GM Lenderman vs Dragon, two pawns and move Rapid

[lkaufman]

[pgn][Event "TwoBlackPawnOdds match"]
[Site "chess.com"]
[Date "2022.03.19"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Lenderman, Alex"]
[Black "Komodo, Dragon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pp1pp1pp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "118"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.19"]

{[#]} 1. e4 Nh6 2. d4 Nf7 3. Nc3 a6 4. f4 e6 5. Bd3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O d6 8.
e5 (8. f5! exf5 9. Nd5 fxe4 10. Bxe4 Nd7 11. Qd3 Nf6 12. Ng5 Nxe4 13. Nxh7
winning) 8... Nc6 9. a3 Nh6 10. Kh1 Nf5 11. Ne2 Qd7 12. c3 Kh8 13. Ng3 g6 14. Ne4
d5 15. Neg5 h6 16. Nh3 h5 17. Nhg5 Kg7 18. g3 Bxg5 19. Nxg5 Rg8 20. Kg2 Kf8 21.
h3 Qg7 22. g4 Nfe7 23. b4 Nd8 24. a4 Rh8 25. Bd2 Nf7 26. Nf3 Bd7 27. Qe2 Ke8
28. Rh1 Kf8 29. a5 Kg8 30. Rh2 Nh6 31. Kg3 Nf7 32. Rah1 Rf8 33. Qg2 Rc8 34. Kf2
Kf8 35. Ke1 Bb5 36. Bxb5 axb5 37. Qe2 Rc4 38. Qd3 Qh7 39. Kd1 Ke8 40. Kc1 Kd7
41. Kb2 Kc7 42. Be3 Nd8 43. Nd2 Ndc6 44. Nxc4 dxc4 45. Qe2 Nd5 46. Bd2 Nce7 47.
f5 gxf5 48. gxh5 Kb8 49. Rg1 f4 50. Rg4 Ka7 51. Bxf4?? (51. Rg5 winning)
51... Nxc3 !! {Very easy to miss this very deep sacrifice.} 52. Kxc3 Qb1 53.
Kd2 Nd5 54. Qd1?? (54. Qf3 {This would hold but too difficult for human to
find.} c3+ 55. Ke2 Nxf4+ 56. Rxf4 c2 57. Rh1 Qb2 58. Ke3 Rc8 59. Qf2 c1=Q+ 60.
Rxc1 Qxc1+ 61. Ke4 Qd1 62. d5+ Ka8 63. dxe6 Rc4+ 64. Kf5 Qxh5+ 65. Kf6 Qh6+ 66.
Kf5 draw) 54... Qxb4+ 55. Kc1 Qa3+ 56. Kd2 Rf8 57. Rf2 Qxa5+ 58. Kc1 Kb6 59. h6
Ra8 [pgn] White resigned.[/pgn][/pgn]

[lkaufman]

[pgn][Event "two pawns and move odds"]
[Site "Bethesda"]
[Date "2022.03.19"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Lenderman, Alex"]
[Black "Komodo, Dragon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/ppp1p1pp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

{2048MB, Hiarcs15bBook.ctg, laptop i9} 1. Nf3 {0} Nc6 2. Nc3 (not best) (2. d4!) 2...
e5 3. e4 Bc5 4. Bb5 Nf6 5. Bxc6+ (dubious) bxc6 6. d3 Qd6 7. h3 O-O 8. Be3 Bb6 9. O-O
Kh8 10. Nd2 Be6 11. Qe2 Qe7 12. Na4 Bxe3 13. fxe3 g5 14. b3 ?? (14. Qe1 ! keeps big edge)
14... g4 15. hxg4 ?? (15. h4 =) 15... Bxg4 {Black is already winning, but the errors were not obvious.} 16.
Qe1 Nh5 17. Rf2 Rxf2 18. Qxf2 Rf8 19. Qe1 Qg5 20. Kh2 Rf6 21. Nc4 Bf3 22. Qf2
Ng3 {Black claims mate in five.} 0-1 [pgn][/pgn][/pgn]

[pohl4711]

Can NOT find the direct Link in Chess.com Alexander Lenderman vs Komodo Dragon
https://www.chess.com/member/alexanderl

I do NOT see him starting the game against Komodo Dragon
Not here either https://www.chess.com/member/alexanderl

All games are here:
https://www.chess.com/member/alexanderl

[lkaufman]

[pgn][Event "two pawns and move odds"]
[Site "Bethesda"]
[Date "2022.03.19"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Lenderman, Alex"]
[Black "Komodo, Dragon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppp2pp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.19"]

{[#]} 1. d4 d6 2. e4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. f4?! (4. Nf3!) 4... Ne7 5. Nf3 c6 6.
h3 {Not needed with Be2 intended.} a5 7. Be2 d5 8. O-O O-O 9. e5 Na6 10. Kh2
b6 11. g3?! Nc7 12. Be3 Nf5 13. Bf2 Bh6 14. Bd3 Ng7 15. Ne2 Nce6 16. Be3 Ra7 17.
h4? (17. c4!) 17... Nf5 18. Bf2 Raf7 19. Kg2 Qd7 20. Rh1? (20. Qe1! {
keeps a substantial edge.}) 20... Nxg3!! {Obviously a candidate move, but
difficult for a human to calculate all variations.} 21. Bxg3 Bxf4 22. Bxf4? (
22. Ng5! Bxg3 {3} 23. Nxg3 {1} Nxg5 {2} 24. hxg5 {0} Rf2+ {3} 25. Kg1 {0}
R2f3 {6} 26. Qe1 {13} Qg4 {4} 27. Kg2 {2} Qxg5 {5} 28. Rf1 {4} Rxf1 {1} 29.
Bxf1 {2} h5 {2 Black is now better, but what human could see all this and
judge this properly on move 20?}) 22... Nxf4+ 23. Nxf4 Qg4+ 24. Kf2 Rxf4 25.
Be2 Ba6 0-1 [pgn] White resigned.[/pgn][/pgn]

[lkaufman]

[pgn][Event "TwoBlackPawnOdds Match"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.03.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Lenderman, Alex"]
[Black "Komodo, Dragon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/ppppp2p/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "158"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]

1. e4 {59} d6 {730} 2. Qh5+ {6} Kd7 {0} 3. d4 {3} Nf6 {0} 4. Qh4 {5} e6 {0} 5.
e5 {42} (5. Nc3! 18) 5... Nd5 {3} 6. Qxd8+ {2} (6. Qe4!) 6... Kxd8 {5}
7. Nf3 {5} Bd7 {0} 8. a3 {35} h6 {14} 9. c4 {7} Ne7 {5} 10. Nc3 {12} Nbc6 {5}
11. Bf4 {83} Bg7 {27} 12. exd6 {7} cxd6 {2} 13. Bxd6 {3} Nf5 {8} 14. Be5 {25}
Ncxd4 {11} 15. Bxg7 {21} Nxf3+ {0} 16. gxf3 {2} Nxg7 {3} 17. Rg1 {10} Nh5 {0}
18. Rd1 {27} Ke7 {14} 19. Rg4 (dubious) {20} (19. Rd4 ! {keeps the full handicap
advantage.}) 19... Raf8 {22} 20. c5 {47} Rf5 {9} 21. Bb5? {222} (21. Ne4! Bc6
22. Bc4 Rhf8 23. b4 {White'e extra kingside pawn is worthless, but his extra
queenside pawn should be enough to win here.}) 21... Bxb5 {8} 22. Nxb5 {0}
Rxc5 {11} 23. Nc3 {2} Rf8 {8 Now White's edge is minimal.} 24. Rgd4 {6} Nf6 {10
} 25. Kf1 {14} a5 {13} 26. Ne4 {16} (26. Re1) 26... Rb5 {23} 27. Nxf6 {12} Kxf6
= {1} 28. b4 {12} Rc8 {12} 29. Rf4+ {8} Rf5 {82} 30. Rxf5+ {7} Kxf5 {27} 31.
bxa5 {5} Rc3 {4} 32. Kg2 {4} Rxa3 {8} 33. Rb1 {1} Rxa5 {10} 34. Rxb7 {3} Ra1 {7
} 35. Rb4 {2} Ra7 {8} 36. Rh4 {2} Rg7+ {10} 37. Kf1 {1} Rh7 {8} 38. Rh5+ {7}
Kf4 {10} 39. Ke2 {1} Rh8 {13} 40. Rh4+ {3} Kg5 {9} 41. Rg4+ {1} Kf5 {17} 42.
Rh4 {1} h5 {22} 43. Kf1 {6} e5 {5} 44. Ke2 {5} Ke6 {15} 45. f4 {14} e4 {11} 46.
f5+ {9} Kxf5 {43} 47. Ke3 {0} Kf6 {10} 48. Rxe4 {4} Kg5 {9} 49. h4+ {3} Kg6 {14
} 50. Ra4 {6} Kh7 {24} 51. Ra5 {6} Rc8 {11 This looks like Black is blundering,
but in reality it just leads to a tablebase draw so Black doesn't mind losing
this pawn. A human might lack confidence in being able to hold.} 52. Rxh5+ {3}
Kg6 {4} 53. Rg5+ {0} Kf6 {9} 54. Kf4 {0} Rc1 {38} 55. Kg4 {6} Rf1 {45} 56. Rf5+
{0} Kg6 {4} 57. h5+ {33} Kg7 {0} 58. f3 {11} Rg1+ {4} 59. Kh4 {4} Rh1+ {7} 60.
Kg5 {4} Rg1+ {2} 61. Kf4 {19} Kh6 {7} 62. Rf8 {6} Rg2 {7} 63. Kf5 {12} Rf2 {7}
64. f4 {10} Rf1 {10} 65. Ra8 {4} Rb1 {7} 66. Re8 {3} Ra1 {8} 67. Kf6 {3} Ra6+ {
9} 68. Re6 {2} Ra3 {9} 69. f5 {3} Ra7 {8} 70. Re7 {19} Ra2 {34} 71. Kf7 {12}
Kxh5 {0} 72. f6 {2} Kh6 {0} 73. Kf8 {3} Kg6 {0} 74. f7 {1} Kf6 {0} 75. Re8 {7}
Rh2 {8} 76. Kg8 {5} Rg2+ {0} 77. Kf8 {2} Rh2 {0} 78. Kg8 {1} Rg2+ {0} 79. Kf8 {
1} Rh2 {0 Game drawn by repetition} 1/2-1/2 [pgn][/pgn][/pgn]

[lkaufman]

[pgn][Event "TwoBlackPawnOdds Match"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.03.19"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Lenderman, Alex"]
[Black "Komodo, Dragon"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2636"]
[BlackElo "3400"]
[Annotator "Kaufman,Larry"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/ppppp1p1/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "157"]
[EventDate "2022.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.19"]

{[#]} 1. d4 d5 (1... Nc6 2. Qd3 Nh6 3. Qg6+ Nf7 4. Nf3 e6 5. Ng5 Qf6 6. Qxf7+
Qxf7 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. c3 {is perhaps slightly less bad for Black than the game,
but still pretty hopeless.}) 2. Qd3 Be6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Ng5 Qd6 5. Qg6+ Kd7 6.
Qxe6+ Qxe6 7. Nxe6 Kxe6 8. c3 {White is already well on the way to the win,
with two pawns, bishop bair, better pawn structure, and queens already traded.
White won smoothly from here. This handicap feels close to knight odds.} Kd7 9.
Bf4 e6 10. Nd2 Rb8 11. e4 Bd6 12. Bxd6 cxd6 13. exd5 exd5 14. O-O-O Nf6 15. Bd3
Rhf8 16. f3 Nh5 17. g3 b5 18. b4 Rb7 19. Kb2 Nf6 20. Rde1 Nh5 21. Re2 Nf6 22.
Rhe1 a5 23. a3 g5 24. Nb3 axb4 25. axb4 Ng8 26. Re3 Rbb8 27. Na1 Nge7 28. Nc2
Rf7 29. Na3 Na7 30. R3e2 Rbf8 31. Nxb5 Nac8 32. f4 gxf4 33. gxf4 Ng8 34. f5 Nf6
35. Kb3 Kc6 36. Ra1 Kb7 37. Re6 Rd8 38. Na3 Ne8 39. Nc2 Nc7 40. Rh6 Rff8 41. h4
Ne7 42. Rh7 Ng8 43. Ne3 Nf6 44. Re7 Rde8 45. Rxe8 Rxe8 46. Nc2 Rh8 47. Rh1 Nh5
48. Ne3 Re8 49. Re1 Nf6 50. Re2 Kb6 51. c4 Rh8 52. c5+ Kc6 53. Rh2 dxc5 54.
dxc5 Rh6 55. h5 Kb7 56. Nc2 Kc8 57. Nd4 Kd8 58. b5 Nd7 59. Kb4 Ne5 60. Be2 Ne8
61. Rh3 Ke7 62. b6 Rh8 63. Re3 Kf6 64. Rxe5 Kxe5 65. Nc6+ Kxf5 66. b7 Nc7 67.
b8=Q Rxb8+ 68. Nxb8 Kg5 69. Na6 Ne6 70. c6 Nd4 71. c7 Nc6+ 72. Kc5 Ne7 73. Kd6
Nc8+ 74. Kxd5 Kf6 75. Bg4 Nb6+ 76. Kc6 Nc8 77. Bxc8 Kg5 78. Bb7 Kh6 79. c8=Q
1-0 [pgn][/pgn][/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

This Saturday, starting at 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time, Komodo Dragon will play a six game Rapid Match (blitz for Dragon) with GM Alex Lenderman (FIDE 2600, FIDE Rapid 2646) on chess.com. Handicap is two pawns and move, meaning Dragon is always Black and removes two pawns, one always being the f7 pawn (the worst pawn to remove from Black's perspective), and the other pawn each of the other seven pawns except for a7 (so the six largest possible two pawn handicaps). This even includes the almost ridiculous f7, g7 handicap where 1.e4 already threatens mate. Time limit for Lenderman the classic Rapid 15' + 10", for Dragon the classic blitz 3' + 2" (clocks will show 15', time limit set internally). Ten minutes between games, so match may run close to four hours. I will comment the games live in Chat based on analysis by Dragon on my 20 thread fast laptop, using the handle "Hissha". Look for games of "AlexanderL" and "PlayKomodo" to watch.
Although Dragon defeated Hikaru Nakamura convincingly (6.5 to 1.5) at two pawn odds in Rapid, Dragon was White in those games. Playing first makes a big difference in handicap games, especially with the "f" pawn missing. Also the Nakamura games were with equal time, here we are giving five to one time odds plus the first move in each game. It's still less than knight odds, but giving knight odds Dragon's performance rating in Rapid is in the low 2400s, far below Lenderman's level, so this should be pretty close to balanced I think.

How do we know for certain that Stockfish or Leela can NOT perform as good as Komodo Dragon did against GM Lenderman, since we never seen a match between GM Lenderman vs Stockfish or Leela with the same Odds and time control

[lkaufman]

This Saturday, starting at 3 pm Eastern Daylight Time, Komodo Dragon will play a six game Rapid Match (blitz for Dragon) with GM Alex Lenderman (FIDE 2600, FIDE Rapid 2646) on chess.com. Handicap is two pawns and move, meaning Dragon is always Black and removes two pawns, one always being the f7 pawn (the worst pawn to remove from Black's perspective), and the other pawn each of the other seven pawns except for a7 (so the six largest possible two pawn handicaps). This even includes the almost ridiculous f7, g7 handicap where 1.e4 already threatens mate. Time limit for Lenderman the classic Rapid 15' + 10", for Dragon the classic blitz 3' + 2" (clocks will show 15', time limit set internally). Ten minutes between games, so match may run close to four hours. I will comment the games live in Chat based on analysis by Dragon on my 20 thread fast laptop, using the handle "Hissha". Look for games of "AlexanderL" and "PlayKomodo" to watch.
Although Dragon defeated Hikaru Nakamura convincingly (6.5 to 1.5) at two pawn odds in Rapid, Dragon was White in those games. Playing first makes a big difference in handicap games, especially with the "f" pawn missing. Also the Nakamura games were with equal time, here we are giving five to one time odds plus the first move in each game. It's still less than knight odds, but giving knight odds Dragon's performance rating in Rapid is in the low 2400s, far below Lenderman's level, so this should be pretty close to balanced I think.

How do we know for certain that Stockfish or Leela can NOT perform as good as Komodo Dragon did against GM Lenderman, since we never seen a match between GM Lenderman vs Stockfish or Leela with the same Odds and time control

Well, the only comparable match on record is that Stockfish lost 2 to 1 in Rapid vs Jorden Van Forest with just two White pawn odds, but to be fair that was just before Stockfish adopted NNUE, so perhaps they might do better now. But almost all reports of strong human vs Stockfish encounters at knight odds have been poor for Stockfish. There is less data regarding Leela, it did do well vs. Naroditsky a couple years ago at odds like 3 pawns or a piece at blitz, but well, that's blitz.