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This game was played in May at the World Computer Chess Championship. It was also the decisive game, Rybka gaining first place after winning it and Deep Sjeng only second place. A regular chess player, I have to say that this game startled me. It has a few moves that no human might be able to ever understand let alone play in a serious game. And despite this, they are all sound and logical, but on a level that surpasses human understanding. If computers keep playing chess like this, I'm afraid it won't be much longer until chess will be "solved", at least on an academic level. No human could ever memorize the final solution, if there is one that is. |
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1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6
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The Semi-Slav, one of the most popular lines in the QGD. Black threatens to simply win a pawn and thus is forcing White to either play e3 and close his dark square Bishop in, or to weaken b4 with a4, or to liquidate the center with cxd5.
Old pundits claimed that a6 was premature and that it weakened the dark squares but recent practice has shown that Black gets a good game. |
  4 comments
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5. e3 b5 6. c5
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White closes the center early. The natural plan for Black would be to strive for the e5-breakthrough. |
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6... g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. e4 dxe4 9. Nxe4 Bg4 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. a4
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Starting a visionary game plan. White sacrifices his center pawns in order to obtain a passed a-pawn. |
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11... Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxd4 13. axb5
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Exploiting the two pins on the Rook. This is the whole point of White's sacrifice. The pawn will reach a6 and will need constant supervision by Black. |
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13... O-O 14. Be2
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A mysterious Bishop retreat. This quiet move has a few points. It frees the Queen from defending it, it clears the d-file and third rank(!) but that will only become apparent after a few more moves. |
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14... Qb4+
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A disruptive check that had to be considered when playing Be2 instead of castling. Now Bd2 isn't possible because of Qxb2 so that only leaves... |
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15. Kf1
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Very few players would start considering depriving themselves of the right to castle unless seriously forced to do so. Rybka seems to have seen very deep in the position and isn't afraid of ghosts. |
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15... Nd7
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Connecting the Rooks and threatening cxb5 together with Nxc5. Very few players would consider the position equal and almost none could find an advantage here for White. |
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16. bxa6 Nxc5 17. Qa3
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Proposing an exchange of Queens, trying to reach the endgame where the passed pawn will be more menacing. |
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17... Rfb8
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Black had the interesting resource 17...Qh4 and the Knight cannon be taken because of Bd4. |
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18. Qxb4 Rxb4 19. Ra2
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Defending b2. Black has more active pieces to balance White's Bishop pair and a6 pawn. |
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19... Bd4
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Denying White the possibility of Be3 and taking aim at the f2 pawn. |
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20. h4
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White activates his second Rook in the only possible way. |
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20... Ne4
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Black goes for the material. Rybka seems untroubled by this, he has seen that the a6 pawn is the only pawn worth keeping. A basic rule in endgames is that you shouldn't be afraid to sacrifice material if you can queen a pawn. As a side note f3 isn't possible because of Ng3+. |
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21. Rh3
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Maybe this is why Be2 had to be played instead of the immediate castle. |
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21... Bxf2
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Now Black is material up, has 3 active pieces and according to fundamental chess rules he should be able to hold the position through dynamic balance. |
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22. Bd3 Ba7
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The Bishop had to retreat on account of Bxe4. It still has an active diagonal on a7 and frees the a8 Rook from the undeserving role of blockader. |
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23. b3
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The pawn cannon be taken at once, the Ne4 is hanging. But it will surely fall later. |
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23... Nc3 24. Rc2 Bd4 25. Ke1
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White sure is relaxed about his material, maybe because 25...Rxb3 fails to 26.Bc4. But even an ending like 26...Rb5 27.Bxb5 cxb5 28.Rxc3 Bxc3 29.Rxc3 Rxa6 is very hard to win because of the very little material left. Perhaps a human player would have played something like this and managed to build a fortress and secure a draw. |
2 comments
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25... Bg7
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Putting the Bishop on a secure square and now the b3 pawn needs direct defense. |
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