Komodo vs. Nakamura knight for pawn handicap game.

[lkaufman]

Here is the Knight for pawn handicap game played by Komodo vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura on chess.com substituting for IM Yaacov Norowitz. Time limit 45 min plus 15 seconds increment. Contempt was set at 100, so the below evals are significantly biased for White.

[Event "Rapid 45m+15s - 45m+15s"][knight for pawn handicap]
[Site "chess.com"]
[Date "2017.09.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Komodo 1926.00 64-bit"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[TimeControl "2100+10"]

{6144MB, Book2016.ctg, 24core} 1. e4 {-1.28/25 3} d5 {680} 2. e5 {-1.44/32 172}
Nc6 {45 (d4)} 3. d4 {-1.12/31 49} Bf5 {16} 4. Nf3 {-1.13/33 75} e6 {43 (h5)} 5.
Be2 {-1.19/33 70} Nge7 {26 (h5)} 6. O-O {-1.07/33 99} Nc8 {50 (Bg4)} 7. c3 {
-1.06/32 93} Be7 {23} 8. Ne1 {-1.10/31 23} f6 {47 (0-0)} 9. Bh5+ {-0.79/32 98}
Bg6 {33 (g6)} 10. exf6 {-0.30/30 52} gxf6 {35 (Bxf6)} 11. Nd3 {-0.26/32 73} Bd6
{33} 12. Re1 {-0.33/32 33} Kf7 {22 (Qd7)} 13. Qg4 {0.00/37 70} f5 {111} 14. Qh3
{0.00/44 0} Qg8 {22 (Qf6)} 15. Bf3 {0.66/31 91} Nb6 {57 (h5)} 16. Bf4 {1.34/31
74} Bxf4 {190 (Qd8)} 17. Nxf4 {1.04/30 24} Re8 {11} 18. a4 {1.23/31 48} Kg7 {
91 (a5)} 19. Qg3 {1.00/32 95} Qf7 {43 (Nd7)} 20. h4 {1.62/32 44} Nd7 {242} 21.
h5 {1.67/35 0} Nf6 {16} 22. Re3 {1.66/34 35} Ne4 {59} 23. Bxe4 {1.33/33 59}
dxe4 {19} 24. f3 {1.49/34 176} e5 {36} 25. dxe5 {1.70/31 0} Rxe5 {14 (Nxe5)}
26. Rd1 {3.72/31 31} } 1-0

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

I wanted to see the game:

[pgn][Event "Rapid 45m+15s - 45m+15s"]
[Site "chess.com"]
[Date "2017.09.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Komodo 1926.00 64-bit"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "52"]
[TimeControl "2100+10"]

{6144MB, Book2016.ctg, 24core} 1. e4 {-1.28/25 3} d5 {680} 2. e5 {-1.44/32 172}
Nc6 {45 (d4)} 3. d4 {-1.12/31 49} Bf5 {16} 4. Nf3 {-1.13/33 75} e6 {43 (h5)} 5.
Be2 {-1.19/33 70} Nge7 {26 (h5)} 6. O-O {-1.07/33 99} Nc8 {50 (Bg4)} 7. c3 {
-1.06/32 93} Be7 {23} 8. Ne1 {-1.10/31 23} f6 {47 (0-0)} 9. Bh5+ {-0.79/32 98}
Bg6 {33 (g6)} 10. exf6 {-0.30/30 52} gxf6 {35 (Bxf6)} 11. Nd3 {-0.26/32 73} Bd6
{33} 12. Re1 {-0.33/32 33} Kf7 {22 (Qd7)} 13. Qg4 {0.00/37 70} f5 {111} 14. Qh3
{0.00/44 0} Qg8 {22 (Qf6)} 15. Bf3 {0.66/31 91} Nb6 {57 (h5)} 16. Bf4 {1.34/31
74} Bxf4 {190 (Qd8)} 17. Nxf4 {1.04/30 24} Re8 {11} 18. a4 {1.23/31 48} Kg7 {
91 (a5)} 19. Qg3 {1.00/32 95} Qf7 {43 (Nd7)} 20. h4 {1.62/32 44} Nd7 {242} 21.
h5 {1.67/35 0} Nf6 {16} 22. Re3 {1.66/34 35} Ne4 {59} 23. Bxe4 {1.33/33 59}
dxe4 {19} 24. f3 {1.49/34 176} e5 {36} 25. dxe5 {1.70/31 0} Rxe5 {14 (Nxe5)}
26. Rd1 {3.72/31 31} } 1-0[/pgn]

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

I really bad game on the part of Nakamura; seems to have been dropping
some 50cps or so on each and every move.

but then, the position is very tricky in case you are not prepared.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

of course, if one is prepared and takes the game seriously, it is easy to win, like in this game:

[pgn][Event "Blitz 1m"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2017.09.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT"]
[Black "Lyudmil Tsvetkov, owner"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "owner"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "60"]

{512MB, OWNER-PC} 1. e4 {-2.20/20 5} e5 {2} 2. Nf3 {-2.22/18 3} Nc6 {2} 3. Bc4
{-2.52/20 0} Be7 {4} 4. d4 {-2.17/18 1} d6 {4} 5. d5 {-2.33/17 1} Nb8 {3} 6.
Bd3 {-2.37/20 0} Nf6 {4} 7. O-O {-2.41/21 4} O-O {2} 8. c3 {-2.49/21 0} Ne8 {4}
9. Re1 {-2.14/16 2} f5 {6} 10. Qc2 {-2.23/21 1} f4 {5} 11. h3 {-2.37/21 0} g5 {
2} 12. Bc4 {-2.61/19 4} Kh8 {13} 13. Nh2 {-2.79/15 1} h5 {2} 14. a4 {-3.14/17 2
} g4 {5} 15. hxg4 {-3.05/17 1} hxg4 {2} 16. g3 {-3.14/18 0} Bg5 {0} 17. gxf4 {
-3.25/16 3} Bxf4 {3} 18. Bxf4 {-3.42/20 3} Rxf4 {10} 19. Kg2 {-3.13/17 1} Nf6 {
10} 20. Re3 {-3.33/18 1} Nbd7 {15} 21. Rh1 {-3.49/16 1} Kg7 {2} 22. Nf1 {-3.61/
18 1} Nf8 {4} 23. Ng3 {-4.00/19 1} Ng6 {5} 24. Kg1 {-3.00/16 1} Bd7 {18} 25.
Bb5 {-3.06/17 2} Ne7 {0} 26. Qc1 {-2.74/17 1} Bxb5 {0} 27. axb5 {-3.29/18 1}
Qb6 {7} 28. c4 {-2.63/15 0} Qd4 {9} 29. Ne2 {-2.57/15 0} Qc5 {7} 30. Nxf4 {-2.
95/23 0} exf4 {1} 31. Re2 {-3.26/20 3} Ng6 {4} 32. b3 {-3.29/21 0} Re8 {36} 33.
e5 {-3.54/16 1} Rxe5 {16} 34. Rxe5 {-5.08/15 1} dxe5 {2} 35. b4 {-6.08/18 2}
Qd4 {8} 36. Qe1 {-7.72/16 1} Ne4 {22} 37. b6 {-10.63/17 1} axb6 {8} 38. Kf1 {
-13.12/15 1} Nd2+ {209} 0-1

[/pgn]

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

of course, if you want to rout SF, that is an easy task.

just gave SF the chance to equalise, but it does not want to take it:

[pgn][Event "Blitz 1m"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2017.09.14"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT"]
[Black "Lyudmil Tsvetkov, owner"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "owner"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
[TimeControl "60"]

{512MB, OWNER-PC} 1. e4 {-2.20/20 5} e5 {2} 2. Nf3 {-2.22/18 3} Nc6 {2} 3. Bc4
{-2.52/20 0} Be7 {3} 4. d4 {-2.25/18 1} d6 {3} 5. d5 {-2.26/16 1} Nb8 {3} 6.
O-O {-2.20/19 3} Nf6 {2} 7. Nd2 {-2.17/21 0} O-O {4} 8. a4 {-2.23/19 2} Ne8 {5}
9. c3 {-2.06/17 1} f5 {2} 10. Qc2 {-2.22/19 4} f4 {3} 11. b3 {-2.31/17 2} g5 {6
} 12. h3 {-2.31/16 2} h5 {0} 13. Kh1 {-2.80/19 6} g4 {2} 14. Rg1 {-2.70/19 2}
Nf6 {9} 15. Bf1 {-2.74/14 1} Qe8 {10} 16. Ba3 {-2.62/14 1} Qg6 {15} 17. Bd3 {
-2.75/16 3} Nh7 {7} 18. Nc4 {-2.95/17 3} Rf7 {13} 19. f3 {-2.78/12 0} g3 {6}
20. Qd1 {-3.32/20 0} Qf6 {0} 21. Ra2 {-3.26/14 1} Nd7 {18} 22. Qc1 {-3.52/15 0}
Ndf8 {4} 23. Bb4 {-3.83/13 1} Ng6 {3} 24. Bf1 {-4.83/16 3} Ng5 {32} 25. Nd2 {
-6.45/24 0} Nxh3 {0} 26. gxh3 {-3.40/17 0} Qh4 {1} 27. Nb1 {-6.46/21 3} Bxh3 {6
} 28. Rh2 {-9.40/19 1} gxh2 {0} 29. Rxg6+ {-11.91/23 1} Rg7 {2} 30. Rxg7+ {-7.
13/15 0} Kxg7 {2} 0-1

[/pgn]

[Jouni]

You should have played instead of Nakamura in World Cup. And don't waste talent here .

[M ANSARI]

If you use computer assistance, of course it is easy. Just have Stockfish play against itself with knight odds

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

If you use computer assistance, of course it is easy. Just have Stockfish play against itself with knight odds

what kind of computer assistance?

just look at the structures on the board: SF never plays like that.

[JJJ]

If you use computer assistance, of course it is easy. Just have Stockfish play against itself with knight odds

what kind of computer assistance?

just look at the structures on the board: SF never plays like that.

They don't know you enough it is normal they think you re not doing this by yourself , it was hard to me as well at the beginning.

[althus]

I have to wonder how seriously Naka takes these games. It's hard to put a finger on, but it feels like there is something listless about his play here. And he hardly used any time at all:

https://www.chess.com/live/game/2311875 ... omodochess

Similarly for the odds match last year. I remember his interview comments after the game he lost, which were: "I lost the thread somewhere in the middlegame <shrug>......" and it just felt from his manner like he didn't care much one way or the other.

Naka is the only superGM willing to even do this, and if your only guy doesn't want to try very hard....