A Gilden rematch

[lkaufman]

As some of you may recall, a few months ago Komodo MCTS pulled off a stunning 6 to 0 shutout of FM Larry Gilden giving him knight odds (alternating b1 and g1) at 15' + 10", and expressed the desire for a rematch with more time, 30' + 10". Since a couple years earlier he had defeated Komodo 3 to 0 at knight odds at 45' + 15", this seemed like a very reasonable request, and so it has been scheduled to be played on chess.com this Tuesday (Dec 17) starting around 12:30 p.m. Eastern standard time. Although he is 77 years old, he recently tied for first in the Virginia Senior Championship and has a current USCF rating of 2228. Most elderly US masters have inflated ratings of 2200 or a bit higher due to an artificial 2200 floor based on having been above 2200 for 300 games long ago, but in Gilden's case he earned the Life master title so long ago that US Chess had no record of it (!) and he had to earn it all over again in his mid-70s! So he is clearly still of US national master strength. I haven't yet decided whether we'll use the same version or a newer one for the match, but I do plan to use a tiny knight-odds opening book to avoid repeat openings and get some variety. It is likely that Komodo will challenge one or more IMs or GMs at knight odds in fast rapid or blitz games in the near future, and this match will give us some guidance as to what might be fair time limits, making allowance for the difference in strength between an IM (or GM) and a low ranked NM. We did recently play two games at knight odds with Jeremy Kane (about 150 elo above Gilden USCF, but 2600 chess.com blitz) at 10' + 5", which were both draws, so given the strength difference between Kane and Gilden 30' + 10" seems fair enough to me. To watch the games, just look for the games of "playkomodo".

[Ovyron]

Will this be broadcasted on Youtube or Twitch? (or Mixer, etc.)

[lkaufman]

No, chess.com doesn't get involved with broadcasting unless the opponent is a GM or at least an IM.

[lkaufman]

I'm planning to make this the first public outing of a Komodo NN version. Since it's very new and little tested, this low-profile match seems like a good way to try it out under challenging conditions. If something goes wrong, it's not a disaster. The NN version isn't ready for release yet, but it's pretty strong; in engine vs. engine testing it's roughly midway between normal Komodo and Komodo MCTS in strength, but against a human opponent it may be the strongest Komodo we have already. At least I have a tough time with it! It is a hybrid of Komodo MCTS and a standard Lc0 net, not like any other engine known to us at this time. It will run on my usual 16 core I9, but which now has an RTX 2080 ti for the NN.

[lkaufman]

Sorry for delay, starting now. Komodo mcts with NN!

[mjlef]

First Game

[pgn][Event "Live Chess - Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.12.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PlayKomodo"]
[Black "lgilden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 1"]
[TimeControl "1800+10"]
[WhiteElo "2960"]
[BlackElo "1800"]
[Termination "PlayKomodo won by resignation"]

1. e4 {[%clk 0:30:09.9]} 1... e5 {[%clk 0:29:37.6]} 2. d4 {[%clk 0:30:19.8]}
2... exd4 {[%clk 0:29:18.5]} 3. Qxd4 {[%clk 0:30:29.7]} 3... Nc6 {[%clk
0:29:13.8]} 4. Qe3 {[%clk 0:30:39.6]} 4... d6 {[%clk 0:26:03.8]} 5. Nc3 {[%clk
0:29:25.5]} 5... Nf6 {[%clk 0:25:39.1]} 6. Qe2 {[%clk 0:28:26.2]} 6... Be7
{[%clk 0:25:11.8]} 7. Be3 {[%clk 0:27:46.1]} 7... O-O {[%clk 0:23:53.7]} 8.
O-O-O {[%clk 0:27:06.5]} 8... Be6 {[%clk 0:22:31.3]} 9. h3 {[%clk 0:26:03.5]}
9... a6 {[%clk 0:19:06.6]} 10. f4 {[%clk 0:24:28.7]} 10... b5 {[%clk 0:18:55.1]}
11. Qf3 {[%clk 0:23:15.2]} 11... Nd7 {[%clk 0:15:51]} 12. Kb1 {[%clk 0:22:26.5]}
12... Na5 {[%clk 0:15:29.9]} 13. Bc1 {[%clk 0:22:23.5]} 13... Qb8 {[%clk
0:14:00.7]} 14. g4 {[%clk 0:21:42.5]} 14... b4 {[%clk 0:13:34.5]} 15. Nd5 {[%clk
0:21:08]} 15... Bxd5 {[%clk 0:13:20.9]} 16. Rxd5 {[%clk 0:21:15.6]} 16... Nc6
{[%clk 0:12:38]} 17. h4 {[%clk 0:20:36.3]} 17... Nb6 {[%clk 0:11:10.9]} 18. g5
{[%clk 0:19:29.9]} 18... Nxd5 {[%clk 0:10:12.3]} 19. exd5 {[%clk 0:18:57.3]}
19... Na7 {[%clk 0:08:21.8]} 20. f5 {[%clk 0:18:23.7]} 20... Re8 {[%clk
0:07:39.6]} 21. f6 {[%clk 0:17:50.7]} 21... Bf8 {[%clk 0:07:35.1]} 22. g6 {[%clk
0:17:08.4]} 22... Re5 {[%clk 0:06:03.8]} 23. gxf7+ {[%clk 0:16:36.2]} 23... Kh8
{[%clk 0:05:18.9]} 24. h5 {[%clk 0:16:03.6]} 24... Nb5 {[%clk 0:03:54.7]} 25.
fxg7+ {[%clk 0:15:32]} 25... Bxg7 {[%clk 0:03:49.1]} 26. h6 {[%clk 0:15:34.4]}
26... Na3+ {[%clk 0:03:23.6]} 27. Ka1 {[%clk 0:15:39.1]} 27... Nxc2+ {[%clk
0:03:21.9]} 28. Kb1 {[%clk 0:15:49]} 28... Na3+ {[%clk 0:02:31.7]} 29. bxa3
{[%clk 0:15:24.5]} 29... bxa3+ {[%clk 0:02:29.8]} 30. Kc2 {[%clk 0:14:51.8]}
30... Qb6 {[%clk 0:02:01.2]} 31. hxg7+ {[%clk 0:14:18.2]} 31... Kxg7 {[%clk
0:02:00.2]} 32. Bh6+ {[%clk 0:14:05.2]} 32... Kg6 {[%clk 0:01:30.5]} 33. Bd3+
{[%clk 0:14:15.1]} 1-0[/pgn]

[lkaufman]

So far 2 wins for Komodo, 1 draw, 1 win for Gilden, one more game about to start.

[lkaufman]

In this game White developed a strong attack but Gilden found the defense to force Komodo to settle for perpetual check.

[pgn][Event "Live Chess - knight odds"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.17.dec"]
[Round "2"]
[White "PlayKomodo"]
[Black "FM lgilden"]
[Result "1/2 - 1/2"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. f4 d5 2. b4 Qd6 3. e3 e5 4. fxe5 Qxe5 5. Rb1 Nf6 6. Bb2 Qd6 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. Be2
Nbd7 9. O-O Be7 10. c4 dxc4 11. Bxc4 O-O 12. Qc2 Bxf3 13. Rxf3 Ne5 14. Rh3 Rfe8
15. Bxe5 Qxe5 16. Rf1 Rad8 17. d4 Qd6 18. a3 a5 19. g4 Qd7 20. Rf5 g6 21. Bxf7+
Kg7 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Rg5 Reg8 24. Qxg6+ Kf8 25. Rh8 Rxh8 26. Qg7+ Ke8 27. Qg6+ Kf8 28. Qg7+ Ke8 29. Qg6+ Kf8 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]

[lkaufman]

Gilden make a tactical error on move 23 that lost the Exchange; he was still better but the advantage soon passed to Komodo in the endgame.

[pgn][Event "Live Chess - knight odds"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2019.17.dec"]
[Round "3"]
[White "PlayKomodo"]
[Black "FM lgilden"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 1"]
[TimeControl "1800+10"]

1. e4 c5 2. d3 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Qe2 Nc6 5. Bg2 dxe4 6. dxe4 Nf6 7. e5 Nd5 8. O-O
Qc7 9. Qe4 Nxe5 10. Na3 Nc6 11. c4 Nf6 12. Nb5 Qd8 13. Qe2 a6 14. Rd1 Bd7 15.
Bxc6 bxc6 16. Nc3 Be7 17. Bf4 O-O 18. Rd3 Qc8 19. Na4 Qb7 20. Rad1 e5 21. Bxe5
Bg4 22. f3 Bf5 23. Re3 Rad8 24. Rxd8 Bxd8 25. Bd6 Qd7 26. Bxf8 Kxf8 27. Nxc5 Qa7
28. Re5 Bb6 29. Rxf5 Bxc5+ 30. Kg2 Bd4 31. b4 c5 32. bxc5 Bxc5 33. Qe5 Be7 34.
g4 Qd7 35. Qb8+ Ne8 36. Rd5 Qe6 37. Qe5 Bd6 38. Qxe6 fxe6 39. Rd3 Ke7 40. Rb3
Nc7 41. h4 a5 42. Rb8 a4 43. Kf2 a3 44. Ke2 Be5 45. g5 Bg3 46. Rh8 Ne8 47. Rxh7
Kf7 48. Rh8 Nd6 49. h5 Nxc4 50. g6+ Kf6 51. f4 Nd6 52. Rf8+ Ke7 53. h6 1-0[/pgn]

[CMCanavessi]

Sorry for delay, starting now. Komodo mcts with NN!

NN?