So... I wanted a challenge, so I stuck on Houdini and played a 20 v. 10-minute (I had 20 minutes, Houdini 10) game vs. Houdini 2.0c on Arena and I was wondering if you guys had any pointers or comments or something, I feel I played pretty well and don't see where I went wrong, but obviously I'm not too heartbroken at losing to a 3300 rated player.

Cheers doods. 

 

I don't see much of a problem with your initial development, except that you gave up your bishops.  Giving up the bishop pair sort of put you down on your mobility and coordination.  And I agree with you about the initial capture of the d pawn.  11. a3 may not have been necessary, because simply castling could have kept the potential for the pin away.  In addition, it is unlikely he would have taken the knight for the bishop, because that would have caused dark square weaknesses for him.  Also, as he began to attack you on the king side, you moved your pieces towards the queen side, which left you somewhat more vulnerable (in this case, it lost you time).  Having both the queen and the dark squared bishop gave Houdini an advantage on the dark squares.  You may have noticed this with the lost pawn and the opened dark squares around your king (your queen took residence on one of them for a few moments).  You were somewhat passive with your knights, though it was hardly avoidable in some circumstances (goes back to trading away your bishops earlier in the game).  And the last few moves gave you little to do anything about anyways.  Honestly, you played fairly well (probably a lot better than I would have), but every single weak or inaccurate move was exploited.  In other words, you aren't perfect.  You didn't make any terrible blunders, but you didn't make all of the best moves.  I would suggest in the future to never move pawns around your king that have potential for exploitation, and be more active with your pieces (whether they be knight or bishop).

Well, this is more of a positional game, which I think is why I didn't get totally murdered, or mated or anything else that's awful like dropping pieces, but engines are actually so good at building the pressure in these types of positions that it feels as if it's just a disaster waiting to happen whenever you play these things lol.

Good game man. Has anyone ever actually beaten Houdini before (3000+)?

hi dude,i will quickly tell u a few points that might help u.first of all the openning choice wasnt that great..theory says black gets equality after c5(black responded with nc6 though)i assume ur houdini is not loaded with a strong book.you gave up ur bishop pair and played some slow moves like nd2,a3.etc ..i think the biggest mistake was actually e4..openning up the center while black got the bishop pair that is decisive in open games,leaving white with an isolated pawn while he is not fully developed.the main idea of white to have a isolated pawn on QGD is to have a smooth development(specially for the bishops)but in this case white wasnt developed properly thats why having an isolated pawn doesnt help white to devleop.actually it became a burden.at move 27 u had to play moves like nf1,ne2..all those moves to save ur isolated d pawn.thats a quick thought of mine..it was an interesting game btw..always love man vs machine games.

My tip for you...

Give yourself 30 minutes, and Houdini 1 minute.

not alot in that game well played... you will always find that when you play well against an engine, an engine will always intend on a marginal win if it does not see huge sacs and big tactical wins. it just plays to win even if the tactics are 1,500