I don’t really enjoy playing against engines, but wanted to at least test the feature. I have read a number of reviews of Fritz 19 and am surprised at how many people have found fault with the program. I have several ChessBase programs and have had no difficulties with them whatsoever. One person found it offensive that ChessBase used animal avatars for the personalities!
Fritz 19’s pre-set opponents are: Beginner, Hobby Player, Club Player, Strong Club Player, Master Candidate and Grandmaster. For each opponent you can choose a style: All Around, Aggressive, Swindler, Positional, Timid and Endgaome Specialists.
I have no idea and have been unable to locate an estimated rating for any of the personalities. I am guessing a Club Player would fall in the range of 1700-1800 and Strong Club Player 2000-2100.
These personalities with their different playing style could be fun for those who enjoy playing against engines and it could also be good training for those who arr actually hoping to improve.
In any case, here is a casual game I played against the Positiona; Hobby Player personality.
I played two casula games lasting about 15-20 minutes each. One against the Aggressive Club Player and one against the Positional Hobby Player. I defeated the Aggressive Club Player in a game in which we both played sloppy chess. It seemed the engine was giving me tactical chances, most of which I missed.
The second game against the Positional Club Player was more difficult and was actually instructive. The personality put up strong resistance and when we reached the critical position I missed the best line and went into an ending that proved to be pretty difficult, at least for me.
Analyzing the game with Stockfish leads me to believe that the game could very well have been played by a couple of non-Masters. In conclusion, although I still prefer live opponent, I think the personalities do make good sparring partners.
Tartajubow–Positional Hobby Player1–0D03Casual Game2024Stockfish 17
D03: Torre Attack 1.d4 f6 2.f3 d5 3.g5 This old favorite of mine, the
Torre Attack, is rarely seen in modern play. White sims quick development and
hopes to obtain attacking chances on the K-side. e4 Black usually plays 3...
e6, but this move is a crucial continuation as it questions the early B move
and prepares for quick counterplay.in the center. Black hopes to seize the
initiative by gaining a tempo on the B.White's main choices are 4.Bf4 and 4.Bh4
4.h4 This move leaves the B on a less active square, but the hope is that
it will interfere with black’s development. The disadvantage is that it has
no effect on the Q-side and so allows black to prepare pressure against the P
on b2 by ...c5 and ...Qb6. 4.f4 This is the more principled continuation.
After 4..c5. white has to support the center with either c3 or e3. c5 5.e3 c6 White can now play just about any reasonable move. 4...c6 This is
solid, but passive. More robust was 4...c5 5.bd2 g6 A novelty, but the
finchetto is a very solid approach. 5...xd2 6.xd2 b6 7.c3 f5 8.e3 e6 9.d3 xd3 10.xd3 b5 an here Leuba,D (2295)-Kamber,B (2270) Suhr 1991
agreed to a draw. 5...f5 6.e3 Equally good was 6.Nxe4 b6 with
equality/ Moran Llera,J-Gadeo Colomina,F (2088) Linares 2005 5...a5 6.c3 f5 7.xe4 xe4 8.e3 d7 9.d3 f6 Boring! Pyrzynski,M (1980)-Velecky,V
(2104) Polanica Zdroj 2006 6.e3 a5 7.c3 g4 Black would have dine better
capruring on d2 or retreating to d6. 8.e2 This is too routine. 8.h3 was
more precise. g7 9.0-0 0-0 An outright error losing a P. 10...Nxd2 was best
10.h3 I must confess that I totally overlooked the win of a P with 10.Bxe7 xf3 11.xf3 Now I realized black's e-Pawn was attacked, but so did the
Hobby Player! e6 12.b3 b5 This is the wrong reaction to the attack on the
b-Pawn. 11...Qc7 or 11...Qb6 are acceptable. 13.a4 With no prospects on the
K-side white's attention turns to the Q-side. d7 A mistake that loses a P
and leaves white with a decisive advantage. Correct was 13...bxa4 14.axb5 c7 15.bxc6 xc6 16.fc1 a5 17.b5 c7 18.c4 d6 Here I did npt see any clear
way of forcing the issue on the Q-side so decided to switch operations back to
the K-side/ 19.g5 19.cxd5 is crushing. exd5 20.c6 picks up the
d-Pawn after which black os quite helpless. 19...d2 20.d3 xc4 21.xc4 dxc4 22.xc4 b6 23.c5 d8 A tactical mistake. Trading Qs would have at
least kept black on the game. 24.xh7 Attacking both the Q and R.
xh4 25.xf8 d8 Why give up another P?! 26.xe6 fxe6 27.c7 e5 28.xd8+ xd8 It would seem the ending is easilt won for white. 29.c6 29.dxe5 xe5 30.xa5 xb2 is won, but there looks to be a lot of technical
problems for white to solve. 29...d5 30.xg6 f7 31.a6 exd4 32.exd4 xd4 33.1xa5 I thought about resigning for the machine here, but decided to
play on not realizing that black still has some play keft. b4 34.a8 d6 35.b5 d3 36.b7+ g6 How can I meet the attack on f2? 37.c8 Not this way! 37.g8+ Like this! f5 37...h5 38.f7 h6 39.f1 38.f7+ e6 39.g6+ 37...xf2+ 38.f1 g5 Missing the opportunity equalize. 38...e6 39.g8+ f6 Mate is threatened with ,,,Re1# so... 40.g3 e1+ 41.g2 c5 and theoretically the chances are equal. In Shootouts white scored +1
-0 =4 39.g8+ h6 40.b4 Playing on the wrong side of the board! 40.g4
and white stays cle on top as g5+ would win. h4 41.h8+ g5 42.e2 c1+ 43.e3 White gets his K into play and black's pieces are tied up. 40...e6
Threatening ...Re1# 41.g4 e5 A tacticl mistake that should
have lost outright. 41...Bh4 and ...Bf6 makes it much more difficulr for white
to make progress. 42.g5+ An excellent move that simplfies into an ending
that is easier to win. xg5 43.xg5 xg5 44.b5 Of course 44.Ke2 wins a
piece. As things are bow winning is not so easy! Stockfish is giving me about
a 5 Pawn advantage, but I do not play at Stockfish's level, c5 45.c7 e4 46.c6 f5 47.b6 xb6 48.xb6 White must be very careful not
to lose the P and be left with a R vs N> d2+ 49.e2 c4 50.b5+ e4 51.b4 d5 52.h4 This required a bit of calculation to maje sure the P cannot be
stopped! 52.xc4 xc4 53.f3 53.e3 d5 54.f4 e6 55.g5 f7 draws 53...d5 54.f4 e6 55.g5 f7 56.h4 g7 57.h5 f7 The P can;t be forced
to h8 so the game is drawn. 52...e5 53.b5+ e6 54.h5 f6 55.h6 g6
This ending is turning out to be nuch tougher than expected! 56.b6+ f7 57.h7 h8 58.b7+ Now all white needs to do is bring up the K. g6 59.f3 f6 60.e4 g6 61.e5 f7+ 61...h6 62.f5 h5 63.b8 g6 64.h8+ wins 61...g5 62.g7+ h6 63.f6 h5 64.g8 wins/ 62.xf7 xf7 63.h8
Here I did something you can't do in a real game...I resigned for my opponent. 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment