
This Computer World Championship is full of surprises. Instead of going into
the lead with perfect scores against their amateur opponents the favourites
Shredder, Junior and Fritz all started off with embarrassing draws. In the
second round Junior and Shredder won their games, but in the third Shredder
once again drew, while Fritz actually lost on time (in a winning position).
It's been a while since we saw a computer do that.
Only Junior started to show its normal form, winning a delightful attacking
game against the Dutch program Diep, which was in the sole lead after two rounds.
Here's the game:
Diep – Deep Junior [D20]
114'/60+25' HP, 06.07.2004
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Be3 Nb4
8.Be4 f5 9.exf6 exf6 10.a3 f5 11.axb4 fxe4 12.Nc3 Be6 13.Nh3 Qd7 14.Nf4 Be7
15.Nxe6 Qxe6 16.d5 Qg6 17.0-0 0-0 18.Bc5.
Here Junior played one of those devil-may-care moves for which the program
is famous: 18...Rae8. The program is willing to give up its
queenside pawns, but for exactly what? Watch: 19.Rxa7 Nc4 20.Qe2 Bxc5
21.bxc5 Ne5 22.Rxb7.
Junior has given up two pawns to move its knight into position for the attack.
This comes in decisive fashion: 22...Nf3+ 23.Kh1 Re5 24.Ra1.
The knight still cannot be taken: 24.gxf3 exf3 threatens mate on g2 and forks
the queen.
24...Rh5 25.h3. The knight is still untouchable, since 25.gxf3
Qh6 leads to a forced mate.
25...Qg4 26.Qf1 Ng5 27.Rxc7 Nxh3 0-1.
Results
Round one – Sunday, July 04 |
Crafty |
1/2 |
Shredder |
Fritz |
1/2 |
Deep Sjeng |
Jonny |
1/2 |
Junior |
Diep |
1-0 |
Crazy Bishop |
Woodpusher |
1/2 |
IsiChess |
ParSOS |
1-0 |
Movei |
FIBChess |
0-1 |
Falcon |
|
Round two – Monday, July 05 |
Falcon |
0-1 |
Diep |
Shredder |
1-0 |
ParSOS |
IsiChess |
1/2 |
Fritz |
Junior |
1-0 |
Woodpusher |
Deep Sjeng |
1/2 |
Crafty |
Crazy Bishop |
0-1 |
Jonny |
Movei |
1-0 |
FIBChess |
|
Round three – Tuesday, July 06 |
Diep |
0-1 |
Junior |
Jonny |
1/2 |
Shredder |
Fritz |
0-1 |
Falcon |
Crafty |
1-0 |
IsiChess |
ParSOS |
1/2 |
Deep Sjeng |
Woodpusher |
1/2 |
Movei |
FIBChess |
0-1 |
Crazy Bishop |
|
Round four – Wed., July 07 |
Junior |
|
Crafty |
Shredder |
|
Diep |
Falcon |
|
Jonny |
Deep Sjeng |
|
Movei |
IsiChess |
|
ParSOS |
Crazy Bishop |
|
Fritz |
FIBChess |
|
Woodpusher |
|
Standings:
1 Junior 2.5
2-6 Shredder, Diep, Falcon, Crafty, Jonny
7-9 ParSOS, Deep Sjeng, Movei 1.5
10-13 Fritz, IsiChess, Crazy Bishop, Woodpusher 1.0
14 FIBChess 0.0
The games from the second and third rounds are still incomplete. We will add
them as soon as they become available. Until then you can check at the official
site and download the games that are available there.
Live coverage
The games are being transmitted live on the Playchess.com
server, with audio and visual commentary by GM Boris Alterman.
Picture Gallery

The Gonda Brain Research Center, where the event is being held

Prof. Yeshurun, Rector of Bar-Ilan University, opening the second round by
playing Falcon's 1.e4 vs Diep.

Shay Bushinsky of the Junior team explaining the thought process of his brainchild
to Prof. Yeshurun

Prof. Yeshurun with the full Junior team: Boris Alterman, Shay Bushinsky, Amir
Ban
Schedule
|
Date |
Time |
Activity |
Saturday July 3 |
|
Arrival |
|
21:30 |
Opening Ceremony |
Sunday July 4 |
09:00 |
Testing |
|
12:00 |
Players meeting |
|
15:00-20:00 |
Round 1 WCCC |
|
10:00-20:00 |
Computer Olympiad |
Monday July 5 |
08:20 |
Opening CG 2004 |
|
08:30-13:00 |
CG 2004 Conference |
|
15:00-20:00 |
Round 2 WCCC |
|
13:30-20:00 |
Computer Olympiad |
|
21:00 |
Social Evening |
Tuesday July 6 |
08:30-12:45 |
CG 2004 Conference |
|
09:00-12:30 |
City Tour |
|
13:30-18:30 |
Round 3 WCCC |
|
19:00-21:30 |
Speed Chess |
|
13:30-21:00 |
Computer Olympiad |
Wednesday July 7 |
08:30-13:00 |
CG 2004 Conference |
|
13:00-14:30 |
Lunch CG 2004 participants |
|
13:30-18:30 |
Round 4 WCCC |
|
14:30-21:00 |
Computer Olympiad |
|
19:00-21:30 |
Speed Chess |
Thursday July 8 |
09:00-14:00 |
Round 5 WCCC |
|
15:00-20:00 |
Round 6 WCCC |
|
10:00-20:00 |
Computer Olympiad |
Friday July 9 |
9:00-14:00 |
Round 7 WCCC |
Saturday July 10 |
|
Sabbath |
Sunday July 11 |
9:00-14:00 |
Round 8 WCCC |
|
15:00-20:00 |
Round 9 WCCC |
Monday July 12 |
8:00-13:00 |
Round 10 WCCC |
|
13:30-18:30 |
Round 11 WCCC |
|
|
Play-off WCCC |
|
|
Closing ceremony |
|
Links