Komodo vs. Nakamura knight for pawn handicap game.

[lkaufman]

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....

In his official match he did stand to win decent money for wins and draws (win = 3 draws for prize purposes) and did take reasonable time, but I agree he was less serious than some other GMs have been. In the case of this las-minute substitution game, I don't think he even asked about prizes, and clearly played too fast, probably because he thought it would be an easy win. I think other top players would do it and take it seriously, if the terms are right.

[althus]

You would be in the best position to know, I suppose. I do remember reading something not too long ago that said the top players have a revulsion to playing against the machine, despite, or more like because of, how much they use it as a tool. I can imagine their emotional attitude to the machine being a complicated one, if they dare take it seriously enough to have one at all.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

You would be in the best position to know, I suppose. I do remember reading something not too long ago that said the top players have a revulsion to playing against the machine, despite, or more like because of, how much they use it as a tool. I can imagine their emotional attitude to the machine being a complicated one, if they dare take it seriously enough to have one at all.

if you don't have a well-elaborated way of how to win against the machine,
then sitting at the table with the only options being drawing, if not losing quickly, is certainly not an enticing perspective.