I finally feel in control, I found my Opponent

[Chessqueen]

Finally I found my opponent at Rook + Bishop odds

[pgn][Event "Rook + Bishop Odds"]
[Date "2023.01.11"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Stockfish_23010408_x64_avx2"]
[Black "ChessQueen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[Time "19:49:48"]
[WhiteElo "3525"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1NBQK1NR w Kkq - 0 1"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "103"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "human"]


1. Nf3 Nf6 2. O-O Nc6 3. d4 d5 4. c4 dxc4 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. d5 Bxf3 7. exf3 Na5
8. Qa4+ c6 9. Bd2 b6 10. dxc6 Qxd2 11. Rd1 Qxd1+ 12. Qxd1 Rc8 13. Qa4 e6
14. c7+ Nd7 15. f4 Rxc7 16. h4 Be7 17. Nb5 Rb7 18. b4 cxb3 19. axb3 O-O 20.
b4 Nc6 21. Nd6 b5 22. Qd1 Bxd6 23. Qxd6 Ndb8 24. Qd3 Nxb4 25. Qe4 N8c6 26.
f5 exf5 27. Qxf5 Rd8 28. h5 Nd5 29. Qc2 Rc7 30. Qb2 b4 31. h6 gxh6 32. f3
f5 33. Kh2 f4 34. Qa1 Rb7 35. Qe1 Re7 36. Qc1 Ne5 37. Qd1 Rg7 38. Qb3 Kh8
39. Qb2 Nc4 40. Qd4 Nce3 41. Qe4 Rxg2+ 42. Kh1 Rd2 43. Qe5+ Kg8 44. Qe6+
Kg7 45. Qe5+ Kg6 46. Qe4+ {White resigns} 0-1[/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

You just have to find out how to have fun and beat the top engines no matter how many pieces you take away from Stockfish and Dragon, for Carlsen might only be 1 or 2 pawn, but for us pawn pusher we have to find out what combination of pieces we have to remove

Note: Next game will be a Rook + f2 pawn, this will be a real challenge for me, but at standard time control

[towforce]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

[Chessqueen]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

That is a good point, but for now I just wanted to know if it was easy to beat latest Stockfish or Dragon with contempt, Next game I will play against Snowy,

Note: There is a problem trying to set the a1 Rook + f2 pawn odds with Dragon 2.6, I wonder if the same problem exist with Dragon 3.2 that needs to be fixed

[pgn][Event "Rook + f2 pawn Odds"]
[Date "2023.01.11"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dragon-2.6.1-64bit-avx2"]
[Black "ChessQueen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[Time "23:52:43"]
[WhiteElo "3490"]
[TimeControl "7200+15"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPP1PP/1NBQKBNR w Kkq - 0 1"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "human"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 Bxf3 5. gxf3 Nbd7 6. f4 e6 7. O-O Bd6
8. c4 c5 9. b4 cxb4 10. c5 Be7 11. a3 bxa3 12. Bxa3 Ne4 13. Bb2 Bf6 14. Nd2
Nexc5 15. f5 Qb6 16. Ba3 Ne4 17. fxe6 Qxe6 18. Bg4 Qa6 19. Bc1 Nd6 20. Kh1
Qa2 21. Qe2 O-O-O 22. Rf2 Qa1 23. Rf1 Kb8 24. Qe1 Rhe8 25. Qf2 Qc3 26. Qg2
Nb6 27. Bf3 Nf5 28. Nb1 Qd3 29. Qh3 Nxe3 30. Bg2 Nbc4 31. Qg3+ Ka8 32. Rg1
Bxd4 33. h4 Qxb1 34. Bxe3 Qd3 35. Bf4 Qxg3 36. Bxg3 Bxg1 37. Bf3 Bb6 38.
Kh2 d4 39. h5 d3 40. Bf4 d2 41. h6 Rd4 42. Bg5 gxh6 43. Bxh6 Rg8 44. Kh3
{White resigns} *[/pgn]

[lkaufman]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

The advantage of odds play vs. top engine as compared to standard chess with "weak" engine (still stronger or equal to human) is that against the weak engine, results depend more on luck, i.e. whether the weak engine sees some non-trivial sequence that the human sees. If you win, it's not clear that you deserve the credit. Of course the same applies to playing humans; I never got much satisfaction from winning a game due to my opponent missing something relatively simple. With odds play, if you win at a handicap where you previously lost multiple games, you feel you have improved. One way to look at it is that setting the engine to play at (for example) 2000 elo means it will make errors averaging some fraction of a pawn per move, which will add up over the game to losing a piece or more on average. But this will vary game to game. With rook odds (for example) the total of the errors is clearly defined, not variable. But even game play is better training for actual tournament games vs. humans. I play both ways vs. Dragon myself. Both ways have merit.

[Chessqueen]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

Here is a game against Rainman rated around 1619 at Rapid, it was NOT easy to beat it since I had to rely on knowledge of this endgame book that I read while I was in bed in the hospital after getting covi19 Jeremy Silman. Silman's Complete Endgame Course. which has helped me tremendously. Plus I became very knowledgeable of the Sicilian Wing Gambit by watching more than 8 top engines that I pitted in recent weeks. Therefore, I forced Rainmain to play the Wing Gambit by inputting the first 4 moves

[pgn][Date "2023.01.12"]
[White "ChessQueen"]
[Black "Rainman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "1619"]
[ECO "B20"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Time "10:52:24"]
[Variation "Wing Gambit, 1.e4 c5 2.b4"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "175"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. d4 d5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. c4 bxc3 6. Nxc3 Qd8 7. Nf3 Nf6
8. Rb1 Nc6 9. d5 Na5 10. Be3 e6 11. Bb5+ Bd7 12. dxe6 fxe6 13. Bxd7+ Qxd7
14. O-O Qxd1 15. Rfxd1 Be7 16. Re1 Rc8 17. Nb5 O-O 18. Bxa7 Rc2 19. Nfd4
Rxa2 20. Nxe6 Ra8 21. Nec7 Rxa7 22. Rxe7 Nc6 23. Ree1 R7a5 24. Ne8 Rc2 25.
Nxf6+ gxf6 26. Nd6 Re5 27. Nxb7 Rb2 28. Nd6 Rxb1 29. Rxb1 Rd5 30. Ne4 Kf7
31. Nc3 Rd3 32. Ne2 f5 33. g3 Kf6 34. h4 Rd6 35. Rb6 Ke5 36. f3 Re6 37. Kf2
Kf6 38. Nf4 Rd6 39. Rb7 Ne7 40. h5 Rd2+ 41. Ke1 Rd6 42. Ra7 h6 43. Ke2 Nc6
44. Rc7 Ne5 45. Rc8 Nc6 46. Kf2 Ne5 47. Ke3 Nd7 48. Rh8 Kg7 49. Rd8 Kf6 50.
Ra8 Ne5 51. Rf8+ Nf7 52. Re8 Ne5 53. Ke2 Nc6 54. Rc8 Ke7 55. Ng6+ Ke6 56.
f4 Kf6 57. Rc7 Re6+ 58. Kf2 Ne7 59. Ne5 Ra6 60. Rd7 Ke6 61. Rd8 Ra2+ 62.
Kg1 Ra3 63. Rh8 Rxg3+ 64. Kh2 Rc3 65. Rxh6+ Kd5 66. Ra6 Nc8 67. h6 Rc2+ 68.
Kh3 Rc3+ 69. Kh4 Rc7 70. Rc6 Rh7 71. Rxc8 Rxh6+ 72. Kg5 Rh7 73. Kxf5 Rh5+
74. Kg6 Rh4 75. Kg5 Rh7 76. Re8 Rg7+ 77. Ng6 Kd6 78. f5 Kd7 79. Kf6 Rxg6+
80. fxg6 Kxe8 81. g7 Kd7 82. g8=Q Kc6 83. Qc4+ Kb7 84. Qb5+ Kc8 85. Qb6 Kd7
86. Qc5 Kd8 87. Ke6 Ke8 88. Qc8# 1-0[/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

Well Snowy Rated 1996 at Rapid beat me this time, I do NOT know the Reti Opening too well, but it outplayed me in the middlegame, I will continue playing against this engine until I beat it, even if it takes me more than 10 games

Note: Next game will be against Roce39 rated 1837, hopefully I can at least draw, If NOT I will play against Ada Chess

[pgn][Event "Computer chess game"]
[Date "2023.01.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessQueen"]
[Black "Snowy_0_2_x64"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1996"]
[ECO "A05"]
[Opening "Reti Opening"]
[Time "17:51:13"]
[Variation "1...Nf6 2.e3"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. O-O Bd6 6. Qe2 c6 7. Bd3 e5 8.
e4 d4 9. Nd1 O-O 10. Bc4 Bg4 11. d3 b5 12. Bb3 Nbd7 13. c3 dxc3 14. Nxc3
Nc5 15. Be3 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nxb3 17. axb3 a5 18. Qd2 b4 19. Na4 Nd7 20. Rac1
Rc8 21. f4 exf4 22. Bxf4 Ne5 23. Bxe5 Bxe5 24. Kh1 Bd4 25. Qf4 Re8 26. Rg1
Be5 27. Qf3 Qd6 28. Nb6 Rcd8 29. Nc4 Qc5 30. h4 Qe7 31. Rg5 Bf6 32. Rxa5
Bxh4 33. Ne5 Qf6 34. Rxc6 Qxf3+ 35. Nxf3 Bxf2 36. Rd5 Be3 37. Ne1 Rxd5 38.
exd5 Rd8 39. Nc2 Bc1 40. Nxb4 Bxb2 41. Ra6 g5 42. Nc6 Rd7 43. Kg2 Kg7 44.
Ra2 Bc1 45. Ra5 Bf4 46. Nd4 Kg6 47. Ne2 Bd6 48. Ra6 f6 49. Nd4 Bf4 50. Ra5
h5 51. Ne6 Bd6 52. Ra8 h4 53. Re8 Kf5 54. Nd4+ Kg4 55. Rh8 Bf4 56. Nc2 Rxd5
57. d4 Ra5 58. Nb4 Ra3 59. Nd5 Ra2+ 60. Kf1 Kf3 61. Re8 Bd2 62. Kg1 Ra1+
63. Kh2 g4 64. Rg8 g3+ 65. Rxg3+ hxg3+ 66. Kh3 Rh1# 0-1[/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

I got a draw versus Roce39 rated 1837 at Rapid with my favorite Wing Gambit Opening

[pgn]Event "Computer chess game"]
[Date "2023.01.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "ChessQueen"]
[Black "Roce39"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "1837"]
[ECO "B20"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Time "19:27:47"]
[Variation "Wing Gambit, 1.e4 c5 2.b4"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "302"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. e4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. d4 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. a3 Qxd5 6. Nf3 e6 7. c4 bxc3 8.
Nxc3 Qd8 9. Ne5 Be7 10. Bd3 O-O 11. Bf4 Kh8 12. Qa4 Bd7 13. Nxd7 Nbxd7 14.
Qb5 Nb6 15. Ne2 Kg8 16. Bd2 Qd5 17. Qxd5 Nfxd5 18. O-O Bd6 19. Rfb1 f5 20.
Rb3 f4 21. Re1 Rf6 22. Kh1 h6 23. Ng1 a5 24. Reb1 Bc7 25. Rb5 Nc8 26. Rxb7
Nd6 27. R7b2 a4 28. Nf3 Rd8 29. Rc2 Rff8 30. Rbc1 Ne8 31. Re1 Rf6 32. Rc4
Nb6 33. Rc6 Rd6 34. Rc2 Rd8 35. Rc6 Rd6 36. Rc2 Rd8 37. Bb5 Nd5 38. Bxa4
Bd6 39. Ra2 Nec7 40. Bc6 Ne7 41. Be4 Ncd5 42. Rb1 Rc8 43. Rb3 Rff8 44. a4
Rce8 45. Rab2 Rc8 46. Rb1 Rc4 47. a5 Nf5 48. Bd3 Rc6 49. Re1 Bc7 50. Bb5
Rd6 51. g4 fxg3 52. fxg3 Ra8 53. g4 Nfe7 54. Ne5 Rf8 55. Rc1 Rdd8 56. Bd7
Rf6 57. Rb7 Rdf8 58. g5 Rf1+ 59. Rxf1 Rxf1+ 60. Kg2 Rd1 61. Nf3 Kf7 62.
gxh6 gxh6 63. Bxh6 Bxa5 64. Ra7 Bb6 65. Ra8 Ng6 66. Ba4 Rb1 67. Kh3 Rb2 68.
Ng5+ Kf6 69. Ne4+ Kf5 70. Ng3+ Kf6 71. Nh5+ Kf5 72. Ng3+ Kf6 73. Nh5+ Kf5
74. Rg8 Bxd4 75. Bd7 Be5 76. Ng3+ Kf6 77. Be8 Ngf4+ 78. Kg4 Ke7 79. Bg5+
Kd6 80. Ne4+ Kc7 81. Rf8 Re2 82. Rf7+ Kc8 83. Rf8 Rg2+ 84. Kf3 Rxh2 85.
Bb5+ Kb7 86. Bxf4 Nxf4 87. Rxf4 Bxf4 88. Kxf4 Rh4+ 89. Ke3 e5 90. Bd7 Rh2
91. Kf3 Rh4 92. Ke3 Rh2 93. Bf5 Kb8 94. Kd3 Kc7 95. Be6 Kc6 96. Kc4 Rc2+
97. Nc3 Rd2 98. Bd5+ Kb6 99. Kb3 Rd4 100. Bc4 e4 101. Kb4 e3 102. Ne2 Rh4
103. Kc3 Kc5 104. Ba6 Ra4 105. Bb7 Ra3+ 106. Kb2 Rd3 107. Bf3 Kb4 108. Kb1
Rd2 109. Kc1 Kc5 110. Ng3 Kd4 111. Be2 Ra2 112. Kd1 Ke5 113. Bc4 Rd2+ 114.
Kc1 Rd4 115. Bb5 Rd5 116. Be2 Rd2 117. Bc4 Rh2 118. Ne2 Ke4 119. Bb5 Rf2
120. Kd1 Rh2 121. Bc6+ Kf5 122. Nd4+ Kg6 123. Be4+ Kf6 124. Ne2 Ke5 125.
Bd3 Kf6 126. Kc2 Ke6 127. Kd1 Kf6 128. Kc2 Ke6 129. Kb3 Kf6 130. Kb4 Ke5
131. Kc5 Rg2 132. Bb5 Rg7 133. Bc4 Rg2 134. Bb5 Rg7 135. Kb6 Rg8 136. Kc7
Ke4 137. Kd6 Rd8+ 138. Kc7 Rd2 139. Bc6+ Ke5 140. Bf3 Rd6 141. Kb7 Rg6 142.
Kc7 Re6 143. Kd7 Rb6 144. Bh5 Rd6+ 145. Ke8 Rd2 146. Bf3 Kf6 147. Ng3 Kg7
148. Be2 Kg8 149. Ba6 Rc2 150. Bb5 Rh2 151. Ne2 Rg2 {50 moves rule} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

Why is starting with more material better than playing a weak opponent (e.g. a weak chess.com bot, or even a weak human)?

What is it about having a strong opponent?

For me the key difference between a strong and a weak (but still stronger than myself) opponent is that against the weak opponent, I can see why I'm losing (e.g. the opponent has grabbed material), whereas against a strong opponent things seem to be going OK, then suddenly the sky falls!

The advantage of odds play vs. top engine as compared to standard chess with "weak" engine (still stronger or equal to human) is that against the weak engine, results depend more on luck, i.e. whether the weak engine sees some non-trivial sequence that the human sees. If you win, it's not clear that you deserve the credit. Of course the same applies to playing humans; I never got much satisfaction from winning a game due to my opponent missing something relatively simple. With odds play, if you win at a handicap where you previously lost multiple games, you feel you have improved. One way to look at it is that setting the engine to play at (for example) 2000 elo means it will make errors averaging some fraction of a pawn per move, which will add up over the game to losing a piece or more on average. But this will vary game to game. With rook odds (for example) the total of the errors is clearly defined, not variable. But even game play is better training for actual tournament games vs. humans. I play both ways vs. Dragon myself. Both ways have merit.

I totally agree, I feel like I am learning more when I play versus Stockfish or Dragon with Odds, therefore, I will continue challenging Top engines with Odds like Rook Odds

[pgn][Event "Rook Odds"]
[Date "2023.01.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stockfish_23010408_x64_avx2"]
[Black "ChessQueen"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[Time "11:27:34"]
[WhiteElo "3525"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR w Kkq - 0 1"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[WhiteType "human"]
[BlackType "program"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Nxe5 d6 5. Nxf7 Qe7 6. Nxh8 Nc3+ 7. Be2
Nxd1 8. Kxd1 Qf6 9. Be3 g6 10. Nc3 c6 11. h4 Qxh8 12. h5 Qg8 13. Kc1 Be6
14. hxg6 hxg6 15. a4 Nd7 16. a5 O-O-O 17. Bf3 d5 18. Be2 Bb4 19. a6 Bxc3
20. bxc3 Nb6 21. f3 Nc4 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. axb7+ Kxb7 24. Bg5 Rd5 25. Bh6
Rh5 26. Rxh5 gxh5 27. g4 h4 28. Be3 Qb8 29. d5 cxd5 30. Kd2 h3 31. Bg1 Qg3
32. Bh2 Qxf3 33. Kc1 {White resigns} *[/pgn]

[Chessqueen]

Dragon 2.6 is too strong for me with Contempt = 130
[pgn][Event "Rook Odds"]
[Site "DESKTOP-OFQ3C0P"]
[Date "2023.01.13"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dragon-2.6.1-64bit-avx2"]
[Black "ChessQueen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[Time "12:22:23"]
[WhiteElo "3485"]
[TimeControl "900+10"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR w Kkq - 0 1"]
[Termination "normal"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[WhiteType "program"]
[BlackType "human"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. a3 d5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c4 Be7 6. h4 O-O 7. h5 Bd7 8. h6
gxh6 9. Rxh6 Kg7 10. Rh1 dxc4 11. Bxc4 a6 12. Nc3 b5 13. Bd3 b4 14. Ne2 a5
15. e4 Rh8 16. Bh6+ Kg8 17. Rh3 e5 18. Rg3+ Ng4 19. Nh2 Bh4 20. Nxg4 Bxg3
21. Nxg3 Nxd4 22. Nh5 Ra6 23. Bxa6 Nc2+ 24. Qxc2 Bxg4 25. Qd3 Qh4 26. Qd5
c6 27. Qxc6 Qh1+ 28. Bf1 Qxf1+ 29. Kxf1 Be2+ 30. Kxe2 bxa3 {Black resigns}[/pgn]