C10 : French Paulsen variation 4.exd5?!

[gleperlier]

Hi,

I encountered a very rare French Paulsen variation today looking at my engine playing on Playchess.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.exd5?!

[D]rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3P4/3P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4

This move was played by an Houdini 2.0c, I guess to make his opponent out of book.

I found this line on internet

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl ... .%200-0%20

http://www.chessage.com/database/opbrow ... f6/depth/6

Seems not a really good idea as Houdini was crushed by Critter.

[Event "Partie évaluée, 60m + 15s"]
[Site "Salle des machines"]
[Date "2012.03.27"]
[White "Houdini 2.0 Pro"]
[Black "Numerobis, Critter 1.4a 64-bit"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2687"]
[BlackElo "2468"]
[PlyCount "230"]
[EventDate "2012.03.27"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]

{Houdini 2.0 Pro x64 Blizzard (6 cores): 27.7 plies; 20 747kN/s Intel(R) Core (TM) i7 CPU 980@3.33GHz 4116MHz,} 1. e4 {B 0} e6 {B 0} 2. d4 {B 0} d5 {B 0} 3. Nc3 {B 0} Nf6 {B 0} 4. exd5 {B 0} exd5 {0.10/22 188} 5. Nf3 {B 0} Bd6 {0.13/23 272} 6. Bd3 {B 0} O-O {0.08/24 159} 7.
Be3 {B 0 (0-0)} Nc6 {0.00/23 161} 8. a3 {B 0 (0-0)} h6 {-0.04/23 119} 9. O-O {B 0} Bg4 {0.00/24 300} 10. h3 {0.00/25 92} Bh5 {0.00/24 37} 11. Re1 {-0.03/25 75 (g2-g4)} Qd7 {-0.07/23 128} 12. Be2 {-0.04/26 0 (Cc3-b5)} Rfe8 {-0.10/24 123 (Tae8)} 13. Nh4 {-0.07/25 116} Bxe2 {-0.16/23 2} 14. Rxe2 {-0.04/26 171} Na5 {-0.10/23 30 (Se7)} 15. Qd3 {-0.03/27 122} c6 {-0.03/22 0} 16. b3 {-0.05/26 83} Ne4 {-0.04/24 32} 17. Bc1 {-0.06/25 102 (Ch4-f3)} b6 {-0.08/22 118 (Sxc3)} 18. Nf3 {-0.05/27 144 (Fc1-b2)} f5 {-0.17/21 113 (Sxc3)} 19. Re1 {0.03/23 177 (Fc1-d2)} Qe6 {-0.06/20 133 (Df7)} 20. Ne2 {0.09/24 169 (Fc1-b2)} g5 {
0.00/21 118} 21. Bb2 {0.03/24 1} Rad8 {0.00/21 116 (Te7)} 22. Nc3 0.04/22 161 (Ta1-d1)} Re7 {0.00/20 95} 23. Rad1 {0.02/24 86 (Dd3-f1)} Rde8 {0.00/21 94} 24. Ne2 {0.01/23 0 (Dd3-f1)} Bb8 {0.00/21 174 (Df7)} 25. Ne5 {0.02/22 83 (a3-a4) Numerobis,Critter 1.4a 64-bit propose la nulle} c5 {0.00/21 81} 26. h4 {0.00/24 33 (Dd3-b5)} Bc7 {0.00/19 78 (c4)} 27. h5 {0.13/23 82 (Fb2-a1)} c4 {0.01/21 75} 28. Qh3 {0.07/24 2} Qf6 {0.11/21 80 (b5)} 29. Nc3 {0.16/23 65} g4 {0.14/22
4 (Sxc3)} 30. Qe3 {0.21/24 79 (Cc3xe4)} Nxc3 {0.20/21 74} 31. Qxc3 {0.10/24 36} Qh4 {0.14/22 30} 32. f4 {0.09/23 183} Qxh5 {0.17/21 0 (g3)} 33. g3 {0.17/24 58} Re6 {0.17/23 174} 34. Re3 {0.19/27 0} Rd8 {0.14/22 60 (Tc8)} 35. Rf1 {0.14/24 73} Rc8 {0.14/22 0} 36. a4 {0.17/24 87} Qe8 {0.14/22 56} 37. Qd2 {0.14/26 28} Bd6 {0.17/21 31 (Lxe5)} 38. Qg2 {0.26/24 62} Rd8 {0.26/21 9} 39. Qe2 {0.32/24 80} Bxe5 {0.38/21 17} 40. fxe5 {0.38/24 58} Qg6 {0.36/23 0} 41. Rf4 {0.31/25 175 (Fb2-c3)} Rd7 {0.35/21 174} 42. Qf1 {0.30/28 0} cxb3 {0.41/22 76 (Tf7)} 43.
cxb3 {0.31/26 52} Rc6 {0.41/24 0} 44. Rxf5 {0.28/26 57 (Df1-b5)} Rf7 {0.33/24 48} 45. Rxf7 {0.26/27 27} Qxf7 {0.42/24 0} 46. Qe1 {0.22/27 66} Qe6 {0.32/24 0} 47. Ba3 {0.16/26 131} Rc7 {0.20/23 14} 48. Qd1 {0.16/27 28 (Te3-c3)} Nb7 {0.13/23 41} 49. Qd3 {0.03/26 37} Nd8 {0.11/25 10} 50. Re1 {-0.03/25 46} Rf7 {0.00/25 0} 51. Bc1 {-0.06/26 57} Rf3 {0.00/26 0} 52. Re3 {-0.06/23 0} Rf7 {0.00/26 48} 53. Bd2 {-0.07/25 44 (Rg1-g2)} Kg7 {0.00/25 47} 54. a5 {-0.14/26 38 (Te3-e1)} Nc6 {-0.16/23 45 (h5)} 55. b4 {-0.17/25 89 (a5xb6)} bxa5 {-0.16/24 44
} 56. bxa5 {-0.24/27 9} Qg6 {-0.21/24 33} 57. Bc3 {-0.26/27 25 (a5-a6)} Qxd3 {-0.25/24 42} 58. Rxd3 {-0.22/29 0} h5 {-0.33/26 34} 59. Kg2 {-0.23/29 9} Rb7 {-0.42/27 29 (Kg6)} 60. Rd2 {-0.24/29 49 (Td3-d1)} Rb3 {-0.55/27 39} 61. Rc2 {-0.30/29 23} Kf7 {-0.53/26 13} 62. Kf1 {-0.34/28 80 (Tc2-c1)} Ke6 {-0.52/26 38} 63. Kf2 {-0.39/28 26 (Tc2-c1)} Ne7 {-0.72/25 37} 64. Ke3 {-0.42/28 72 (Fc3-e1)} Nf5+ {-0.80/24 85 (Tb7)} 65. Kf4 {-0.46/27 14} Ra3 {-0.88/25 19 (Tb1)} 66. Rc1 {-0.50/27 64 (a5-a6)} Ra4 {-0.89/24 33} 67. Rd1 {-0.45/29 4} Ra2 {-0.89/23 28}
68. Rc1 {-0.66/28 156} Rf2+ {-0.83/24 0} 69. Kg5 {-0.63/28 0} Rg2 {-1.03/24 32} 70. Bb4 {-0.60/27 4} Nxd4 {-1.03/22 0} 71. Rc7 {-0.63/27 50} Kxe5 {-1.03/22 1} 72. Kxh5 {-0.61/27 46} Rxg3 {-0.94/22 1} 73. Be1 {-0.61/27 29} Rb3 {-0.94/21 5} 74. Kxg4 {-0.61/27 37} Nb5 {-0.96/23 0} 75. Rd7 {-0.61/27 28} d4 {-1.03/21 7} 76. Bf2 {-0.55/27 23} a6 {-0.94/22 51 (Tb4)} 77. Rd8 {-0.49/29 35} Rc3 {-0.96/22 35 (Ta3)} 78. Re8+ {-0.58/27 29 (Ff2-e1)} Kd5 {-1.37/22 28} 79. Rd8+ {-0.59/28 0} Kc4 {-1.38/23 32} 80. Bxd4 {-0.79/29 101 (Td8-a8)} Nxd4 {-4.37/21 31} 81.Rd6 {-1.06/33 0} Rg3+ {-4.54/23 16} 82. Kh5 {-1.06/34 0 (Rg4-f4)} Kb5 {-5.18/22 23} 83. Rd5+ {-1.14/38 98} Kb4 {-5.72/25 0} 84. Rxd4+ {-1.16/37 25 (Rh5-h6)} Kxa5 {-#42/1 0} 85. Kh4 {-1.15/39 26 (Td4-e4)} Rb3 {-#40/0 0 (Tc3)} 86. Kg5 {-1.17/38 27} Rb4 {-#39/0 0} 87. Rd8 {-1.17/37 98} Ka4 {-#38/0 0} 88. Rh8 {-1.30/36 102} a5 {-#37/0 0} 89. Kf6 {-1.38/36 37} Rc4 {-#36/0 0 (Kb3)} 90. Rb8 {-1.39/35 21} Ka3 {-#35/0 0} 91. Ke5 {-1.43/36 34} a4 {-#34/0 0} 92. Kd5 {-1.43/35 19} Rg4 {-#33/0 0 (Tf4)} 93. Ke6 {-1.67/32 65} Ka2 {-#29/0 0} 94. Kf5 {-1.80/33 74} Rh4 {-#28/0 0 (Tc4)} 95. Ke6 {-2.35/26 55} a3 {-#26/0 0} 96. Ke5 {-5.75/26 27} Ka1 {-#24/0 0} 97. Kd5 {-5.88/31 15} a2 {-#23/0 0} 98. Kc5 {-6.15/34 38} Rh1 {-#22/0 0} 99. Kc6 {-6.93/33 30} Rb1 {-#19/0 0} 100. Rf8 {-8.34/31 25} Kb2 {-#18/0 0} 101. Ra8 {-12.92/28 22} Rd1 {-#16/0 0 (a1D)} 102. Kc5 {-#14/25
20} a1=Q {-#14/0 0} 103. Rxa1 {-#13/32 12} Kxa1 {-#13/0 0} 104. Kb4 {-#12/34 1} Rc1 {-#12/0 0} 105. Kb3 {-#11/32 0} Rc8 {-#11/0 0} 106. Kb4 {-#10/30 0} Kb2 {-#10/0 0} 107. Kb5 {-#9/37 0} Kc3 {-#9/0 0 (Ka3)} 108. Kb6 {-#8/26 0} Rc4 {-#8/0 0 (Kb4)} 109. Kb7 {-#7/24 0} Kb3 {-#7/0 0 (Kb4)} 110. Ka7 {-#6/22 0} Rb4 {-#6/0 0} 111. Ka6 {-#5/42 0} Ka4 {-#5/0 0} 112. Ka7 {-#4/42 0} Ka5 {-#4/0 0} 113. Ka8 {-#3/42 0} Kb6 {-#3/0 0} 114. Kb8 {-#2/53 0} Rc4 {-#2/0 0} 115. Ka8 {
-#1/23 0} Rc8# {-#1/0 0} 0-1

[MikeGL]

Good game by Critter.
In the middle game I guess Houdini2.0c was out of some knowledge when
it keeps on playing Nc3-Ne2-Nc3-Ne2-Nc3.

Also, at early endgame, H2 keeps on placing most of its pawn on dark
squares which is against the fundamentals, hence making a classic Bad
Bishop versus an active N, which can be won easily by N.

[gleperlier]

Thanks a lot for the analysis This will help me for my personal play.