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A computer program, Hiarcs 8.0, is the star of this year's annual Republica Chess Master in Argentina. This is not surprising, since already in 2001 it was Chess Tiger won the same tournament by a margin of two points, achieved a GM norm and was elected "winner of the month" by Germany's largest computer magazine (Porsche was the loser).
The tournament is being held from July 19 to 27. You will find the reports
(in Spanish) and games at the official
web site. You can buy Hiarcs and Chess Tiger in the ChessBase
Shop.
By Roberto Alvarez
Everybody will remember the fifth edition of "República Argentina" Masters, Mercosur Cup. The human triumph over the machine became a highlighted new item in the sport section of the main Argentinian newspapers.
With minimal advantage, IM Bernardo Roselli of Uruguay, won the first prize with 20 points (we must remember the scoring system employed, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss), followed by Hiarcs 8.0 with 19, and GM Oscar Panno, with 18 points. Here is the final ranking:
1 Roselli,Bernardo URU m 2426 20.0 2 COMP Hiacs 8.0 GER (2600) 19.0 3 Panno,Oscar ARG g 2480 18.0 4 Valerga,Diego ARG m 2487 15.0 5 Rodriguez,Andres URU g 2467 14.0 6 Slipak,Sergio ARG g 2493 12.0 7 Pelikian,Jefferson BRA m 2409 10.0 7 Spangenberg,Hugo ARG g 2512 10.0 9 Scarella,Enrique ARG m 2358 7.0 10 Granara,Sebastian URU 2261 6.0 11 Paglilla,Carlos ARG m 2381 5.0
In the 11th and last round, Roselli, with Black pieces, drew with GM Andres Rodriguez in a 14-move Petroff Defense.
Hiarcs had the black pieces against Sebastián Granara and played one of the best games of the tournament: after an irregular opening the computer managed to get the bishop pair and then, with good central play, devoted its efforts to contain the opponent's knight. After the central break 31...d4 Hiarcs exchanged both rooks, in true Capablanca style. With his bishop against a poor white bishop and a knight without a strong outpost the computer manoeuvered, putting enormous pressure on White's position, which finally collapsed. When looking at the game, without knowing the name of the players, it is would not be normal to consider the player with the black pieces a grandmaster.
With this nice victory Hiarcs took 2nd place with 19 points, with a rating performance of 2580! The second half of the tournament was specially remarkable: 4.5 points out of 5. And the program, running on a very standard computer, scored 75% against the four GMs.
GM Oscar Panno, with Black pieces, battled more than four hours but could not win his game against IM Enrique Scarella, who played solidly, without any glaring mistakes. So Panno ended unbeated and in third place with 18 points, which was more than well deserved.
The winners: Oscar Panno, Hiarcs (Roberto Alvarez) and Bernardo Roselli
The 8:00 PM closing ceremony was attended by important goverment authorities, both local and national, and a large number of visitors. Tournament director Ing. Mario Petrucci expressed our sincere thanks to the companies who made this Chess Festival a success, with special thanks to Chessbase GmbH, both for its participation in the event with one of the company's top programs, and for its sponsorship in so difficult times for our country.
Last year the computer beat the humans. This time the humans took revenge,
winning the event, but not without serious difficulties. We will see what happens
next year. One thing is sure: today's chess programs plays at GM level, and
every chessplayer can enjoy them at home, for training, friendly games or playing
chess on the net using the fantastic Playchess server.
V Rep.Argentina 2002 - FIDE crosstable
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1 Roselli Mailhe,Bernardo 2426 +213 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 7.5/10 2 Panno,Oscar 2480 +109 ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 7.0/10 33.00 3 COMP Hiacs 8.0 2600 -22 0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 7.0/10 30.75 4 Rodriguez,Andres 2467 +8 ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5.5/10 24.00 5 Valerga,Diego 2487 -13 ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 5.5/10 23.50 6 Slipak,Sergio 2493 -55 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 5.0/10 7 Spangenberg,Hugo 2512 -112 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 4.5/10 8 Pelikian,Jefferson 2409 -35 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 4.0/10 9 Scarella,Enrique 2358 -17 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 3.5/10 10 Granara Barreto,Sebastian 2261 +48 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 3.0/10 11 Paglilla,Carlos 2374 -120 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * 2.5/10 V Rep.Argentina 2002 - Prize Distribution and Mercosur Cup Crosstable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1 Slipak,Sergio ARG g 2493 * 1 1 0 1 3 3 1 0 1 1 12.0/10 2 Roselli,Bernardo URU m 2426 1 * 3 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 3 20.0/10 3 Paglilla,Carlos ARG m 2381 1 0 * 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 5.0/10 4 COMP Hiacs 8.0 GER (2600) 3 0 1 * 1 3 3 3 1 3 1 19.0/10 5 Panno,Oscar ARG g 2480 1 1 1 1 * 3 3 1 3 3 1 18.0/10 6 Pelikian,Jefferson BRA m 2409 0 0 3 0 0 * 1 1 3 1 1 10.0/10 7 Granara,Sebastian URU 2261 0 1 1 0 0 1 * 1 0 1 1 6.0/10 8 Scarella,Enrique ARG m 2358 1 0 3 0 1 1 1 * 0 1 0 7.0/10 9 Valerga,Diego ARG m 2487 3 1 3 1 0 0 3 3 * 0 1 15.0/10 10 Rodriguez,Andres URU g 2467 1 1 3 0 0 1 1 1 3 * 3 14.0/10 11 Spangenberg,Hugo ARG g 2512 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 0 * 10.0/10 (win=3, draw=1, loss=0)
Download all the games of the tournament, annotated, in PGN or ChessBase (CBV)