nice analysis. I saw after the game 26. Ba5 was probably winning. btw rybka is slow use free engines houdini/firebird/stcokfish which are as strong or better than rybka and also very very fast. While houdini is a depth of 15 rybka will still be processing 9 or 10 depth.
game analysis: Bishops Unlimited!
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Thanks for the tip gowda, I'll check it out.
post-mortem and computer analysis for this game: http://www.chess.com/votechess/game.html?id=15904
5. Bg2! maintains the tension in the center. rybka likes d5 to a depth of 11 moves, but then switches to our move as best. Nice! +0.33@14
6. d5! best again. we recognized that exd5 Nh4 wins the pawn back due to the pin on the bishop with advantage.
7. Ng5?! rybka likes Nh4, the other main db try in this position. Nh4 scores +0.25@15, while our move scores basically equal -0.07@15.
8. Nh3. best.
9. cxd5. best. we felt our position was superior but rybka continues to scorethe game as equal with a tiny edge to black.
10. O-O. best.
11. Nc3. best. black dodges a 23% for the losing 10... O-O??
12. e4. rybka plays Nf4 Nbd7 e4, but our order is just as good.
13. f4! black's 12... Rd8 is a mistake, and we pounce by finding the best move. white has a small advantage again +0.19@15. rybka has to look to a depth of 11 to find f4 as the best move. nice one! again we over-estimated our edge in the comments, as we discovered later black has some resources vs the coming big squeeze.
14. Re1. rybka strikes right away with e5, but our choice is almost as good. rybka justifies e5 by pointing out that dxe5? d6! Bxd6 Nb5! wins a piece. We never even considered e5 in the comments.
15. a4! a subtle move to find, immobilizing the black queenside. rybka plays Nf2 then a4, because it recognizes that black is not actually threatening to play b5 right away... Nf2 b5? e5! with the d6 trick coming and a crazy position.
16. Nf2. just as good as rybka's Be3. b3 also scores well for white (+0.26@13), which is about what we concluded in the comments. good job.
17. Qd4?! rybka scores the game +0.47@13 for Qe2, though our move is not exactly bad, scoring +0.24@14. It's surprising how well black is doing despite the tremendous space disadvantage. There are still just enough resources for them to hold it together. We also looked at Be3, which scores +0.42@14.
18. Be3. rybka goes back and forth between Qxc5 and Be3.
19. e5? rybka waits a bit longer to make the breakthrough, playing Rab1 Nc5 e5. Given how the hanging b pawn ended up being important in so many lines, I think this is understandable. white has a solid advantage +0.49@13, but after our move rybka scores the game dead equal again at a depth of 13 moves! This position was crazy complicated with tons of lines, it would have taken quite an effort to recognize that Rab1 was the quiet move we needed to maintain an edge.
20. Nce4. black blunders back with 19...Ne8 and with rybka's 20.Nfe4 white has a +0.51@12 edge. Our move is almost as good. brazenbishop's e6 is also a good move here.
21. fxe5. best.
22. exf6. best. white's edge is now +0.65@12.
23. Qxb6. rybka likes Bd2, but our move scores just as well.
24. Qe6. best again!
25. Bd2?! Bd4 scores +0.72@16 with Bf6 Nxf6 Nexf6 Bxd5 Bxd5 Qxa6 as the main line, winning a pawn (Bxf6 is a key threat for white in this line). Our move tempoing the queen is not bad though, and scores +0.49@13. Again we never even considered the best move, which is probably why we didn't vote for it!
26. Qe5?? The key mistake in the game. After a series of great moves, we found ourselves with a big advantage. Ba5! scores +0.91@14 here, with total craziness erupting (Ba5 Nec7 Qg6 Bb4 Nd2 Bxd2 Bxd2 Qxb2 Bxh6! is the main line). Instead, Qe5?? leaves the game scoring dead equal! We argued a bit this move between Qe5 and Bxh6, and it turns out that we voted for the best move... unfortunately, we didn't even consider the winning move!
27. Ba5. One move too late. Rybka likes Rac1 as well. Here we began to see that we had nothing better then a draw in all lines. Good analysis! It's important to know where you stand in the game.
28. Nxf6. best. we did a lot of analysis here and nailed the best move, even though it only draws. good job.
29. Re3! the best move in a position with lots of candidates. here we laid out all the candidate moves, and nailed the winner. check the archive for this move and you'll see a good model for how we should analyze as a team I think. Rybka says that lots of moves are losing for white here...
- Qe3? Bxg2 -1.17@12
- Bxb7? Qxb7 -1.60@11
- Bc3? Bxg2 -1.72@10
- Ne4?? Nxe4 -9.22@9
- Kh1?? Bb4 -5.3@13
- Bh3?? Bb4 -3.67@10
But after our move the game is completely equal.
30.Rxc3. best. we correctly avoided the trap of Bxc3 Bxg2 Kxg2 Qb7+ with Bc5 next, saving the game again with our solid analysis.
31.Re3. best.
32.Kxf2. best.
33.Ke2?! Kf1 is a bit better but both are drawn.
34.Qxe7. best and rybka agrees the game is totally equal.
Draw agreed.
This opponent was excellent. They had multiple players with ratings > 2400 doing analysis, they gave lines and discussed options, voted late, and we still pushed them right to the brink. I think we should be very proud of this game.
A running theme with our team: Whenever we consider the best move, we seem to end up voting for it or for something that is almost as good. Our worst mistakes almost always happen when we don't even consider the best move. Suggest more candidate moves!
Most often this happens when we compare two moves early and spend a lot of time analyzing them. We usually choose the best move between the two we are looking at, but we get distracted from figuring out all the candidate moves, and never even look at the winner.
I think if we put a little more effort into finding good candidate moves before we get too deep into the analysis, we'll be an even stronger team.
Good job everybody! This team was tough and we pushed them hard. We'll get 'em next time!