The Match Van der Wiel vs. Rebel Century 3.0
Centre Céramique Maastricht, The Netherlands
January 2-4 and 9-11, 2001
J. van Reek and J. W.H.M Uiterwijk
Margraten, The Netherlands / Maastricht, The Netherlands
A match of six games has been played between International Grandmaster John van der Wiel and top computer-chess program REBEL CENTURY 3.0 on January 2-4 and 9-11, 2001, at the Centre Céramique in Maastricht, The Netherlands. The time control was forty moves in two hours and the remaining moves in one hour. REBEL CENTURY 3.0 played on an 866 MHz computer. The match was organized by Chess Events Maastricht. Geurt Gijssen was international arbiter, Jan van Reek commented on the games semi-life on www.chess.dts.nl , and Ed Schröder made calculations by REBEL CENTURY 3.0 available on www.rebwiel.htm. The opening move of game one was played by Veronica Dirksen, Council woman of Maastricht. The match was keenly folIowed on the Internet. Dutch newspapers and local television made extensive reports. Below we present six games with some comments. The match ended in a 3½-2½ victory for REBEL CENTURY 3.0.
Maastricht, January 2, 2001
In a long and high-level struggle, REBEL CENTURY 3.0 made a prophylactic error during the middle game (15. Rd2). When Van der Wiel missed a tactical win (33... Rxc3), a great positional advantage remained. Probably it was insufficient for a win. The defence by REBEL CENTURY 3.0 was stubborn and effective.
Maastricht, January 3, 2001
The game started as a dull exchange variation. Then Van der Wiel took the initiative in the centre after a strategic error by REBEL CENTURY 3.0. A passed centre Pawn became very strong, but Van der Wiel failed to win (46. Qe5). Again REBEL CENTURY 3.0 defended flawlessly in the endgame.
Maastricht, January 4, 2001
Van der Wiel had a great victory. He had the 'ideal' closed positjon against the computer. However, REBEL CENTURY 3.0 did not collapse like FRITZ and JUNIOR often do. Van der Wiel defended accurately and obtained the time to exchange his bad coloured Bishop. When REBEL CENTURY 3.0 took a Pawn, a pin became nasty. The Pawn was regained quickly. Black had a big positional advantage and won the rook endgame beautifully. At the end of the first week, Van der Wiel led by 2-1, but it could have been 3-0.
Maastricht, January 9, 2001
REBEL CENTURY 3.0 gave the human an advantage for a tactical position. When Van der Wiel avoided the sharpest variation, his downfall started. He made several errors in the endgame. The pawn ending was lost by zugzwang. REBEL CENTURY 3.0 played courageously. This game is the first loss of Van der Wiel in a tournament game against a computer.
Maastricht, January 10, 2001
Van der Wiel exchanged the moves 7 and 8 during the opening. As a result REBEL CENTURY 3.0 could choose a little-known tactical variation from its book. A disaster for the Grandmaster followed.
Maastricht, January 11, 2001
John van der Wiel wanted to equalise the match and started a great fight. In a closed position, he moved his pieces to the Kingside, while defenders moved away. The attack could have become decisive, but the game ended in confusion. A draw was the result. REBEL CENTURY 3.0 scored in the second week 2½-½, and it could have been 3-0.
Conclusion
The overall result of 3 -2 was a great victory for REBEL CENTURY 3.0, because Van der Wiel had previously scored 24 -3 against chess programs. The Grandmaster played strategically very strong, but did not show his usual tactical wit. A great skill of REBEL CENTURY 3.0 is its stability in games versus humans. The playing strength does not collapse in unfamiliar positions.
References
Kramnik, V. (2000). Interview about Kramnik-Deep Junior, Qortmund 2000. ChessBase Magazin, CD-Rom No, 78.
Weg, M. bij de (1998) De computer is toch te verslaan. Computerschaak. Vol. 18, No.4, pp. 17-18. (In Dutch)