
Big Fight in the Freestyle Final on March 23rd-25th
Correspondence GM Arno Nickel |
By Berlin correspondence chess GM Arno Nickel
The final will take place on the Playchess.com server from Friday to Sunday,
March 23-25, 2007, with the first round starting at 14:00h server time each
day. It will be a round robin tournament, with each participant playing one
game against all other participants. Time controls are 60 minutes + 15 seconds
increment per move.
Can Grandmasters play Freestyle?
Two or three tournaments back it would have been a sensation,
if grandmasters like Hikaru Nakamura (FIDE Elo 2651) failed to achieve more
than 50 percent in the Freestyle Main Tournament. Nowadays any experienced Freestyle
player or even kibitz is no longer surprised. Players like him will always play
beautiful games, with lots of ideas, but they are vulnerable when it comes to
deep tactics on the board, especially in a rapid game 60m + 15s. Although they
have Fritz or other advisors at their disposal, they will always try to force
their own moves and only realize that something went wrong with their plan when
it’s already too late. Someone asked “Star Wars” (H. Nakamura) in the chat whether
he uses Rybka, which is the most popular Freestyle engine running as UCI engine
under the Fritz or ChessBase. His answer: “I use my brain, because its better
than Rybka on 6/7 days of the week.”
Real Freestyle experts use about four computers with different engines, and
unlike GM Nakamura will never trust their own play, if it is not accepted by
at least one of their engines. That does not necessarily mean they are simply
playing computer moves. They try to check the full information provided by the
engines, and they recognise the weaknesses and the strengths of their analysis
tools. They know when a king’s attack may come into consideration and when it’s
a storm in a teacup. They know when a fortress can be built, even if the engines
say they are losing. And they know when a pawn or the exchange can be sacrificed
to seize the initiative or to achieve counterplay. But they will never decide
such things without consulting their engines. That’s the main difference between
real Freestyle experts and inexperienced grandmasters.
There are Freestyle teams consisting of computer experts and grandmasters.
Experience has shown that strong correspondence chess players with much practice
in computer analysis form a third group of experts. Maybe the computer expert
of a team is a strong player himself, as is the case with International Master
Vasik Rajlich, who is the Rybka programmer. What is his role when he is playing
together with a high-class grandmaster? It doesn't make much sense to waste
time discussing the general plan. It is much more important that he checks and
analyses the computer lines. His main task should be to conduct and translate
the dialogue between the engine and the grandmaster, keeping both from going
wrong. Rajlich’s team, with GM Michal Krasenkov and IM Iweta Radziewicz, was
the winner of the 3rd Freestyle Final, and keeps the lead in the Freestyle Elo
list we published in our last article. Unfortunately the Rajlich team dropped
out of the group of leading teams in the 5th Main Tournament, when they forgot
to recapture a rook in the seventh round. Their opponent, “Ultra-d”, an engine-only
player, was so confused and embarrassed about the situation that he did not
know what to do: take the point or offer a draw (his position was a bit worse
before the incident occurred). Unable to decide it by himself he consulted the
Tournament Director, who felt Ultra-d should be protected against any pressure
from the chat and from his opponent (who in fact remained very polite when asking
for a way of accommodation). I believe that the TD should have left the decision
to Ultra-d, but instead he forbade both players from agreeing to a draw. I don’t
know if he regret this decision later on, but in order to keep the reputation
of the Freestyle organisation I have to state that this has been his last decision
as a Freestyle TD.
Sometimes grandmasters and other strong players enter a Freestyle Main Tournament
and withdraw after an unpromising start. That is what Israeli GM Ronen Har-Zvi
did, leaving the tournament after a loss in the first round. Some people would
like to see such withdrawals punished, but that’s more complicated in practice
than they think. Fortunately the number of withdrawals has not been a real problem
in the our Freestyle series. There are also positive examples, like the Russian
GM Vladimir Belov (Elo 2600), who also lost his first round game but stuck to
the tournament until the very end, achieving 4.5 points out of eight games.
Before we come to the Final this weekend let’s take a look at the top standings
of the Main Tournament (the complete list is given by a link at the bottom):
5th Freestyle Main Event 2007 (Time: 60m + 15s, 8 rounds)
1 |
Cato the Younger, Rybka 2.3 mp FSCD |
5.5 / 8 |
28.50 |
2 |
Flying Saucers |
5.5 / 8 |
27.50 |
3 |
ZackS |
5.5 / 8 |
27.50 |
4 |
Rodo,Rybka 2.2 mp |
5.5 / 8 |
27.00 |
5 |
Pulse_exchange, Rybka 2.3.1 mp 32-b |
5.5 / 8 |
27.00 |
6 |
Etaoin Shrdlu |
5.5 / 8 |
26.50 |
7 |
The wizard of Os |
5.5 / 8 |
26.00 |
8 |
Ciron |
5.5 / 8 |
26.00 |
9 |
Rainer Zufall |
5.5 / 8 |
25.00 |
10 |
Kaputtze |
5.5 / 8 |
25.00 |
11 |
EL-SHADDAI, Rybka 2.3.1 mp x128 |
5.5 / 8 |
24.50 |
12 |
Hercules01, Rybka 2.1o mp |
5.5 / 8 |
24.00 |
13 |
Ultra-d, Rybka 2.3.1 mp |
5.5 / 8 |
23.50 |
14 |
PawnStriker1978 |
5.5 / 8 |
23.50 |
15 |
Dummkoller |
5.5 / 8 |
22.50 |
16 |
Engineer |
5.5 / 8 |
22.00 |
17 |
Revelator |
5.5 / 7 |
19.00 |
These were the 17 teams/players, who made it up to the play-offs on March 10th.
The ranking was established by “progressive score”, which means summing up each
player’s points from round to round. The first three got free tickets for the
Final and the following 14 had to play mini-matches.
Each pairing played a match of two games, with time controls of 60m+15s, with
the lower ranked player having the white pieces in the first game. If the result
was 1:1 then a third game had to be played. The lower ranked player got the
white pieces and had to win in order to qualify. If this game ended in a draw,
the higher ranked player was qualified for the final. (Further games with shorter
time controls were considered, but ultimately discarded, as they would have
favoured the engine-only players.)
Here are the results of the mini-matches, with the winners marked in bold type.
EL-SHADDAI |
Rodo |
1.5:1.5 |
Hercules01 |
Pulse_exchange |
2.0:1.0 |
Ultra-d |
Etaoin Shrdlu |
0.5:1.5 |
PawnStriker1978 |
The wizard of Os |
0.5:1.5 |
Dummkoller |
Ciron |
1.5:1.5 |
Engineer |
Rainer Zufall |
2.0:1.0 |
Revelator |
Kaputtze |
0.5:1.5 |
So the Final on March 23rd until 25th will be played by these ten players (the
number of rated Freestyle games is given in brackets).
Flying Saucers |
DEN |
2687 (33) |
ZackS |
USA |
2639 (49) |
Engineer |
UKR |
2635 (28) |
Ciron |
GER |
2618 (42) |
Kaputtze |
GER |
2492 (26) |
Cato the Younger |
USA |
(11) |
Rodo [Rybka] |
ITA |
(11) |
Hercules01 [Rybka] |
USA |
(11) |
Etaoin Shrdlu |
CZE |
(10) |
The wizard of Os |
NED |
(10) |
Some words about the finalists. Most of them are known to use very fast computer
systems with up to eight processors (four duals).
-
Flying Saucers, operated by the Danish centaur Dagh Nielsen,
was successful at the previous Final coming in Second.
-
ZackS is the legendary handle of the American Steven Zackary,
who won the 1st PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament in 2005, together with his
friend Steven Cramton. So this looks like a comeback after about two years.
-
Engineer is the only certified grandmaster in the field.
He is the Ukrainian Yuri Solodovnichenko, who has an over-the-board GM title
and is a very strong correspondence chess player as well. Does he play in
a team or just only himself? The answer to such questions will be only known
(hopefully) after the tournament. It’s his first qualification to a Final.
-
Ciron is me in my second qualification to a Freestyle
final. I hope to do better than one year ago, when I only came seventh.
-
Kaputtze is the handle of Jochen Rindfleisch from Mannheim.
So far his biggest success in Freestyle.
-
Cato the Younger was the surprise of the Main Tournament.
We know that the owner of this handle, Nelson Hernandez from USA, already
co-operated successfully with another player under the handle Intagrand.
Cato played his first game with an automatic Rybka engine, but then switched
to centaur modus.
-
The Italian Rodo played with an automatic Rybka engine.
In his personal information he also gives the handle Auryn, which means
he is co-operating with the Italian chess player Eros Riccio.
-
Hercules01 is the second (and last) automatic Rybka, completely
unknown so far, but maybe also the second handle of a well-known Freestyler.
-
Etaoin Shrdlu is a Czech centaur team, probably consisting
of players from the previous well-known handles Equidistance and Xakru.
I wouldn’t be surprised, if a strong player like IM Roman Chytilek is in
this team.
-
The Wizard of Os is the handle of a player named Hans
van Mierlo, another Freestyle newbie, who may be wellknown in the Dutch
chess computer scene.
As mentioned above the final will be held on Friday-Sunday, March 23-25, 2007,
starting at 14:00h server time each day. It will be a round robin tournament,
with each participant playing one game against all other participants. Time
controls are 60 minutes + 15 seconds increment per move. The winner of the final
receives the first prize of US $8,000 and the title of "5th PAL/CSS Freestyle
Chess Champion". The runner up gets $4,000, and the player coming in third
$2,000.
Schedule of the Final
Round 1 |
Friday |
23/03/2007 |
14:00h CET |
Round 2 |
Friday |
23/03/2007 |
17:00h CET |
Round 3 |
Friday |
23/03/2007 |
20:00h CET |
Round 4 |
Saturday |
24/03/2007 |
14:00h CET |
Round 5 |
Saturday |
24/03/2007 |
17:00h CET |
Round 6 |
Saturday |
24/03/2007 |
20:00h CET |
Round 7 |
Sunday |
25/03/2007 |
14:00h CEST |
Round 8 |
Sunday |
25/03/2007 |
17:00h CEST |
Round 9 |
Sunday |
25/03/2007 |
20:00h CEST |
Note that there is a change to daylight saving time on Saturday night in Europe.
Links
Previous articles on Freestyle Chess
$16,000
Freestyle tournament starts on March 2nd
23.02.2007 – The Fifth PAL/CSS Freestyle
Chess Tournament begins on March 2nd on the Playchess
server. The main tournament is an eight-round Swiss, with time
controls of 60 min + 15 sec per game. You probably know that in Freestyle
any kind of assistance is allowed: computers, friends, books, anything.
The starting fee is 10 Euro. GMs and IMs are free. You
can still join the fun!
|
The
Freestyle Champion is Xakru, dammit!
07.11.2006
That's what happens when you choose a flippant name on the chess
server: you win a major event and wish you hadn't called yourself "Damn
it" (in Czech). Jiri Dufek and Roman Chytilek won the first prize, $8,000,
in the fourth computer assisted tournament on Playchess.com.
Find out what transpired in the final of this Freestyle event in this
report by Arno Nickel.
|
Fall
of the Favourites in PAL/CSS Freestyle
19.10.2006
A "Freestyle tournament" is one in which computer assistance
– or any other form of help – during the game is allowed and encouraged.
The 4th PAL/CSS Freestyle tournament, which reaches its final this weekend
on the the Playchess.com server,
saw many of the favourites falter. Now the ten qualifiers will play
a round robin for the US $16,000 prize money. Come
and watch.
|
Rajlich
Team won the third Freestyle tournament
31.08.2006
The third 3rd PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament was held in the middle
of July. With considerable delay we bring you a report by correspondence
GM Arno Nickel on the results of this event, which had a prize fund
of US $16,000 and was conducted on the Playchess.com
server. Also a reminder that another $16,000 Freestyle tournament begins
soon. Like to join the fun?
|
Freestyle
Tournament final begins today
14.07.2006
Are you interested in seeing chess played at the very highest
level? It involves grandmasters and experts selecting their moves with
computer assistance. The final of the 3rd PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament
begins today at 17:00h CEST on the Playchess.com
server, and ends on Sunday evening. The prize fund is $16,000. Come
and watch the fun!
|
Who
will be the next Freestyle Champion
05.07.2006
Neither the summer weather nor the Soccer World Cup stopped more
than 100 players from all over the world from enter the 3rd PAL/CSS
Freestyle Tournament, which ended last weekend with the tie-breaks for
the Final in July 14-16. About 20 titleholders were attracted by the
opportunity to win one of the money prizes: $8,000, $4,000 or $2,000
dollars. Report by Arno Nickel
|
Brilliancy
in computer assisted chess
16.06.2006
The Third PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament starts today. In
this form of chess, originally proposed by Garry Kasparov, the human
players may use computers – or any other assistance they can muster.
It is not OTB chess as we knew it, but it does produce a lot of very
high-level games. Here, from the Second Freestyle Tournament, are the
three most brilliant examples.
|
$16,000
Freestyle tournament begins on Friday
14.06.2006
The Third PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament begins on Friday,
June 16, on the Playchess server.
In the previous edition, won by Zor_Champ of the UAE, there were a number
of grandmasters participating. One was Tony Kosten of England, assisted
by the program Hiarcs 10, who gives us his assessment of such computer-assisted
tournaments. You can still join!
|
$16,000
up for grabs in computer-assisted play
11.05.2006
The Third PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament on the Playchess
server is coming up in June, once again with a substantial
prize fund. This time the time controls for our Advanced Chess competition
have been increased to 60 min. + 15 sec., in order to give the human
component more opportunity for analysis. Like to play? It's
lots of fun!
|
Zor-Champ
wins Freestyle Tournament
16.04.2006
In a very exciting final the team of Zor-Champ, located in the
United Arab Emirates, took first place and the $8,000 prize money in
the Second PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament. The team was driven by the
program Hydra, which runs on multi-processor speical-purpose hardware.
Second was IM Vasik Rajlich, assisted by his own program Rybka. Report
and games.
|
Freestyle
tournament: Finals this weekend
03.04.2006
After tiebreak matches the eight qualifiers of the Second PAL/CSS
Freestyle Chess Tournament are ready to battle it out for the $16,000
prize fund. At the faster time controls this time four pure engines
made it to the final round. You can come and watch the action at 14:00h
CEST on Saturday and Sunday, when the tournament director says: Gentlemen,
start your engines.
|
Freestyle
tournament: Vvarkey wins with 7.5/8
24.03.2006
The first leg of the second PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament,
which carries a prize fund of $16,000, was won by an unknown player
with the Playchess handle Vvarkey. He scored 7.5 points from 8 games
(before the last round his score was 7/7). Six other players qualified
for the final behind him. For the final, eighth place there will be
a tiebreak tournament tomorrow. Details.
|
Freestyle
tournament: advice from an expert
16.03.2006
Are you one of the over 150 participants that have registered
for the second $16,000 PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament, starting
this weekend? Do you have your computer assistant or your GM advisor
booted up and ready to play? For novices in computer assisted play we
have some tips and tricks by correspondence
chess GM Arno Nickel.
|
The
$16,000 open-to-all chess tournament
28.02.2006
Would you like to play in a grandmaster tournament? From your
home and for a substantial prize fund? With a guarantee that you will
not disgrace yourself? Then think about joining the second PAL/CSS
Freestyle Chess Tournament, where anything goes. Where computer
assistance is not forbidden, but is positively encouraged. Full
details.
|
Dark
horse ZackS wins Freestyle Chess Tournament
19.06.2005
The computer-assisted PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament, staged
on Playchess.com, ended with a shock win by two amateurs: Steven Cramton,
1685 USCF and Zackary Stephen, 1398 USCF, using three computers for
analysis, defeated teams of strong grandmasters all the way to victory
in the finals. We bring you a first flash
report with games and results.
|
Scintillating
chess in the PAL-CSS Freestyle tournament
15.06.2005
This unusual event, in which players may use computer assistance
during the games, is turning into a milestone experiment. After the
main event and the quarter-finals (and with four players left) we can
draw first tentative conclusions. One is that the most powerful chess
playing entity on the planet is a
GM armed with a computer.
|
Hydra
misses the quarter-finals of Freestyle tournament
11.06.2005
It was the shocker of the event: the massive Hydra machines,
running on 16 and 32 processors and special FPGA chess hardware were
both knocked out in the main section of the Freestyle chess tournament.
On the other hand a dark horse named ZackS qualified with consummate
ease. Today there will be tie-breaks, tomorrow the quarter-finals. Come
and watch...
|
Eleven
qualify for main Freestyle Tournament
31.05.2005
48 players from 20 different countries got together on the Playchess
server last weekend to play in the PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament.
Using computer assistance, which is not forbidden in Freestyle, eleven
qualified for the main tournament starting on Friday. There they will
have to battle it out with scores of computer-assisted
GMs.
|
The
$20,000 free-for-all chess tournament
24.05.2005
Like to play in a grandmaster tournament? From your home and
for a substantial prize fund? With a guarantee that you will not disgrace
yourself? Then think about joining the first PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess
Tournament, where anything goes. Where computer assistance is not forbidden,
it is positively encouraged. Here are all
the details.
|
Freestyle
tournament for $20,000
09.05.2005
It's a new kind of chess tournament, with a substantial prize
fund. $20,000 in all, $10,000 for the winner. Top grandmaster conditions.
But with a difference. In the PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament on
the Playchess.com server anyone
can play. Even you. And anything goes. Anything! (In fact computer
assistance is encouraged). Here
are the details.
|
Anyone
– or anything – can play!
07.08.2004
Anything goes in our freestyle tournament on the Playchess.com
server this Saturday, August 7th. Participants can use computers, visiting
grandmasters, slime beings from other planets – whatever they want.
The games start at 15:00h server time (GMT +2), time controls are 7
min + 2 sec/move.
Watch the fun...
|
Freestyle
Blitz Tournament August 7
25.07.2004
Winning Internet chess games with the assistance of computers
is quite despicable. People who are caught get stripped of rights and
privileges. Not so in the August 7th "Freestyle Tournament" on Playchess.com.
There you can use anything you want to win your games. Details...
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