Komodo vs. GM Robert Hess

[lkaufman]

This Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 11 and 12), Komodo will play a serious four game handicap match with GM Robert Hess (FIDE 2569, FIDE rapid 2622) on chess.com. Games at 1 pm and 6 pm Eastern time each day. Hess will be commenting/thinking out loud during the games. Time limit is 45' + 15" as usual, with an extra 10 seconds per move for Hess to compensate for operator time, since I have to enter the moves on the display board myself. Hess was born in 1991, so even younger than Lenderman. Handicaps will be increased from the Lenderman match; alternating between Exchange plus move (Komodo plays Black without a8 rook, Hess White without b1 knight, slide rook to b1), and "pawn (f7) and two moves"; Hess starts with pawns moved to e4 and d4, Komodo removes f7 pawn, then Black to move. Back in the 1800s pawn and two moves was considered a separate handicap step between pawn and move and knight odds.
Based on Komodo evals, the handicaps will be about half a pawn larger than in the Lenderman match. Hess is somewhat lower rated so it's hard to say what will happen.

[rcmaddox]

Will the games also be shown at the Komodo site?

Since the games are not scheduled for Chess.com TV, I presume they will be viewable in "Live Chess?"

[lkaufman]

Will the games also be shown at the Komodo site?

Since the games are not scheduled for Chess.com TV, I presume they will be viewable in "Live Chess?"

I think it was an oversight; the match is confirmed, and I expect it will be added to the schedule soon.

[JJJ]

Komodo is now too strong and so far, no GM managed to make good result at these handicap even if they are a little increased now.
So I m betting to 2,5 for komodo as a minimum, probably Komodo will make 3,5.

[lkaufman]

Komodo is now too strong and so far, no GM managed to make good result at these handicap even if they are a little increased now.
So I m betting to 2,5 for komodo as a minimum, probably Komodo will make 3,5.

Well, you may be right, but the counter-argument is that according to Komodo, these handicaps (especially pawn and two) are larger than the "c2 + f2" handicap we took against GM Petr Neuman, and we lost that match four to one. Hess is much higher rated than Neuman, so based on this we should lose badly. But somehow I think Komodo underestimates how bad White's position is with c2 and f2 gone. There should be something to learn from all this.

[Jesse Gersenson]

Komodo is now too strong and so far, no GM managed to make good result at these handicap even if they are a little increased now.
So I m betting to 2,5 for komodo as a minimum, probably Komodo will make 3,5.

Well, you may be right, but the counter-argument is that according to Komodo, these handicaps (especially pawn and two) are larger than the "c2 + f2" handicap we took against GM Petr Neuman, and we lost that match four to one. Hess is much higher rated than Neuman, so based on this we should lose badly. But somehow I think Komodo underestimates how bad White's position is with c2 and f2 gone. There should be something to learn from all this.

Komodo's eval, say half-a-pawn here a half-a-pawn there, at the very start of the game apparently has little bearing on the game result against a human.

[JJJ]

Komodo is now too strong and so far, no GM managed to make good result at these handicap even if they are a little increased now.
So I m betting to 2,5 for komodo as a minimum, probably Komodo will make 3,5.

Well, you may be right, but the counter-argument is that according to Komodo, these handicaps (especially pawn and two) are larger than the "c2 + f2" handicap we took against GM Petr Neuman, and we lost that match four to one. Hess is much higher rated than Neuman, so based on this we should lose badly. But somehow I think Komodo underestimates how bad White's position is with c2 and f2 gone. There should be something to learn from all this.

I d say thats mean the king safety with f7 pawn is short term issue / handicap until Komodo save its king. After that he is just a pawn down. And so far, I didn't see a good preparation from human to get a win here.

And the 2 pawn handicap was a long term issue Komodo didn't see at beginning. For him it was maybe just 2 pawn, but these pawn damaged almost every solid defense possible. So at begining he can still develop, but then he can't do anything solid. All pieces become more vulnerable than usual.

Thats my point, I m not strong player, but maybe I d say something interesting for you.

[JJJ]

Komodo is now too strong and so far, no GM managed to make good result at these handicap even if they are a little increased now.
So I m betting to 2,5 for komodo as a minimum, probably Komodo will make 3,5.

Well, you may be right, but the counter-argument is that according to Komodo, these handicaps (especially pawn and two) are larger than the "c2 + f2" handicap we took against GM Petr Neuman, and we lost that match four to one. Hess is much higher rated than Neuman, so based on this we should lose badly. But somehow I think Komodo underestimates how bad White's position is with c2 and f2 gone. There should be something to learn from all this.

Komodo's eval, say half-a-pawn here a half-a-pawn there, at the very start of the game apparently has little bearing on the game result against a human.

Yeah, I agree.

[Vinvin]

Live now !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lkaufman]

So the final result, predicted by no one, was a 2 to 2 tie. All four games were drawn, although the two games at f7 + two moves were very exciting. Hess was never in any real trouble (except time trouble), but failed to win pretty clearly winning positions every time. This was the first tied match we've had, in fact the only close match, all others being decided by at least a 75 to 25% score. Komodo has won five matches, lost four (at large handicaps) and drawn this one. It looks like we've finally figured out what makes a balanced match.

Back in the 1800s, before they had ratings, players were classified by the handicap they needed to break even with the top available player. Based on that system and on the match results so far, we could say that:
1. an Elite GM (2700 +) is a "pawn (f7) and move" player.
2. a regular GM is a "pawn (f7) and two moves" player.
3. an IM is a "pawn (f7) and three moves" player (not yet tested, just an interpolation).
4. An FM is an "f7 + g7" player (tried only once, Komodo winning).
5. A CM is a knight odds player.

Probably a World Champion Candidate will be a pawn (f2) odds player, but until the match with Nakamura we won't know. Anyway this is just a guideline for future matches, and a measure of how much room for improvement there is for today's best human players.