A Nightrider Chess game against Dabbaba
In summer/autumn 1998 Benjamin Good from Pittsburgh played 2 e-mail games against Dabbaba (programmed by Jens Bæk Nielsen, Denmark).Dabbaba was allowed up to an hour pr. move on a Pentium II 233 Mhz.
A chess variant called nightrider chess was played. The knights make long moves in this variant.
Benjamin Goods uscf chess rating is somewhere in the range of 1500-1600, and he had a hard time in this difficult variant against the computer. You have to be aware right from the beginning: 1.e4?,Nxe4!
Here is the first game. (a positive score means Dabbaba thinks white has the best position)
Game 1. White: Benjamin Good ------------- information on Dabbabas move --------------- whites seconds Dabbabas score depth Dabbabas expected move used move (next move) line ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. d2-d4 2119 d7-d5 8 8,1 e2e3 c8d7 g1e2 2. e2-e3 3328 Nb8-d7 3 7,23 g1d7 c8d7 Dabbaba now forces exchange of a couple of nightriders now because of the threats 3.-,Nxa1 and 3.-,Nxg1. 3. Ng1xd7 3470 Bc8xd7 24 8,10 b1h4 a8b8 h4d2 White thinks he gains a pawn now, but misses blacks reply. (look at Dabbabas expected line: 4.Nh4,Rb8 - attack and defense of b7!) 4. Nb1xd5 3291 Bd7-g4! -7 8,17 d5c7 d8c7 d1g4 White should now capture on c7 to get a pawn more for the nightrider. 5. Qd1xg4? 1608 Qd8xd5 -166 8,1 g4d1 e7e5 After 5 moves there is only one nightrider left. But that is enough to make this game quite special. After this game I have adjusted the value of the nightrider from 550 to 625, so the position-evaluation in this game would have been 75 lower. 6. c2-c4 3284 Qd5-a5+ -128 8,23 e1d1 g8f6 If now 7.Bd2???,Qxd2# - Ng8 covers d2! White did not see that when he played 6.c4. The position of the white king becomes bad now. 7. Ke1-d1 3287 e7-e5 -191 7,23 f1d3 g8f6 g4e2 8. Qg4-f3 1670 Ng8-c6 -146 7,1 f1d3 e5d4 e3d4 9. Bc1-d2 1467 Bf8-b4! -269 8,1 d2c1 a8d8 d4d5 Dabbaba considers 10.Bc1 as the best move, but who wants to play that? After 10.Qe2 black captures twice on d2 and wins a pawn on d4. After 10.d5,Ne7 11.Bxb4,Qxb4 black threats on both b2 and h1. 10. Bd2xb4 2179 Qa5xb4 -294 8,1 d1c2 e5d4 f1d3 White could consider 11.Qe2 to cover b2, and if black plays 11.-,e5xd4 white can recapture with check. But instead black plays 11.-,0-0-0 with big pressure on d4 (12.d5??,Nxe2). White can try 12.Qg4+,Kb8 (if now 13.Qxg7?,Qxb2 14.Rc1,Nxd4! with mate in 6 according to Dabbaba; fx 15.Bd3,Nf3!), but if Dabbaba plays against itself from here this line occurs: 13.Kc2,exd4 14.Qxg7,Rhg8 15.a3,Rxg7 16.axb4,Nxb4+ 17.Kb3,Nxf2 18.Rg1,dxe3 and white can resign. 11. b2-b3 1221 e5xd4 -319 7,1 e3d4 c6d4 Dabbaba also considered 11.-,Ng8 with matethreat on d2... 12. Qf3-e4+ 1683 Nc6-e7 -657 8,1 g2g3 e8c8 White could now try 13.g3,0-0-0 (threats -,Nc3+) 14.Bh3+,Kb8 15.Kc2,Qc3+ 16.Kb1,Qxe3+! (discovered check by Ne7!) Other lines are not much better. 13. e3xd4? 3303 0-0 -730 7,22 f1d3 e7c3 Unpins Ne7 that threats on c3 and h1 now. Game over. Dabbaba could also have played 13.-,0-0-0 14.Qg4+,Kb8 15.g3,Qc3! (better than 15.-,Rxd4 16.Qxd4,Nf5+ 17.Qe3) 14. Bf1-d3 3277 Ne7-c3+ -677 7,35 ---- White could mate if black captured Rh1. 15.Resigns. max nodes pr. move: 18728 at move 11. min nodes pr. move: 17145 at move 12.
Written by Jens Baek Nielsen.
WWW page created: May 27, 1999.