Sixth PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament – "Mission control" takes
over
Report by CCGM Arno Nickel
Only a few experienced human freestylers, among them three International Masters,
succeeded in qualifying. But they were upstaged by a real computer monster –
the UCI-engine Rybka 2.3.1 running on 32 processors, operated by Sujay Jagannathan
alias "Mission control", who is lives in England.
About 20 FIDE titleholders and many high-end computer systems, which means
four and even eight processor systems, guaranteed a strong competition. Yet,
once again none of the grandmasters manage at least 5.5 points out of eight
games, which was practically speaking the barrier for qualification (provided
you also had a good progressive score). Czech GM Petr Hába and Georgian GM Baadur
Jobava were for a long time close to the top group, but at the very end they
lacked the crucial half point. Also Britain’s GM Tony Kosten, who lives in France,
and Ukrain GM Yuri Solodovnichenko did not show enough punch to reach the goal.
The rate of play was 60min + 15sec. About half of the participants took the
opportunity to let their engine play automatically, which is probably a new
record. That, however, caused also – to TD Martin Fischer's chagrin – additional
technical problems, mostly due to different client versions being used, either
at the start of the game, when one side was unable to make a move, or later
on, when a player got disconnected.
The tournament went on without too long breaks, but Martin had to decide on
some results, when several tries to restart a game simply failed. A side-effect
were long discussions in the chat or by e-mail. For this reason the organizers
are now considering forcing people to manually execute their moves. There are
a number of incidental advantages to this rule. For instance participants can
avoid a loss of time in case of obvious or forced moves. The only "disadvantage"
is that the particpant must remain in front of the computer during the game,
instead of letting the engines play completely unattended. But that would seem
reasonable in a $16,000 chess tournament.
Regarding the big number of engine-only players it does not surprise us to
find five of them among the qualifiers. Just have a look on the following table
in order check, who is a keen centaur (*) and who is an engine-only player.
| No. |
Participant |
Ti. |
Rtn |
Name |
Nat. |
+ |
= |
– |
Pts |
TB |
Perf. |
| 1. |
Mission control |
|
2481 |
Jagannathan |
ENG |
5 |
3 |
0 |
6.5 |
33.0 |
2840 |
| 2. |
Flyingfatman |
|
2587 |
Carlin |
ENG |
4 |
4 |
0 |
6.0 |
29.5 |
2746 |
| 3. |
Rentner2 * |
IM |
2614 |
Blauert |
|
4 |
4 |
0 |
6.0 |
29.0 |
2724 |
| 4. |
Kreuzfahrtschiff * |
|
2590 |
Kruse |
|
4 |
4 |
0 |
6.0 |
27.5 |
2677 |
| 5. |
Cato the Younger * |
|
2620 |
Chen Yingheng |
ENG |
4 |
4 |
0 |
6.0 |
26.0 |
2706 |
| 6. |
Ultra-d |
|
2700 |
Evans |
ENG |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5.5 |
26.0 |
2697 |
| 7. |
Klosterfrau * |
IM |
2606 |
Breder |
|
3 |
5 |
0 |
5.5 |
24.5 |
2566 |
| 8. |
Rajlich * |
IM |
2742 |
Rajlich, V. |
HUN |
3 |
5 |
0 |
5.5 |
24.0 |
2685 |
| 9. |
PvP |
|
2716 |
Kakirdakis |
GRE |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5.5 |
23.5 |
2670 |
| 10. |
New Man |
|
2630 |
Osterman |
SWE |
4 |
3 |
1 |
5.5 |
23.0 |
2628 |
The winners are of course the British – four finalists out of 11 participants!
– and the Germans, as they got through three centaurs. To be more precise we
have to add that IM Dennis Breder alias Klosterfrau this time could not afford
time for more than two centaur games. BUT that will of course completely different
in the final. The losers of the 6th Freestyle Main Tournament are, if I am right,
for the first time the US players, as none of the 15 transatlantic participants
could qualify. The Americans are usually the second strongest group behind the
Germans.
As to the Freestyle rating, in the fourth column we sometimes used the rating
a player had achieved with his former nickname: Mission control = formerly Hercules01
and Moto Guzzi, Kreuzfahrtschiff = formerly Dummkoller, PvP = formerly Nebula,
New Man = formerly Kingcrusher. These figures were used for the pairings but
not for the Elo evaluation.
In this tournament Mission Control took its opponents by surprise with a 32
processor system, which meant about 21 plys on average. Sujay Jagannathan, the
man behind, was already known before to some insiders. Only later I found out
that he had already played with his monster hardware in the previous Freestyle
Tournament, as Hercules01, where he also qualified for the final, but came second
last. I asked him, what was different this time, and this is, what he wrote
in an e-mail:
“I ran on AMD dual core socket F CPUs 8216 2.6 x 32, which I have upgraded
to 3 GHz x 32 now. Better preparation on book and less engine bugs compared
to the last PAL final, where day one was a total disaster with two endgame bugs
and opponents getting disconnected and restarting the whole game, which resulted
in another loss, as the engine played a red book move. Last but not the least
luck also plays its part.”
Thanks, Sujay! Somebody in the chat said that his father was director of a
mathematical institute and was granting him access to such powerful hardware.
Surely he will tell us much more after the final, where many people will follow
Mission Control’s games in order to see if, for the first time, an engine-only
player will become Freestyle Champion. Of course it will be much harder for
Suj this time, as everybody will be preparing for him.
The surprise factor is a very important thing in the main tournament. When
I, Ciron, met Mission Control in the fifth round (I had 3.5 out of 4) I didn’t
know anything about my opponent and was completely confused, because I couldn’t
properly identify him as an engine or a centaur. There was simply no information
in the players list, though it should be there. I will not go into details of
why this might have happened, but people should understand that such a situation,
which cannot occur in a round-robin tournament like the final, is rather confusing,
especially when you had already played six hours before this happens. By the
way, El-Shaddai alias Nolan Denson (place 25), experienced the same problem
as me.
You might argue that freestyle means anything goes… And indeed, whenever such
things happen people start discussions about what is allowed and what is not
allowed in freestyle. Someone reported “hacker” attacks from his opponent, trying
to disconnect him…
After the final some questions on the future of freestyle chess will be put
into the focus, especially our plans for a tournament with longer time controls.
The freestyle poll on CSS online shows that many players are interested in such
a contest, mainly because it might offer better chances for human participation.
The poll also shows some of the other questions in discussion. Probably we will
opt for a tournament with 90min + 30sec rate of play. This allows to play 4-5
games on a weekend: 1st game Friday, 2nd + 3rd games on Saturday, 4the (+ 5th)
games on Sunday. We could play a Swiss tournament on two weekends (9 or 10 rounds),
this time without an additional final. If desired, we can continue with the
freestyle events in intervals: next tournament with 60 min + 15sec rate of play
and then again 90min + 30sec. So everybody can choose what he likes most.
Here is the rest of the final table and at the end you will find the download
for the games:
| 11. |
Rino-1 |
|
|
|
Stibi |
|
4 |
3 |
1 |
5.5 |
22.0 |
2707 |
| 12. |
Revelator |
|
2591 |
|
Knowles |
USA |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5.0 |
28.0 |
2647 |
| 13. |
Ciron |
|
2622 |
|
Nickel |
|
4 |
2 |
2 |
5.0 |
26.5 |
2630 |
| 14. |
OpenFormula |
|
2587 |
|
Osterman |
SWE |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5.0 |
24.5 |
2612 |
| 15. |
Rodo |
|
2691 |
|
Gallo |
ITA |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
24.0 |
2598 |
| 16. |
Petr Hába |
GM |
2505 |
|
Haba |
CZE |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
23.5 |
2706 |
| 17. |
The Wizard |
|
|
|
Bennett |
ENG |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
23.0 |
2690 |
| 18. |
MjLvMj |
|
|
|
Indoc |
IND |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
23.0 |
2664 |
| 19. |
Oligarckh |
GM |
2686 |
|
Jobava |
GEO |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
23.0 |
2612 |
| 20. |
Lasker#77 |
|
|
|
Bigler |
SUI |
2 |
6 |
0 |
5.0 |
22.5 |
2666 |
| 21. |
Bychamp_II |
|
2574 |
|
Monteiro |
BRA |
4 |
2 |
2 |
5.0 |
22.5 |
2648 |
| 22. |
Fredi_z |
|
2544 |
|
Zöllner |
AUT |
3 |
4 |
1 |
5.0 |
21.5 |
2626 |
| 23. |
Krampak |
|
|
|
Torroella |
ESP |
4 |
2 |
2 |
5.0 |
18.0 |
2553 |
| 24. |
Equidistance |
|
2591 |
|
Schoupal |
CZE |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
24.0 |
2580 |
| 25. |
EL-SHADDAI |
|
2654 |
|
Denson |
USA |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
24.0 |
2560 |
| 26. |
Averell |
|
2597 |
|
Eckhardt |
|
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
23.5 |
2586 |
| 27. |
Tatar |
|
2612 |
|
Baron |
|
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
23.5 |
2572 |
| 28. |
Braincooler |
|
2403 |
|
Osterman |
SWE |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
23.0 |
2657 |
| 29. |
Alansacount |
|
2604 |
|
Sassler |
USA |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
22.5 |
2536 |
| 30. |
Sebi-chess |
|
2568 |
|
Böhme |
|
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
22.5 |
2535 |
| 31. |
Engineer |
GM |
2595 |
|
Solodovnichenko |
UKR |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
22.5 |
2475 |
| 32. |
PAKman |
|
2582 |
|
Pruitt |
USA |
1 |
7 |
0 |
4.5 |
21.5 |
2581 |
| 33. |
Bogdansyg |
IM |
2302 |
|
Sygulski |
POL |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
21.0 |
2650 |
| 34. |
WindPower |
|
2484 |
|
Wind |
MAS |
1 |
7 |
0 |
4.5 |
21.0 |
2616 |
| 35. |
Rybusia |
IM |
2531 |
|
Rajlich, I. |
HUN |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
21.0 |
2564 |
| 36. |
GoLdEn-BoY |
|
2703 |
|
Soney |
USA |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
21.0 |
2562 |
| 37. |
Tony Kosten |
GM |
2571 |
|
Kosten |
FRA |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
20.5 |
2559 |
| 38. |
Sonofluck |
|
2447 |
|
Davalos |
MEX |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
2649 |
| 39. |
Gorleb |
|
2442 |
|
Pillen |
|
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
2644 |
| 40. |
LazyBone |
|
2500 |
|
Fuller |
USA |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
2572 |
| 41. |
Sergey_M |
|
2604 |
|
Marinowsky |
|
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
20.0 |
2408 |
| 42. |
Xakru |
|
2769 |
|
Dufek |
CZE |
1 |
7 |
0 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
|
| 43. |
Ggg |
GM |
2148 |
|
Grigore |
ROM |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
2585 |
| 44. |
TheOrigin |
|
2541 |
|
Baigi |
|
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
2507 |
| 45. |
Karadeniz Aslani |
|
2549 |
|
Turgut |
USA |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
19.5 |
2460 |
| 46. |
Alexisco |
|
2485 |
|
Koskoros |
GRE |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
19.0 |
2643 |
| 47. |
Bestteam |
|
|
|
Moreira |
POR |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
18.5 |
2467 |
| 48. |
Akhtar |
|
2488 |
|
Hashmi |
UAE |
4 |
1 |
2 |
4.5 |
18.5 |
2405 |
| 49. |
Auryn |
|
2541 |
|
Gallo |
ITA |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
18.0 |
2435 |
| 50. |
Footbolo |
|
2389 |
|
Costa Serra |
ESP |
2 |
5 |
1 |
4.5 |
17.5 |
2525 |
| 51. |
Pawntobewild |
|
2525 |
|
Gray |
AUS |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4.5 |
17.0 |
2365 |
| 52. |
Demian |
|
2157 |
|
Greweling |
|
4 |
1 |
3 |
4.5 |
13.0 |
2441 |
| 53. |
Kitsune |
|
|
|
Doane |
USA |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
21.5 |
2579 |
| 54. |
ZackS |
|
2635 |
|
Zackary |
USA |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
20.0 |
2475 |
| 55. |
Heffalump |
|
2551 |
|
Rades |
|
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
19.5 |
2444 |
| 56. |
TRAKA |
|
2548 |
|
Weber |
|
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
18.0 |
2424 |
| 57. |
Qirco |
|
2460 |
|
Kerimi |
SUI |
3 |
2 |
3 |
4.0 |
16.5 |
2563 |
| 58. |
Wytiko |
|
2313 |
|
Luppi |
Ita |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4.0 |
16.0 |
2523 |
| 59. |
Jimliew |
IM |
2167 |
|
Liew |
Mal |
1 |
6 |
1 |
4.0 |
16.0 |
2521 |
| 60. |
Hoshad |
|
2502 |
|
Dabbaghyan |
SWE |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
16.0 |
2396 |
| 61. |
Kapaun |
|
2247 |
|
Nettelbeck |
|
2 |
4 |
2 |
4.0 |
14.5 |
2461 |
| 62. |
Lukulus |
|
2668 |
|
Lüttke |
|
3 |
2 |
3 |
4.0 |
14.5 |
2333 |
| 63. |
Amadeus Chess |
|
2509 |
|
Bauer |
|
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
20.5 |
2472 |
| 64. |
MASLAKKOSTIA |
IM |
2480 |
|
Maslak |
RUS |
1 |
5 |
2 |
3.5 |
18.5 |
2480 |
| 65. |
Kidambi |
IM |
|
|
Kidambi |
IND |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
18.0 |
2483 |
| 66. |
Supermichi |
|
2481 |
|
Enderle |
|
3 |
1 |
4 |
3.5 |
18.0 |
2441 |
| 67. |
Poweronoff |
|
2625 |
|
Märtens |
|
0 |
7 |
1 |
3.5 |
17.5 |
2362 |
| 68. |
Knilch hi |
|
2502 |
|
Wellmann |
|
1 |
5 |
2 |
3.5 |
17.0 |
2357 |
| 69. |
Don Juan |
|
|
|
Calero Cardador |
ESP |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
16.5 |
2467 |
| 70. |
Noritano |
|
2585 |
|
Gutsche |
|
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
16.5 |
2348 |
| 71. |
John Higgins |
|
2279 |
|
Zatko |
SVK |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
15.5 |
2516 |
| 72. |
Gomez |
|
2320 |
|
Gomez |
USA |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
15.5 |
2478 |
| 73. |
ChessChryssy |
|
2485 |
|
Ludwig |
|
2 |
3 |
2 |
3.5 |
15.5 |
2414 |
| 74. |
AlterEgo |
|
2465 |
|
Vuckovic |
SCG |
1 |
5 |
2 |
3.5 |
15.0 |
2429 |
| 75. |
Mk1264 |
|
|
|
Kolss |
|
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
15.0 |
2408 |
| 76. |
Croberson |
|
2330 |
|
Roberson |
USA |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
15.0 |
2388 |
| 77. |
Mberggren |
|
2397 |
|
Berggren |
SWE |
3 |
1 |
4 |
3.5 |
14.5 |
2407 |
| 78. |
Dom_ |
IM |
2457 |
|
Pedzich |
POL |
3 |
1 |
4 |
3.5 |
14.5 |
2373 |
| 79. |
Siciliane5 |
|
|
|
Jegels |
|
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
14.0 |
2348 |
| 80. |
Badbishop1 |
|
|
|
Dixon |
USA |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
14.0 |
2428 |
| 81. |
Alfilferoz |
IM |
|
|
Alvarez |
ARG |
1 |
5 |
2 |
3.5 |
13.5 |
2416 |
| 82. |
Mateen |
|
|
|
Hashmi |
UAE |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3.5 |
13.0 |
2362 |
| 83. |
Intagrand |
|
2649 |
|
Williams |
ENG |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3.0 |
19.5 |
2380 |
| 84. |
WoDra |
|
2525 |
|
Draeger |
|
0 |
6 |
2 |
3.0 |
14.5 |
2262 |
| 85. |
Pandini |
|
2373 |
|
Delport |
|
0 |
6 |
2 |
3.0 |
13.0 |
2428 |
| 86. |
CumnorChessClub |
|
2162 |
|
Plant |
ENG |
2 |
2 |
4 |
3.0 |
11.5 |
2321 |
| 87. |
TommyM39 |
|
|
|
Mahling |
|
1 |
4 |
3 |
3.0 |
11.5 |
2262 |
| 88. |
Big MC |
|
|
|
Söhnlein |
|
1 |
4 |
3 |
3.0 |
10.0 |
2452 |
| 89. |
Toothlessbishop |
|
|
|
Fabri |
ENG |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2.5 |
16.5 |
2414 |
| 90. |
Walden |
IM |
2560 |
|
Noble |
NZL |
0 |
5 |
3 |
2.5 |
15.0 |
|
| 91. |
Brain-damage |
|
2360 |
|
Chaplin |
ENG |
1 |
3 |
4 |
2.5 |
11.0 |
2208 |
| 92. |
Simplicissimus |
|
2464 |
|
Bruening |
|
2 |
1 |
5 |
2.5 |
11.0 |
2128 |
| 93. |
LUBüWy |
|
2317 |
|
Bürgin |
|
2 |
1 |
5 |
2.5 |
10.5 |
2199 |
| 94. |
Albitexm |
|
|
|
Oggero |
ITA |
0 |
5 |
3 |
2.5 |
10.0 |
2221 |
| 95. |
Fireonline |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
3 |
4 |
2.5 |
10.0 |
2216 |
| 96. |
RybkaKiller |
|
2371 |
|
Singh Jai Prakash |
Ind |
0 |
5 |
3 |
2.5 |
8.5 |
2160 |
| 97. |
Dudi |
|
2036 |
|
Schloegl |
ENG |
2 |
1 |
5 |
2.5 |
6.5 |
2188 |
| 98. |
Otto der erste |
|
2175 |
|
Zielasko |
|
2 |
1 |
5 |
2.5 |
5.5 |
2060 |
| 99. |
Katzenmaier |
|
2549 |
|
Kleinert |
|
2 |
0 |
6 |
2.0 |
14.0 |
2170 |
| 100. |
Chichirivichi |
|
|
|
Cohen-Revivo |
ISR |
1 |
2 |
5 |
2.0 |
12.5 |
2221 |
| 101. |
Shallow Yellow |
|
|
|
Kolss |
SWE |
1 |
2 |
5 |
2.0 |
10.5 |
2280 |
| 102. |
Ibermax |
|
|
|
Richards |
ENG |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1.5 |
11.5 |
|
| 103. |
Angelo Dundee |
|
|
|
Akat |
TUR |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1.5 |
11.0 |
|
| 104. |
Formula-Open |
|
|
|
Abdelrahim |
USA |
0 |
3 |
5 |
1.5 |
9.5 |
|
| 105. |
Pepekan |
IM |
2068 |
|
Candela |
ESP |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1.5 |
8.0 |
2033 |
| 106. |
Dragonfg7 |
IM |
|
|
Canda |
USA |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1.5 |
8.0 |
|
| 107. |
El_cuco_tuyo |
|
|
|
Ortiz |
USA |
1 |
0 |
7 |
1.0 |
8.0 |
|
| 108. |
Lord Vader |
|
|
|
Lopatka |
POL |
0 |
1 |
7 |
0.5 |
4.0 |
1896 |
| 109. |
Littleprince |
|
|
|
Prüfer |
|
0 |
1 |
7 |
0.5 |
4.0 |
|
| 110. |
HydraAssasin |
|
2449 |
|
Naar |
KOL |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
0 |
| 111. |
Pantani |
GM |
|
|
Jaracz |
POL |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|
| 112. |
Sinaigarak |
|
|
|
Karagianis |
USA |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
|
Articles on Freestyle Chess
|
Freestyle Chess –Teaching an Engine how to Fly
28.04.2007 – The 5th PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament
on Playchess.com is already history and the 6th issue is coming soon:
Main event June 1-3, Final June 22-24. Freestyle Chess allows players
to form a team and use any software and hardware they like. The main sponsor,
the PAL Group in Abu Dhabi (UAE), has provided a $16,000 dollar prize
fund for each online tournament. CC
GM Arno Nickel reports. |
|
|
Fifth Freestyle Tournament Final this weekend
22.03.2007 – The 5th PAL/CSS Freestyle Main
Tournament, staged on the Playchess
server, ended in a dead heat of 17 players. None of the 131 participants
from 32 countries, including 20 titled players, managed to achieve six
points in eight games, which is the magic barrier for qualification. The
final, with ten players, will be held as a round robin tournament this
weekend. Come
and watch. |
| $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...
|
