Mephisto Master Chess vs Novag Obsidian

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fourthirty
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Mephisto Master Chess vs Novag Obsidian

Post by fourthirty »

Last weekend I was in the mood to spar against a couple of dedicated units. I decided to pit the Mephisto Master Chess computer against my Obsidian.

Both machines were set to 30 seconds average per move with Ponder turned off.

The Master is rated approximately 150 ELO higher, but the Obsidian did put up a good fight using considerably less thinking time. Surprisingly, the Obsidian would rarely use the full 30 seconds, and in most cases it would respond in under 5 seconds.

[Event "30 Sec Avg Per Move No Ponder"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.07.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mephisto Master Chess"]
[Black "Novag Obsidian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[EventDate "2014.07.20"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.b4 Bb6 7.a4 a6 8.O-O O-O 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Nc4 Ba7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bc1 Be6 14.Na5 Bxb3 15.Qxb3 Rb8 16.Nc4 Re8 17.Rd1 c5 18.b5 Ra8 19.b6 Bb8 20.Rb1 Nf4 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Re1 Qc8 23.Rbd1 Qd8 24.a5 Qd7 25.Qc2 Qg4 26.Qd2 Qe6 27.Rb1 Qg4 28.Ra1 Qe6 29.Rad1 Qg4 30.e5 dxe5 31.Ncxe5 Qf5 32.Nc4 Rd8 33.d4 cxd4 34.cxd4 Re8 35.Rxe8+ Nxe8 36.Qd3 Qxd3 37.Rxd3 Nd6 38.Ncd2 Nb5 39.Kf1 Bd6 40.Nc4 Rc8 41.Nxd6 Nxd6 42.Nd2 Rc2 43.g3 fxg3 44.fxg3 Ra2 45.Nb3 Rxh2 46.Rc3 Ne4 47.Rd3 Rc2 48.Kg1 Kh7 49.d5 Nc5 50.d6 Nd7 51.Re3 Rc6 52.Rd3 Rc2 53.Re3 Rb2 54.Kf1 Kg6 55.Ke1 Kf6 56.Kd1 Rg2 57.Nd4 Nc5 58.Ne2 Rh2 59.Nc3 Rh5 60.Re7 Re5 61.Kd2 h5 62.Kc1 Rf5 63.Kd2 Nb3+ 64.Ke3 Nxa5 65.Ne4+ Kg6 66.Rc7 Rd5 67.Kf4 f5 68.Rc5 Rd4 69.Rxf5 Nc4 70.Re5 Nxe5 71.Kxe5 Rd1 72.Nc5 Re1+ 73.Kd5 Rd1+ 74.Ke5 h4 75.gxh4 Re1+ 76.Kd5 Rd1+ 77.Ke5 Re1+ 78.Kd5 Kf5 79.Nxb7 Rd1+ 80.Kc6 Kf6 81.Nc5 Ke5 82.b7 Rxd6+ 83.Kc7 Kd5 84.b8=Q Rc6+ 85.Kd7 Rxc5 86.Qd6+ Kc4 87.Qxa6+ Kd4 88.Qa1+ Ke4 89.Qxg7 Re5 90.Kd6 Rb5 91.Qg2+ Ke3 92.Qg5+ Rxg5 93.hxg5 Kf4 94.g6 1-0

The opening played was the Giuoco Piano (d3 variation), which resulted in the following position after 5.d3:


[fen]r1bqk2r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2PP1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 5[/fen]
The game did live up to it's moniker, as both sides played very passively throughout the first half. The first piece lost was after 14...Bxb3:

[fen]r2q1rk1/bpp2pp1/p2p1nnp/N3p3/PP2P3/1bPP1N2/5PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 15[/fen]
After a Knight and Bishop exchange on Move 21 (21.Bxf4 exf4 ):

[fen]rb1qr1k1/1p3pp1/pP1p1n1p/2p5/P1N1Pp2/1QPP1N2/5PPP/1R1R2K1 w - - 0 22[/fen]
the Obsidian proceeds to move his Queen eight consecutive moves (22.Re1 Qc8 23.Rbd1 Qd8 24.a5 Qd7 25.Qc2 Qg4 26.Qd2 Qe6 27.Rb1 Qg4 28.Ra1 Qe6 29.Rad1 Qg4), including a brief dance with the Mephisto queenside Rook, which results in this position:

[fen]rb2r1k1/1p3pp1/pP1p1n1p/P1p5/2N1Ppq1/2PP1N2/3Q1PPP/3RR1K1 w - - 11 30[/fen]
Analysis by Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC indicates the Mephisto Master is up +1.13.

(continued on next post)
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fourthirty
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Post by fourthirty »

After a rook each & the minor pieces are exchanged (except for 1 Knight each), we end up with the following position after move 41:
[fen]2r3k1/1p3pp1/pP1n3p/P7/3P1p2/3R1N2/5PPP/5K2 w - - 0 42[/fen]
Analysis by Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC indicates a very flight advantage now for the Obisidian (-0.49). Pawns are exchanged after 43... fxg3 44.fxg3
[fen]6k1/1p3pp1/pP1n3p/P7/3P4/3R2P1/2rN3P/5K2 w - - 0 44[/fen]

Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC now indicates the Obsidian up a pawn (-0.92).
Mephisto Master continues to defend his advanced paws, and no pieces are exchanged for the next 20 moves. Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC indicates that the Obsidian makes a mistake on 64...Nxa5, where the score swings from -5.67 on move 62 to +2.12:

[fen]8/1p2Rpp1/pP1P1k2/n4r1p/8/2N1K1P1/8/8 w - - 0 65[/fen]
Balance of power swings again back to the Obsidian (-2.67) after Mephisto's 67.Kf4:
[fen]8/1pR2pp1/pP1P2k1/n2r3p/4NK2/6P1/8/8 b - - 5 67[/fen]

Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC prefers 67.d7 for Mephisto to retain his advantage. Then, Mephisto Master makes a fatal error with 70.Re5:
[fen]8/1p4p1/pP1P2k1/4R2p/2nrNK2/6P1/8/8 w - - 2 70[/fen]

Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC finds a path for the Obsidan to Checkmate by move 90:
[fen]8/1p6/1P6/8/8/Kqk5/8/8 w - - 14 91[/fen]

Unfortunately (for the Obsidian), he chooses a different path, and makes mistakes at moves 72 & 73 which results in a score of +5.18 for the Mephisto Master:
[fen]8/1p4p1/pP1P2k1/2NK3p/8/6P1/8/3r4 w - - 5 74[/fen]

(continued on next post)
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fourthirty
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Post by fourthirty »

Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC does not like Mephisto's 77.Ke5, which brings the analysis back even again (0.00).
[fen]8/1p4p1/pP1P2k1/2N1K3/7P/8/8/3r4 w - - 4 77[/fen]

Then, on the following move, the Obsidian makes a large error with 78...Kf5:
[fen]8/1p4p1/pP1P4/2NK1k2/7P/8/8/4r3 w - - 7 79[/fen]
Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC swings the score in Mephisto's favor to +11.67/25 (best line: 79.Nxb7 Re5+ 80.Kc6 Re6 81.Nc5 Rh6 82.b7).

The Obsidian is unable to prevent the Mephisto's pawn promotion at move 84:
[fen]1Q6/2K3p1/p2r4/2Nk4/7P/8/8/8 w - - 0 84[/fen]

A K&Q vs K endgame now appears to be inevitable. Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC(+12.83/26 best line 84...Rc6+ 85.Kd7 Rxc5 86.Qd6+ Kc4 87.Qxa6+ Kb4 88.Qb6+ Kc4 89.Qxc5+ Kxc5 90.h5 Kd5 91.Ke7 Kc4 92.Kf7 Kd5 93.Kxg7 Kc4 94.h6 Kc3 95.h7 Kc2 96.h8=Q Kd3 97.Kf6 Kc4 98.Qc8+)

The Obsidian captures the white Knight at move 85:
[fen]1Q6/3K2p1/p7/2rk4/7P/8/8/8 w - - 0 86[/fen]

Mephisto Master puts the Obsidian King in check at move 92.Qg5+:
[fen]8/8/3K4/1r4Q1/7P/4k3/8/8 w - - 6 92[/fen]

This forces the Rook & Queen exchange (92.Qg5+ Rxg5 93.hxg5):
[fen]8/8/3K4/6P1/8/4k3/8/8 w - - 0 93[/fen]

The Novag Obsidian then resigns on the following move after Mephisto plays 94.g6
[fen]8/8/3K2P1/8/5k2/8/8/8 w - - 0 94[/fen]

Deep HIARCS 14 WCSC Endgame database indicates White wins in 9 moves after 94...Kg4

The Mephisto Master once again proves to be a tough adversary. However, I was surprised how well the Obsidian played against the Master while using considerably less analysis time. I would estimate that the Obsidian used less than 50% of his allotted analysis time (30 seconds average per move), and on several moves he responded in less than one second. This rarely happened with the Mephisto Master. The Master certainly used all of the time allotted to him. On several moves the analysis lasted more than 5 minutes (taking advantage of the time saved from his deep opening book).

Great game!

recap:
[Event "30 Sec Avg Per Move No Ponder"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2014.07.20"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Mephisto Master Chess"]
[Black "Novag Obsidian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[EventDate "2014.07.20"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.b4 Bb6 7.a4 a6 8.O-O O-O 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Nc4 Ba7 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bc1 Be6 14.Na5 Bxb3 15.Qxb3 Rb8 16.Nc4 Re8 17.Rd1 c5 18.b5 Ra8 19.b6 Bb8 20.Rb1 Nf4 21.Bxf4 exf4 22.Re1 Qc8 23.Rbd1 Qd8 24.a5 Qd7 25.Qc2 Qg4 26.Qd2 Qe6 27.Rb1 Qg4 28.Ra1 Qe6 29.Rad1 Qg4 30.e5 dxe5 31.Ncxe5 Qf5 32.Nc4 Rd8 33.d4 cxd4 34.cxd4 Re8 35.Rxe8+ Nxe8 36.Qd3 Qxd3 37.Rxd3 Nd6 38.Ncd2 Nb5 39.Kf1 Bd6 40.Nc4 Rc8 41.Nxd6 Nxd6 42.Nd2 Rc2 43.g3 fxg3 44.fxg3 Ra2 45.Nb3 Rxh2 46.Rc3 Ne4 47.Rd3 Rc2 48.Kg1 Kh7 49.d5 Nc5 50.d6 Nd7 51.Re3 Rc6 52.Rd3 Rc2 53.Re3 Rb2 54.Kf1 Kg6 55.Ke1 Kf6 56.Kd1 Rg2 57.Nd4 Nc5 58.Ne2 Rh2 59.Nc3 Rh5 60.Re7 Re5 61.Kd2 h5 62.Kc1 Rf5 63.Kd2 Nb3+ 64.Ke3 Nxa5 65.Ne4+ Kg6 66.Rc7 Rd5 67.Kf4 f5 68.Rc5 Rd4 69.Rxf5 Nc4 70.Re5 Nxe5 71.Kxe5 Rd1 72.Nc5 Re1+ 73.Kd5 Rd1+ 74.Ke5 h4 75.gxh4 Re1+ 76.Kd5 Rd1+ 77.Ke5 Re1+ 78.Kd5 Kf5 79.Nxb7 Rd1+ 80.Kc6 Kf6 81.Nc5 Ke5 82.b7 Rxd6+ 83.Kc7 Kd5 84.b8=Q Rc6+ 85.Kd7 Rxc5 86.Qd6+ Kc4 87.Qxa6+ Kd4 88.Qa1+ Ke4 89.Qxg7 Re5 90.Kd6 Rb5 91.Qg2+ Ke3 92.Qg5+ Rxg5 93.hxg5 Kf4 94.g6 1-0
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