Hello everyone, I didn't even think of writing one of these for a while, but decided I might as well, since I wrote one for the last tournament. It was a nice short tournament, in fact a little too short. The games were long though, so there was more time to really observe the games. There wasn't as much activity this time, so that helped too. This tournament was interesting for me because I had just gotten ZCT to run stably on 4 processors a few days before it. ZCT was searching very deeply, getting 17-18 plies in the midgame and 20+ in the endgame. For some reason it had the same weird bug as last tournament, where for long periods of time it would not split at all and the other 3 processors were simply idle. I had fixed the old one, so I don't know what's causing it now... Anyways, to the games.
Round 1: BYE!
ZCT was the only program to get a bye, because Slowbo hadn't been entered yet.
Round 2: ZCT vs Rybka 0-1
At the beginning of the game, Rybka had mysteriously hung up, it would not respond at all. The TD kicked it a few times, but it just came back as idle again. So about 40 minutes into the game, I'm there thinking "nice, another free point", and waiting until the next round. Then of course Rybka comes back and starts the game. But the weird part is, the game got restarted so Rybka got the full amount of time. Besides making the round stretch way too long, I knew I was screwed. But anyways, it turned out to be the best game of the tournament for me (and for some others too). ZCT had a nice long book line (thanks Dr. Deeb!), and in fact it knocked Rybka out of its book (it was the Marshall Gambit, according to Teemu Pudas. I'll believe him because I have no idea). So ZCT was down 2 pawns for a big lead in development and space. The queens were traded early, and Rybka castled opposite ZCT. ZCT got the pawns back pretty quickly, and in fact got a pawn ahead with a nice tactic. At this point (move 30) it was already the endgame. ZCT said it was dead drawn, and several people in ch64 were calling it a draw. It sure seemed like it might, so I was pretty excited. But a few moves later, ZCT had its king near the edge, with Rybka using its bishop, rook, and king to keep it in place. Rybka was on the initiative. ZCT's score started to fall. Each side had an outside passed pawn, but it was basically impossible for ZCT to advance it. Rybka had all its pieces supporting the pawn and keeping ZCT's king away. The rest didn't seem to go so well, but ZCT held out 64 whole moves, so I suppose I'm rather proud.
Round 3: Amateur vs ZCT 1-0
This was, as is typical for ZCT, a weird game. ZCT's evaluation is just so messed up that its games always look very strange positionally. ZCT thought it was doing pretty well for a while (up about 2 pawns in eval), though the material was even and the game looked drawish. ZCT had passive pieces though, and Amateur forced some tactics, becoming way ahead in material. It was able to promote, and the game ended soon afterwards.
Round 4: ZCT vs Symbolic 1/2-1/2
This was an OK game. After our last matchup, I was hoping only for a well played, interesting game. It turned out OK, with neither side having much in the way of winning chances. Symbolic had a pawn advance to the 7th, but ZCT's king and rook were able to defend and keep it from promoting. ZCT had a material advantage at this point, with even the possibility of promoting one of its pawns. But they got traded off, and ZCT was stuck in a KRKB ending. Of course, ZCT thought it was up 2 pawns. The rest of us had to wait fifty agonizing moves until the damn thing ended. It was a draw, but at least it was earned unlike last time.
Round 5: Slowbo vs ZCT 0-1
This was a pretty stupid game against the "bye" opponent. ZCT, besides getting an actual bye, got another free point here. Heck, if Rybka's game had been forfeited it would have gotten three. But it's much more fun to play real games. This game was actually quite annoying, because ZCT was taking it seriously and spending quite a lot of time on each move. It finally won, and we could all go on with our lives...
Round 6: ZCT vs Telepath 1/2-1/2
Here was a chance for ZCT to take revenge. Telepath beat it at our last encounter. Telepath had the edge for most of the game, where ZCT was passive and just defending. After numerous pointless computer-moves, ZCT was defending against Telepath's passed pawn on the 6th rank, but had a bishop covering it. ZCT got its own passed pawn on the 6th in fact in the B vs N ending, but Telepath's king meant it of course had no chance. ZCT exchanged its bishop for the pawn, meaning Telepath no longer had mating material. Telepath, funnily enough, allowed ZCT to walk its pawn to promotion with its king standing right by, due to the fifty move rule. Telepath thought it could still win, but it was eventually traded off after promoting, leaving a draw by insufficient material. This was one game where ZCT actually knew it was a draw and Telepath made it run too long...
ZCT got 3/6 for a shared 7th place. The result wasn't quite as satisfying as the WCRCC, because it didn't play very many interesting games. It was a fun tournament though, which provided a really nice moment (vs Rybka). I'm looking forward to the next tournament already...
