; Hikaru only drew this one.

How will Komodo fare in this six game rapid handicap match?

[JJJ]

I have the feeling MVL will be much more prepared to win than Nakamura. So he might study a little to get some win and could be the first one to win at these handicap.

1 : first handicap is an easy draw for a GM but need some practice to get a win but I m not sure MLV will be ready enough for this one. I try to be optimistic and say first win here.

2 : Queen for rook and knight handicap. It might be estimed at -2 for white, but in practice I would say it is far less against human. I don't think MVL will hold this one. I would say a win for Komodo here.

3 : I will be optimistic here and says MVL might also win this one.

4 : This handicap could be underestimated by human. I would say draw here.

5 : Is not easy. But I m not sure how a stronger GM will hold this one. So far exchange or exchange + A pawn has not been an easy win for human. I would say draw.

6 : Not easy either. Might be draw.

I would say MVL could win with a little margin here overall, like 3,5/6. I was often right in my prediction so far, but I have the feeling I could be all wrong this one because I don't know Maxime like I did with Hikaru.

Did Maxime said he would prepare well for this ?

[lkaufman]

He hasn't commented about it yet, but he will earn extra money for each win and draw (one win pays same as four draws) so I would expect some preparation.

[JJJ]

I m happy bout this match Larry in anycase. I m sure many will follow it like usual. Perhaps one day you will drag Carslen

[lkaufman]

I played the six handicap games myself against Komodo MCTS under same conditions as MVL, with newest version. I drew games 2 and 6, lost the other 4. Going by the rating difference between MVL and myself, this would imply that he would win by 5 to 1, but of course the underlying assumptions are not very solid. He does plan to practice for the matches.

[duncan]

I played the six handicap games myself against Komodo MCTS under same conditions as MVL, with newest version. I drew games 2 and 6, lost the other 4. Going by the rating difference between MVL and myself, this would imply that he would win by 5 to 1, but of course the underlying assumptions are not very solid. He does plan to practice for the matches.

did you keep a record of the games you drew ?

[JJJ]

So far so good for me, Maxime did lost game 2. But I m surprised he lost game 1, the draw was very easy.

[Uri Blass]

So far so good for me, Maxime did lost game 2. But I m surprised he lost game 1, the draw was very easy.

The problem is that maxim did not play for a draw by repetition even after losing part of his advantage.

He could probably make 3 draws and one loss in the rapid games instead of 1 draw and 3 losses.

[lkaufman]

I played the six handicap games myself against Komodo MCTS under same conditions as MVL, with newest version. I drew games 2 and 6, lost the other 4. Going by the rating difference between MVL and myself, this would imply that he would win by 5 to 1, but of course the underlying assumptions are not very solid. He does plan to practice for the matches.

did you keep a record of the games you drew ?

They were played on chess.com, so I suppose you can find them under PlayKomodo history until they drop off. But there are a lot of aborted games, because in one game with f2/g2 odds I checkmated Komodo in 3 moves, and it took a lot of trial and error to identify the bug, fix it, and test the bugfix. Luckily it was in time for the match today. We actually played today's match on only 8 threads, because using more with current version in MCTS mode actually makes it weaker. We need to figure out why and fix this before a release. Final score today was 4 to 2 for Komodo in the MCTS handicap games. In the "levels" games, we flagged on level 20 with the better side of a drawn position because chess.com set the overhead too low, and we won level 19 game.

[carldaman]

Hi,
Any chance the MVLvsKomodo games could be published? Are they available anywhere?

Thanks,
CL