Elista F4: Junior wins computer match

Fritz vs Junior – Game five

Game five was another complicated game. After the opening Fritz evaluation was half a pawn up and it stayed there until the end of the game. As so often in this match Fritz had a couple of pawns for the exchange, but it did not suffice to win the endgame. I congratulated the Junior team for winning the match and hope that tomorrow with white Fritz can play for a win. – Alex Kure of the Deep Fritz team.

Deep Junior begun with 1.Nf3 and the game evolved into the semi Slav opening. When Deep Junior departed from its opening book it was forcing a variation where Deep Fritz had to sacrifice quality preserving a pawn mass on the queen side. Both programs disagreed with their evaluation when assessing the position. Deep Fritz felt it had a comfortable advantage while Deep Junior believed the position was balanced. In move 22 Deep Junior sacrificed its f-pawn to obtain direct threats against Deep Fritz’s king. Deep Fritz defended by exchanging queens. The endgame obtained was still looking good from Deep Fritz’s perspective, and the disagreement between both programs continued. Only after Deep Fritz advanced its pawns it realized that White can force a perpetual check and by avoiding it Deep Junior could sacrifice a knight for two of Deep Fritz’s dangerous pawns. Alex Kure, Deep Fritz’s operator offered a draw which was accepted by the Deep Junior team. – Shay Bushinsky of the Deep Junior team.

DEEP JUNIOR - DEEP FRITZ [D43]
Ultimate Computer Challenge Elista (5), 10.06.2007
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.d4 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 a6 14.a4 e5 15.Bg4 exd4 16.e5 c5 17.Bf3 Nxe5 18.Bxb7 Qxd6 19.Bxa8 0-0 20.Ne4 Qc7 21.axb5 Rxa8 22.f4 gxf4 23.Qh5 Ra7 24.Rxa6 Rxa6 25.bxa6 Qc6 26.Qf5 Qxa6 27.Rxf4 Qg6 28.Nxc5 d3 29.Ne4 Qxf5 30.Rxf5 Ng4 31.Rb5 Bd4+ 32.Kf1 Ne3+ 33.Ke1 f5 34.Nd2 Nxg2+ 35.Kd1 Ne3+ 36.Kc1 f4 37.Rb7 Ng4 38.h3 Nh2 39.Rd7 Be3 40.Kd1 f3 41.Ne4 Kf8 42.Nf6 Bg5 43.Ne4 Ke8 44.Rd4 Be3 45.Rxc4 f2 46.Nxf2 Bxf2 47.Rf4 Bg3 48.Rd4 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

The computer game under way, with Shay Bushinsky operating Junior