Impressive Performance by HIARCS

Thanks (again) to Kirk who informs us that HIARCS found the winning plan in the Knaak-Geller position given below. Very impressive! For those that don’t know the 2nd World Chess Software Championship was held from November 24 to 26, 2011, at Tilburg University, in The Netherlands. One thing I noticed about this tournament was that everyone had to use the same hardware so that helped level the playing conditions.
The final standings:

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

P

1

Hiarcs

4w½

2b1

bye

3w1

5b½

4b½

2w½

bye

3b½

5w1

5½

2

Junior

bye

1w0

3b1

5w½

4b½

bye

1b½

3w1

5b1

4w½

5

3

Pandix

5w½

4b1

2w0

1b0

bye

5b1

4w½

2b0

1w½

bye

3½

4

Jonny

1b½

3w0

5b0

bye

2w½

1w½

3b½

5w½

bye

2b½

3

5

Shredder

3b½

bye

4w1

2b½

1w½

3w0

bye

4b½

2w0

1b0

3

I am not familiar with the HIARCS program but according to the Chessbase website it is famous for its human-like playing style and its ability to come up with the unexpected. Recent HIARCS versions are known for sharp attacking chess. More importantly they claim that HIARCS 12 has been enhanced through a new deeper search and evaluation of dynamic possibilities. They comment, “This new approach enables HIARCS to play interesting, distinctive aggressive chess while being sensitive to the needs of the position.” and its play has been improved in quiet positions because it is “more selective about the variations it explores to achieve a better understanding than previous versions leading to much stronger play.”

Actually, I’m not familiar with any of the engines in this event, BUT…the fact that HIARCS discovered 22.Bc2 and then followed it up with the correct plan of Bb3, Nf4 and Rbd1 really is quite impressive.