|
|
Fritz 6 - Anand,V (2781) [C54]
Siemens Man-Machine Re-match Frankfurt GER (1), 03.07.1999
To be honest, I didn't really want to play against Fritz and had
only agreed because the Schmitts (Hans-Walter and Connie) had asked me to.
Also, Fritz's victory in the Masters showed that in rapid time controls,
it was already a very tough opponent. I sat now unsure how this would go
and in fact, it was the toughest game for me! 1.e4 e5 2.Sf3 Sc6 3.d4
Fritzy wants to play the Scotch!? 3...exd4 4.Lc4 No, they had
prepared something else! Actually, it was a great choice, since after 12
games against the 3 Ks, it's best to go for something that the human doesn't
remember very well! 4...Lc5 5.c3 Sf6 6.cxd4 Lb4+ 7.Sc3 Fritz goes
for the sharp line. In general, computers now go for pawn sacrifices much
more readily than earlier, but probably this has a lot to do with the opening
book selected. 7...Sxe4 8.0-0 Lxc3 9.d5 Lf6 I decided to go for a
line that I thought was safe, but this turned out to be a mistake. 10.Te1
Se7 11.Txe4 d6 12.Lg5 Suddenly, I wasn't sure exactly what to do: to
go for the main line (that is supposed to lead to a draw) or not. With these
machines, you are never sure, so I decided to improvise. 12...0-0? 13.Lxf6
gxf6 14.Dd2 White has more than enough compensation. My subsequent play
is quite bad, but still it's nice to see the program develop it's attack.
14...Sg6 15.Sd4 f5?! [15...Te8 I should have traded a pair of rooks.]
16.Tee1 Most humans would understand that White has enough compensation,
but what amazes me is that Fritz evaluates this as slightly better for White
(of course I didn't know this during the game!). Has he forgotten how to
count? 16...Ld7 17.Tac1 a6 18.Lb3 Round about here, I couldn't see
a single move for Black. Putting a rook on c8 just invites Se6. 18...f4
Black would rather not do this, but what else? 19.Se6! fxe6 20.dxe6
Lxe6 21.Txe6 Kh8 22.Tc3! Suddenly White's initiative is getting out of
hand. [22.Dc3+ Se5 23.Dxc7 Tc8 Black might be able to save this] 22...Tg8
I was running short of time, so this seemed the safest. [22...Dd7 23.Dd4++-]
23.Dd4+ Se5 24.Dxf4 Tg7 25.De4 c6 26.Te3 Df8 27.h3 Td8 28.Dh4 Ta8 Here
I really thought I was busted. 29.Tg3 Txg3 30.fxg3 Nothing wrong with
this, but I began to dream of reaching a certain rook ending... 30...Dg7
31.Te7 I was relieved to see this move since it gets the queens off the
board. [31.Lc2 Sf7 32.Te7+-] 31...Sg6 32.Txg7 Sxh4 33.Txb7 Sg6 34.Lc2
a5 35.Tc7 [35.h4+-] 35...c5 36.Td7 Ta6 37.Kf2 Tb6 38.b3 a4 39.Ta7
axb3 40.Lxb3 Se5 41.Ke3 Sc6 Now the program loses track. 42.Tc7 Sd4
43.Ld5 Sb5 44.Td7 Sc3 45.Lc4 d5 46.Kd3 [46.Lxd5 Tb2 47.Lf3 Txa2 48.g4+-]
46...dxc4+ 47.Kxc3 Ta6 48.Td2 Ta4! If Fritz had only one pawn on the
kingside he might not be so happy, but the material superiority blinds him.
In fact, this is precisely what I wanted to achieve around move 30 49.g4
Kg7 50.Tf2 Kg6 51.g3 h6 52.Kb2 Kg7 53.Tf5 Ta5 54.Tf3 Tb5+ 55.Kc3 [55.Kc2
Ta5 56.a3] 55...Ta5 56.Kxc4 Txa2 57.Kxc5 Th2! 58.h4 Ta2! Now it's
a draw 59.Kb4 Te2 60.Tc3 Te4+ 61.Tc4 Te3 62.Tc7+ Kg8 63.Tc3 Te4+ 64.Tc4
Te3 65.Kc5 Txg3 1/2-1/2 |
