After hundreds of tries, I beat Natasha bot - Chess Forums

Yakvi

Nov 17, 2021

0

#1

She drove me crazy. Her blunders seemed stupid yet I never managed to capitalise on them.
My mental health deteriorated every time I spent a few hours with that cold-blooded killer of a bot. Of an entity. Of the beast.
I’m never comfortable against Sicilian defence in general, yet hers seemed completely impenetrable. My openings knowledge was way too weak to establish any sort of influence on the board.
Eventually, I started trying new stuff. Fianchetto openings. Retreating defensively. Thinking where to put my pawns. Celebrating small victories like breaking her structure with a trade or getting a pawn advantage in the opening.

Tonight was the most frustrating of all. In one game, I almost got to the endgame but then blundered away all my advantage. Six points of material down the drain. In another, I built an a great fortress and slowly pushed my way with a piece advantage; I traded away the rooks and the bishops; leaving my enemy king isolated on the right side while my king and knight escorted the four pawns for promotion; I wasn’t too greedy, I only promoted two queens and started positioning myself for a simple ladder mate. I should have just promoted to rooks. That stalemate left me devastated yet I persevered.

I had a thought: when you are low level enough, like me, rarely do you truly win a game. Most often than not, it’s the opponent who loses. That’s the most frustrating thing when playing against the bot: when they “lose” a piece or the advantage, it’s still calculated. While they might be programmed to make not the best move time to time, rarely those make actual difference in the long run.

Well, tonight my crusade is over. It wasn’t the cleanest of victories, and it took Natasha making a critical blunder that I saw and capitalised upon. But it doesn’t matter anymore. Three crowns are hanging over her head, each one reminding of my chess sins: overlooking opponent’s best move; ignoring a weakness my move creates; refusing to properly learn opening lines.

Tonight, I rest.

Here’s the game if you’re curious.

[Site "Chess.com iPhone"]
[Date "11/18/2021 00:18"]
[FEN rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1]
[White "Natasha"]
[Black "Yakvi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2000"]
[BlackElo "1092"]
[Termination "Yakvi ha vinto per Scaccomatto"]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h6 5.g4 Bh7 6.Bd2 e6 7.Nf3 Be4 8.Nc3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Na4 Bb6 12.O-O-O Nc6 13.Nxb6 axb6 14.Re1 Rxa2 15.Kb1 Qa8 16.c3 Qa4 17.Qxf7+ Kxf7 18.b3 Ra1+ 19.Kc2 Qa2+ 20.Kd3 Rxe1 21.Bxe1 Qb1+ 22.Kd2 Qxb3 23.Rh3 Nxe5 24.Bd3 Nxd3 25.Rxd3 Nf6 26.Ke2 Re8 27.g5 hxg5 28.hxg5 Ne4 29.f3 Qc2+ 30.Bd2 Nxd2 31.Rxd2 Qxc3 32.g6+ Kxg6 33.Rd3 Qc4 34.Ke3 Rf8 35.Ra3 Qc1+ 36.Ke2 Qxa3 37.f4 Rc8 38.Kd1 Rc3 39.f5+ Kg5 40.fxe6 Rb3 41.Ke2 Rb2+ 42.Ke1 Qa1# {0-1}