Shredder wins computer tournament in Leiden

Shredder shows strength in International CSVN Tournament

By Eric van Reem

Third place in 2002, second place in 2003 and finally first place in 2004! SHREDDER is the winner of the fourth International CSVN Tournament (ICT4) played in Leiden, 23-25 April 2004. With an almost perfect score of 8 points out of 9 games, the world champion once again showed why the program is widely regarded the best chess program in the world. HYDRA from the United Arab Emirates scored 6.5 points and secured second place. This is another very good result for Chrilly Donninger, Erdogan Günes and Ulf Lorenz after winning the International Paderborn Computer-Chess Championships (IPCCC) in February. Ruffian, winner of the 23rd Dutch Open CCC in 2003, shared third place with the Dutch program DIEP. Both programs scored six points. People from many nationalities were involved in the creation of the participating chess programs. The computer chess association Netherlands (CSVN) is happy to bring together such a high-quality line-up.

SHREDDER lost its game against DIEP, but won the other games. Stefan Meyer-Kahlen was happy with his first victory in Leiden: ”My goal was to get a place in the top three, to get one of the beautiful model ships”, Meyer-Kahlen smiled, referring to the beautiful trophies from tournament sponsor Pal Group of Companies from the United Arab Emirates. “I did not have much time to work on engine lately, because I had to work very hard on the SHREDDER user interface and on my new website. Sandro Necchi spent a lot of time on making a new opening book, which worked out fine in this tournament. I liked the game against RUFFIAN in the seventh round very much. It was probably the best SHREDDER game in Leiden.”

Ruffian - Shredder
4th Intl.CSVN Leiden NED (7), 25.04.2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.g3 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Be7 8.Bg2 0–0 9.0–0 Nc6 10.h3 Qb6 11.Nb3 Rd8 12.Re1 d4 13.Ne2 Bf5 14.g4 Be4 15.g5 Bb4 16.gxf6 Bxg2 17.Kxg2 Bxe1 18.Qxe1 Nb4 19.Nbxd4 Rxd4 20.Nxd4 Qxd4 21.Qe2 Qxf6 22.Qe4 Rd8 23.Qxb4 Qc6+ 24.f3 Qxc2+ 25.Kg3 Rd1 26.Qc3 Qg6+ 27.Kf4 Qd6+ 28.Ke3 Qe6+ 29.Kf2 Qxh3 30.b3 Qh2+ 31.Ke3 Rd8 32.Bd2 h5 33.Rd1 f5 34.Qc4+ Kh8 35.Qb5 f4+ 36.Ke4 a6 37.Qf1 Rxd2 38.Rxd2 Qxd2 39.Qh3 g6 40.Qc8+ Kg7 41.Qxb7+ Kh6 42.Qb6 Kg5 43.Qg1+ Kh4 44.a4 Qb4+ 45.Ke5 Qe7+ 46.Kxf4 Qf6+ 47.Ke4 Qe6+ 48.Kd3 Qxb3+ 49.Kd2 Qd5+ 50.Kc2 Qc4+ 51.Kb2 Qb4+ 52.Kc1 Qc3+ 53.Kb1 Qxf3 54.Qxg6 Qb3+ 55.Kc1 Qxa4 56.Qf6+ Kg3 57.Qc3+ Kg4 58.Qc8+ Kf4 59.Qf8+ Kg3 60.Qg8+ Qg4 61.Qb3+ Qf3 62.Qg8+ Kf2 63.Qa2+ Kg1 64.Qa4 0–1

Meyer-Kahlen still has a busy year to come. The world computer chess championship will be held in Israel in July, where he will defend his title. Further improvements of the SHREDDER engine, i.e. the part of the program which decides on the moves to play, can be expected. He is also planning to work on a new version of POCKET FRITZ, the chess program for Pocket PCs. However, there are more important things in life than computer chess. Anna and Stefan Meyer-Kahlen are expecting their second baby in September.

The trophy for victorious Shredder. The total prize fund is $3000, the winner gets $1500. The main sponsor of the ICT4 is Pal Computer Games from the United Arab Emirates. Lokasoft of The Netherlands is once again a co-sponsor.

Hydra drew with THE KING and CHESS TIGER on Sunday and won the last game against the chess program with the odd name ZZZZZZ to secure second place. RUFFIAN lost to SHREDDER and NEXUS on Sunday, but managed to win the last game against DEEP SJENG. With 6 points the Swedish program by Per-Ola Valfridsson scored a good result. DIEP had a good position against NEXUS in the last round, but could not win the complicated endgame, so he had to share third place with RUFFIAN.

The participants appreciated this high quality tournament regarding the organisational aspects as well as the level of play. We all look forward to future tournaments like this one.

Final results

 # Name           1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   P    BU   SB
 1 Shredder     13w1  7b1  4b0 10w1  6b1  2w1  3b1  5b1 11w1  8.0  46.0 40.00
 2 Hydra         8w=  3b1 10w1  7b1  4w1  1b0  5w=  6b= 12w1  6.5  48.5 32.50
 3 Ruffian      11b1  2w0  9b1  5b1  8w1  4b1  1w0  7b0 10w1  6.0  50.0 30.50
 4 Diep         14b1  5b1  1w1  6w=  2b0  3w0 10b1  8w1  7b=  6.0  48.5 30.75
 5 The King     15b1  4w0 11b1  3w0  9w1  6b1  2b=  1w0 14b1  5.5  46.5 23.25
 6 Chess Tiger  12w1 10b=  8w1  4b=  1w0  5w0  9b1  2w= 13b1  5.5  46.0 24.00
 7 Nexus         9b1  1w0 15b1  2w0 11b= 10w0 16b1  3w1  4w=  5.0  43.0 18.75
 8 IsiChess      2b= 14w1  6b0 12w1  3b0 11w= 15w1  4b0 16w1  5.0  36.5 13.50
 9 Tao           7w0 16b1  3w0 14w1  5b0 12b1  6w0 13b1 15b1  5.0  32.5 10.50
10 Deep Sjeng   16b1  6w=  2b0  1b0 13w1  7b1  4w0 14w1  3b0  4.5  42.0 12.75
11 The Baron     3w0 12b1  5w0 15b1  7w=  8b= 13w= 16b1  1b0  4.5  37.5 11.75
12 Zzzzzz        6b0 11w0 13w1  8b0 16b1  9w0 14b0 15w1  2b0  3.0  34.0  5.00
13 Ant           1b0 15w0 12b0 16w1 10b0 14w1 11b=  9w0  6w0  2.5  35.5  4.75
14 Neurosis      4w0  8b0 16w1  9b0 15w= 13b0 12w1 10b0  5w0  2.5  34.0  4.25
15 Goldbar       5w0 13b1  7w0 11w0 14b= 16w1  8b0 12b0  9w0  2.5  33.0  3.75
16 Praetorian   10w0  9w0 14b0 13b0 12w0 15b0  7w0 11w0  8b0  0.0  34.5  0.00

• All games so far in PGN.

• Info and games of finished rounds can be found on www.computerschaak.nl.

• Buy Shredder 8 here

Eric van Reem,
Theo van der Storm, secretary of the CSVN