a masterpiece of strategic chess

[zullil]

I just cut the - 0 32 part at the end.

No need to do that.

[d]1r1q1rk1/2n1b2b/p2p1p2/2p1pPp1/NpP1P1P1/1P1P4/P2BQ1B1/4K1RR w - - 0 32

Not clear that 32. d4 is significantly better than an immediate 32. Rh5.

What is clear is that 32...exd4 as played is much worse than 32...Rf7. Though Black seems lost in any case.

[carldaman]

1r1q1rk1/2n1b2b/p2p1p2/2p1pPp1/NpP1P1P1/1P1P4/P2BQ1B1/4K1RR w - - 0 32

Of course, there are viable alternatives to this move, but the original way the attack was carried out is exemplary.

[pgn]
[Event "15m10s"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "SultanKhan 2.0"]
[Black "Texel 1.08a13"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[Annotator "CL"]
[PlyCount "103"]


1. Nf3 {100} Nf6 2. c4 {
Khan remembers that it's ok to push the c-pawn two squares } c5 3. g3 {60}
Nc6 4. Nc3 {66} e5 $6 {not the best line, though Shirov and J Polgar have
attempted it before} (4... d5) (4... g6) 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O d6 7. b3 $5 {
Giri chose d3 here} h6 8. Bb2 Bg4 $5 {probably the best try} 9. h3 Bf5 $6 {
I don't like this retreat since the Bishop can become a target here} (9... Be6
$5) 10. Ne1 $5 {a novelty, allowing the plan with e4 and f4 to be carried out}
O-O 11. Nc2 Qd7 12. Kh2 Bd8 $6 {too slow} (12... Rae8 $5) 13. d3 Bg6 14. e4 Nd4
15. f4 $1 Bh5 $2 {101 this Bishop is very badly placed and in danger of being
trapped} 16. Qd2 Nxc2 17. Qxc2 Bg6 18. Qe2 a6 $6 {kind of pointless at this
point, but Black is a sitting duck} ({if} 18... exf4 19. gxf4 {and White's
onslaught still rages on}) 19. f5 {this leads to a crushing attack} Bh7 20. h4
b5 21. g4 {White's now playing a reversed King's Indian against no counterplay}
Ne8 22. Kg3 $5 {choosing the slow buildup} Nc7 23. Bc1 $1 {[#]} f6 24. Rh1 b4
25. Na4 Ne8 26. Bd2 $5 {173 better than Be3} Rb8 27. Raf1 Be7 28. Kf2 $1 Nc7
29. Ke1 Qd8 30. Rfg1 {preparing g4-g5} g5 $2 {Black desperately wants to avoid
g4-g5, but this fails to work} ({a better try was to bail out with} 30... Kf7)
31. hxg5 hxg5 {[#] now White is about to uncork a series of stunning sacs
against Black's pawn structure} 32. d4 $3 {75 the point of this sac becomes
apparent later} (32. Bf3) 32... exd4 33. Rh5 Qd7 34. Rgh1 Rf7 35. Bf3 a5 36.
Qh2 Bf8 37. Bxg5 $3 {one more drop of the hammer} fxg5 38. Rxg5+ Kh8 39. Rh5
Ne8 40. g5 Rb7 41. g6 Nf6 42. gxf7 Qxf7 43. Rg5 Qe7 {[#]} 44. Nxc5 $3 {the
final sac of the triad} dxc5 45. e5 $1 {the crowning idea behind White's sacs
is now very clear, as White has destroyed Black's control of e5, and the e4-e5
push becomes devastating} Bh6 $5 46. Rg2 $1 ({not even allowing} 46. Qxh6 Qxe5+
) 46... Rd7 47. Kd1 Bg7 48. Bd5 Rd8 (48... Nxd5 49. Qxh7#) 49. exf6 Bxf6 50.
Qh6 d3 51. Be6 Rf8 52. Rhg1 1-0
[/pgn]

I'm only a tester of this magnificent engine. It's quite a departure from the all-out attacking genius
of Nezh, but a fascinating one, nonetheless. The Sultan is back!

Edit: for some reason fen's are no longer displayed - after [d] is typed in the whole subsequent text disappears.

OK, I never got around to posting more games by SultanKhan. Here's the return game against Texel, where it played an adventurous French (with no book used) and countered the Tarrasch variation with the obscure, but innovative Sargos gambit, which it 'found' on its own. This gambit is reminiscent of the strategic Benko gambit, where Black hopes to neutralize White on the Q-side with good piece activity and then emerge with the better endgame structure. The Sargos gambit has been revived in recent years by a trio of German IM's.

It's really nice to see an engine playing to win so energetically on the Black side of the French. Enjoy!

[pgn]
[Event "AT-020-15m10s"]
[Date "2020.06.15"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Texel 1.08a13"]
[Black "SultanKhan 2.0"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C06"]
[WhiteElo "3175"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[PlyCount "150"]
[EventDate "2020.??.??"]

{15min+10sec (no book)} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6.
c3 b5 $5 {Khan goes for the rare Sargos gambit, but 'popularized' in recent
years by a trio of German IMs; the strategic aims are somewhat similar to the
Benko gambit} (6... Nc6) 7. Bxb5 Qb6 8. Qa4 Be7 9. Ne2 a6 10. Bd3 a5 11. O-O
Ba6 12. Nf4 O-O 13. Nf3 Nc6 14. Be3 Rfb8 15. Bxa6 Qxa6 16. Rfb1 cxd4 17. Bxd4
Rb7 18. h3 Rc7 19. Qd1 a4 20. b3 Na7 $1 {a second pawn sac, to shatter White's
Q-side pawn structure} 21. bxa4 Nc5 22. Bxc5 Bxc5 23. Nd3 Bf8 24. Nb4 Qa5
25. Rb3 Nc8 26. Nd3 Rxc3 27. Qe1 Rc7 28. Qxa5 Rxa5 29. Nb2 Ra6 {Black will be
getting back the pawns, but with a protected passer on d5 and a better endgame
structure} 30. a5 Rxa5 31. a4 Ne7 32. Nd4 g5 $1 33. Nb5 Rd7 34. Nd4 Ng6 35. Re1
Ra8 36. Nf3 Be7 37. Nd4 Rc7 {95} 38. Nb5 Rc5 39. g3 h5 40. Kg2 Bf8 41. Ree3 Bg7
42. Nd3 Rc4 43. Nb2 Rcc8 44. Nd6 Rf8 {better piece coordination by Black leads
to the loss of more pawns for White and a clearly lost endgame} 45. Nd3 Rxa4
46. Re2 Rfa8 47. Rb7 Ra3 48. Re3 Rf8 49. Rb4 Ra1 50. f4 Rfa8 51. Kf3 Rf1+ 52.
Kg2 gxf4 53. gxf4 Raa1 54. Kg3 Ra2 55. Rb8+ Kh7 56. Rb2 Rxb2 57. Nxb2 Nxf4 58.
Rf3 Rxf3+ 59. Kxf3 Bxe5 60. Nxf7 Bc7 61. Na4 Kg6 62. Nd8 Kf5 63. Nc6 Nxh3 64.
Nd4+ Kf6 65. Kg2 Ng5 66. Nb5 Be5 67. Kh1 h4 68. Nc5 h3 69. Kg1 Kf5 70. Kh1 Kf4
71. Nd3+ Ke4 72. Nf2+ Kf3 73. Nd3 Bg3 74. Kg1 Ne4 75. Nd4+ Ke3 0-1
[/pgn]

In these days when net-chess is all the rage, we should pause to remember that the old hand-crafted evaluations
still allow more possibilities for personality and stylish play in computer chess.

[Dann Corbit]

What is SultanKahn (Not speaking of the Indian chess player Mir Sultan Khan who went to England but the engine).

[supersharp77]

Back in the early 1930s a marvelously talented player made an impressive, but meteoric appearance on the grand chess scene. His name was Sultan Khan, and Capablanca himself dubbed him a genius - I guess it took one to know one. He learned modern-rules chess late (when older than twenty), having grown up with the much more ancient chaturanga, the Indian version of chess where pawns could move up one square off the starting rank. He had to pick up modern opening theory from scratch and throughout his brief career he was still perfecting his openings.

Since sadly, SK left the chess world way prematurely, having to return from Britain to India, wouldn't the next best thing be resurrecting him in the form of a machine, SultanKhan 2.0, capable of strategic chess in closed positions unlike any other(?) I was going to post some games sooner or later, but today's masterpiece has prompted me to do it right away.

To appreciate the beauty of SK2's conception, let's take a look at this diagram and contemplate how White could continue...

[d]1r1q1rk1/2n1b2b/p2p1p2/2p1pPp1/NpP1P1P1/1P1P4/P2BQ1B1/4K1RR w - - 0 32

Of course, there are viable alternatives to this move, but the original way the attack was carried out is exemplary.

[pgn]
[Event "15m10s"]
[Date "2020.06.14"]
[Round "1"]
[White "SultanKhan 2.0"]
[Black "Texel 1.08a13"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[Annotator "CL"]
[PlyCount "103"]


{[%evp 0,103,29,18,12,-7,13,8,9,12,0,16,13,13,19,13,13,19,19,22,39,45,46,46,51,
47,47,47,48,21,59,59,66,23,86,82,82,75,75,67,80,80,89,89,93,72,74,86,90,91,79,
74,93,87,87,67,64,69,118,69,68,70,181,180,180,32,24,25,45,45,41,39,43,44,44,0,
225,237,248,225,320,301,302,302,325,325,325,287,321,310,320,361,361,416,425,
294,885,921,929,933,1004,992,29987,29990,29991,29992]} 1. Nf3 {100} Nf6 2. c4 {
Khan remembers that it's ok to push the c-pawn two squares } c5 3. g3 {60}
Nc6 4. Nc3 {66} e5 $6 {not the best line, though Shirov and J Polgar have
attempted it before} (4... d5) (4... g6) 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O d6 7. b3 $5 {
Giri chose d3 here} h6 8. Bb2 Bg4 $5 {probably the best try} 9. h3 Bf5 $6 {
I don't like this retreat since the Bishop can become a target here} (9... Be6
$5) 10. Ne1 $5 {a novelty, allowing the plan with e4 and f4 to be carried out}
O-O 11. Nc2 Qd7 12. Kh2 Bd8 $6 {too slow} (12... Rae8 $5) 13. d3 Bg6 14. e4 Nd4
15. f4 $1 Bh5 $2 {101 this Bishop is very badly placed and in danger of being
trapped} 16. Qd2 Nxc2 17. Qxc2 Bg6 18. Qe2 a6 $6 {kind of pointless at this
point, but Black is a sitting duck} ({if} 18... exf4 19. gxf4 {and White's
onslaught still rages on}) 19. f5 {this leads to a crushing attack} Bh7 20. h4
b5 21. g4 {White's now playing a reversed King's Indian against no counterplay}
Ne8 22. Kg3 $5 {choosing the slow buildup} Nc7 23. Bc1 $1 {[#]} f6 24. Rh1 b4
25. Na4 Ne8 26. Bd2 $5 {173 better than Be3} Rb8 27. Raf1 Be7 28. Kf2 $1 Nc7
29. Ke1 Qd8 30. Rfg1 {preparing g4-g5} g5 $2 {Black desperately wants to avoid
g4-g5, but this fails to work} ({a better try was to bail out with} 30... Kf7)
31. hxg5 hxg5 {[#] now White is about to uncork a series of stunning sacs
against Black's pawn structure} 32. d4 $3 {75 the point of this sac becomes
apparent later} (32. Bf3) 32... exd4 33. Rh5 Qd7 34. Rgh1 Rf7 35. Bf3 a5 36.
Qh2 Bf8 37. Bxg5 $3 {one more drop of the hammer} fxg5 38. Rxg5+ Kh8 39. Rh5
Ne8 40. g5 Rb7 41. g6 Nf6 42. gxf7 Qxf7 43. Rg5 Qe7 {[#]} 44. Nxc5 $3 {the
final sac of the triad} dxc5 45. e5 $1 {the crowning idea behind White's sacs
is now very clear, as White has destroyed Black's control of e5, and the e4-e5
push becomes devastating} Bh6 $5 46. Rg2 $1 ({not even allowing} 46. Qxh6 Qxe5+
) 46... Rd7 47. Kd1 Bg7 48. Bd5 Rd8 (48... Nxd5 49. Qxh7#) 49. exf6 Bxf6 50.
Qh6 d3 51. Be6 Rf8 52. Rhg1 1-0
[/pgn]

I'm only a tester of this magnificent engine. It's quite a departure from the all-out attacking genius
of Nezh, but a fascinating one, nonetheless. The Sultan is back!

SultanKhan 2.0? What is this SultanKhan a new chess engine? Who is the author? Playing on LiChess?
I don't think very many people know much about Sultan Khan........I myself have heard his name and perhaps played over a game or two but even for me it has been 20-30 years since hearing his name mentioned in print or online....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Sultan_Khan

[carldaman]

Think of it/him as the new 'Turk', a 21st century automaton.
Sultan Khan was a turban-wearing Indian from that part of Colonial India that later became Pakistan.

The engine and the author would like to remain private/anonymous.

[carldaman]

What is SultanKahn (Not speaking of the Indian chess player Mir Sultan Khan who went to England but the engine).

SultanKhan 2.0 is an innovative strategic engine that excels in closed games and relies on pawn play/structure, maneuvering and long-range planning. It uses a hand-crafted eval and A-B search. It remains private.