Rybka 4

Quick update, downloadable version of Rybka 4 will be available at ChessOK.Com on the 26th of May and DVD orders sent on the 28th, I think you can pre-order now! I do believe I have a chessok.com link here somewhere!!

Rybka 4 is on it's way!

  I know I'm late with this news, and very late in posting, but I have been ill lately, since January...numerous tests, bloodwork, an MRI, a CT scan and multiple x-rays..I should be glowing in the dark!

 But that's not the main news, the main news is that FINALLY! Rybka 4 is to be released for sale, i haven't seen a definite date, but I have seen some ads at chess program selling sites.  Wow, i wish I could afford the new monster, but TransWarp's ICC renewal is coming up as well.  I was late in trying to renew my human account and lost years of stats..all erased.  But while I DO have an excuse, the fact that the info was erased is a big loss to me.

  I could start over, try to reach my 1700 blitz rating once more, but that will never happen as I am way out of shape, can't move the pieces fast enough anymore...the young have taken over.  But that's life..out with  the old, in with  the new, like Rybka 4!!  It has been said to be late May, which is here..but i haven't checked the forum yet today to see if there's been a release date set and how much the basic mp uci multi-processor version costs...the thought scares me.  I have really only used Rybka as my chess engine, I never could afford to buy all these Deep Junior, Deep Fritz, Deep Sjeng and new names popping up as well...with all those engines and guis going for about $100.00 per shot, on a meager 760.00/mo income (after medicare D deduction) there wouldn't have been a chance in Hades that I could have gotten those and had matches between them...which I've always wanted to do...I would love to get the new Rybka 4 and do that vs Rybka 3 on my machine and see the outcome, the thought is exciting and bittersweet.

 I may be having a relapse of my polymyositis...I can barely stand for 10 minutes or so if that, I go in the kitchen to try and get my big cooler cup (you find in those quick stores) that's about 17 years old now, wow)...and fill it up with ice and a mixture of cold water from a jug in the fridge and one of the sports drinks to try and regain electrolytes and such I lost overnight with the night sweats or discomfort from the cpap machine's hose and nose piece filling up with condensation..roll over and get a nose full of water..yay..  But as I have put on more weight due to now also because of a hormone imbalance (The night sweats may have been a clue that got overlooked) so now I get monthly shots as well..male menopause, who heard of that? sheesh...as well as the possibility of the polymyositis going into some involuntary muscles has made the last 5-6 months a time i couldn't even think of TransWarp..I had just renewed it's account as well...but lack of play led to boredom which took me to Facebook and it's plethora of games..so I'm guilty of being an attempted mob boss and farmer...go figure.

 The release of Rybka 4 has stimulated the chess fever once more...but I may have to be on the sidelines...this darn hobby has gotten very expensive...I don't get any money from the banner ads..some Chinese spammer has gotten his jollies posting Chinese pr0n sites in the comments, I missed the first one, luckily google has Chinese (simplified)/English translations..he tried with a harder version of Chinese, but it's English or nothing now.  But I would like to wish Vasik Rajlich & the Rybka Team (which has gotten huge) Good Luck with Rybka 4 and may they have nothing but great things from  her.

 As for TransWarp, I may try to renew the account...at least it was the first to break the 4000 elo "barrier" lol, on ICC in it's rating system. It had an Awesome run with GM Hikaru Nakamura, who I can't thank enough for playing TransWarp and in doing so, making the games something ICC'ers looked forward to watching and their hopes got high every time the two were logged on at the same time and Smallville was in a blitz playing mood vs a computer.

 Of course, I would like to thank all the other players who took time out of their day to play TW...it was so much fun for me when I got the chance to watch them live.  However, as my days often like a farmer's, early to rise and early to bed, I missed so many of them.  But whatever happens, I look forward to seeing how Rybka 4 does out there and hopefully, I will manage to get it as well.  When I mentioned all those other versions of engines up above, I imagine there are some who are saying, "well, why didn't you just look for them online, wink"  I just don't believe in that, these guys work hard to make these engines and I believe deserve all the reward for that hard work!  People have a funny way of thinking sometimes, they would never think of going into say Best Buy and stealing a copy of one the commercial engines, but looking for it online, virus risks and all, won't stop them.  But there's always Karma..they may not get caught doing that...but it evens out int he end.  Anyway...I'm off my soapbox/"news conference" about where I went with TW..which of course was nowhere..TW just relaxed amongst the other programs chatting away I suppose..while I did the gangster bit, probably laughing at me..especially when I started farming and planted my first crop..some sort of berry, think blueberries..lol..But my farm is packed with animals and it's field surrounded by trees, barns, gnomes, you name it..but it kept me busy and not looking at a screen where no one was playing.  However, Armcomposer(GM) did play some unrated games recently, that was fun to watch. You can't help but root for the underdog.  Anyway, Rybka 4, when you make your debut, Welcome!!

FIDE'S TOP 10 January 2010 Rating List

FIDE, the official organization of worldwide chess, has put out it's January 2010 rating list.  Rising Super GM Magnus Carlsen is officially #1 in the World with a rating of 2810!  He's followed by World Chess Championship Challenger GM Veselin Topalov at 2805, with current World Champion GM Viswanathan Anand coming in at 2790.  Here is a list of the new top 10 in the world, I will post the link to the top 100 following this small list.

Rank Name Title Country Rating Games B-Year

 1. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2810 16 1990

 2. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2805 4 1975

 3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2790 9 1969

 4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2788 16 1975

 5. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2781 17 1982

 6. Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2761 25 1968

 7. Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2759 21 1986

 8. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2749 13 1969

 9. Wang, Yue g CHN 2749 8 1987

10. Svidler, Peter g RUS 2744 27 1976

FIDE's List of the Top 100 Active players: (Men + GM Judit Polgar)

Internet Chess Club's Favorite Blitz Player GM Hikaru Nakamura comes in at:

28. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2708 7 1987

Still hanging in there above 2700 and being in the top 30 of 1264 active Grandmasters in the list and now the number 1 player in the US isn't too shabby.  I still don't think it's fair to see the lack of invitations he gets to major tournaments, unless he does get them and doesn't accept, I really don't know.  But being above 2700 should bring more major tournaments I think.

Another note, the US gains another Grandmaster with young Ray Robson getting his title in a week or so, he's already rated above 2500, so having to wait for that is no problem, congrats to GM Ray Robson!



The First "Must Have" - " Reassess Your Chess" By International Master Jeremy Silman

Russia Superfinals 2009 Final Standings

I missed out on these games due to a problem with some meds, kind of bummed I couldn't keep updating so as to keep some traffic this way, but that's the way it goes with me....kind of pitiful.  After the 10 player 9 round, round-robin format tournament the final standings are:

Final Standings after Round 9:


1  6.5 GM Alexander Grischuk 2736

2  6.0 GM Peter Svidler 2754

3  5.0 GM Nikita Vitiugov 2694

4-5 4.5 GM Evgeny Alekseev 2715

4-5 4.5 GM Dmitry Jakovenko 2736

6-8 4.0 GM Denis Khismatullin 2643

6-8 4.0 GM Alexander Riazantsev 2661

6-8 4.0 GM Evgeny Tomashevsky 2708

9  3.5 GM Artyom Timofeev 2651

10 3.0 GM Sanan Sjugirov 2612

GM Alexander Grischuk had a good tournament to win outright, this was a pretty tough bunch of customers, the favorite GM Peter Svidler did well at first but evidently suffered a rare loss vs GM Sanan Sjugirov, the lowest seed in the tournament, after this GM Grischuk had no problems holding off the rest of the pack.

Here's GM Grischuk's win in a Ruy Lopez over GM Dmitry Jakovenko:

 
photo courtesy of Chessdom.com

One Smallville Blitz game

Here's one of the Smallville blitz games, this one is where the Grandmaster mind knows much more than the patzer (my) mind.  According the Rybka, he was just -0.24 at a depth of 21, but I used a little more analysis time than the game would have allowed, at an earlier eval at a depth of 18 the score was -0.50 or half a pawn.  However, GM Nakamura could easily see the position's potential and the chance of winning or drawing in what short time he had to look at it just by his pure chess knowledge.  What we look at (the average player) there is no reason to quit just yet, but to the mind of someone who can visualize far ahead and see weaknesses and strong points that we can't comprehend in such a short time, it's I guess a better position for black and not worth the effort to fight a machine that can evaluate blitz just as fast, only in a different way.  He has the brain power just to look at a position and know it's potential, while the computer has to go through algorithms using fast cpu power, but not actually KNOW what it's doing.  That is what makes the human mind an awesome thing and to see a person who CAN beat the machine do it, makes my day.  Contrary to the popular thought, I am not someone who takes a loss by his computer badly, in fact when I see it done live, it's the most enlightening thing to see.  Someday, this won't happen and probably Chess 960 will have to be the computer's realm, but now is a point where the power of the human mind to prevail is still there and great to see in action.  Computer vs Computer is cool if you can afford the computers that do this battle now, I cannot, so I enjoy still watching Man vs Machine and secretly rooting for Man. When Man has no chance or the game is solved to a draw, sadly this crucial time will be gone, it's nearly there already, probably is with the real high end machines battling each other.  Think of when Kasparov played Fritz3D, that program would get toasted now but it was one of the most watched matches ever.  Ah, the days of the old Radio Shack magnetic press and move consoles, put them on level 6, the one I had, I would move, go to class, come back and it still hadn't moved.  Any lower, I would beat it most of the time.  Now this age...I  will enjoy watching TransWarp get beaten, knowing that sadly, there are computers out there that Grandmasters will be lucky to get a draw against.




00:03:55.4 [-0.24] d=20  bxc4 Rb8 Bg2 Ne5 Nxe5 Bxe5 Re1 Bf4 Ne4 Bxh2+ Kxh2 Nd7 a4 Rb3 Rd1 Ra3 Kg3 Bxe4 Bxe4 Nb6 Kf3 Nxc4 Rc1 Nd2+ Ke2 Ra2 Ke1 Nxe4 dxe4 Rxa4 Rxc5