Prophet @ CCT9

Last modified: 2/20/07

Prophet participated in CCT9 on February 17-18, 2007. Prophet was seeded 38th out of 54 entrants. Its hardware for the tournament was an AMD Athlon64 3400+ with 512mb ram, running Gentoo Linux. As usual the tournament took place at the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

Prophet was in top form, but the level of competition was incredible this year. I knew Prophet would have to get very lucky to finish with any more than about 2.5 points (out of 7). But, anything can happen in short tournaments, as evidenced by Prophet's ACCA06 performance. In the end, Prophet finished with 3/7 to place 33rd out of 52 (two entries left the tournament). Not great, but at least it finished better than its seeding. Prophet lost a couple of really good games but also got very lucky in its game vs. Frenzee, so all in all I'm satisified with the result.

Standard disclaimer - I'm a patzer at chess. However, I'll at least give my impression of Prophet's performance in each game. I will happily accept more detailed analysis from strong chess players!

Round 1 - Scorpio (11) vs Prophet [PGN] [LOG] 0-1

Daniel Shawul's latest creation. Scorpio is a strong engine - it has done well vs. some stiff competition with various testers. There's not much to say about this game. Prophet was totally outclassed and lost badly. Scorpio went on to finish 3rd in the tournament.

Round 2 - Prophet vs. Tohno (52) [PGN] [LOG] 1-0

Not much to say about this game either. Tohno was totally outclassed and lost badly. :) But, Tohno is not meant to be a "serious" entry anyway. Per Steneskog is a nice guy, I think he just enters Tohno so no one else gets the "wooden spoon award" (as I heard it put on talkchess.com). :)

Round 3 - DanaSah (25) vs. Prophet [PGN] [LOG] 0-1

I guess Prophet was looking for some excitement in this game. After 1. e4 it chose to play d5. :) (Ok, that was a book move.) DanaSah's 9. Re1 appears to be a blunder, losing the d4 pawn:



11& 112 8049 4242692 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 f5 Bg2 Ng6 Be3 Bb4 Bxd4 Qxd4
11. 112 8690 4581654 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 f5 Bg2 Ng6 Be3 Bb4 Bxd4 Qxd4
12& 112 17113 9082415 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 f5 Bg2 Ng6 Be3 Bb4 Bxd4 Qxd4 Qxd4 Rxd4
12. 112 18152 9650811 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 f5 Bg2 Ng6 Be3 Bb4 Bxd4 Qxd4 Qxd4 Rxd4
13& 112 31850 16968555 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 e5 Be3 f5 Bg2 e4 Nd5 Nxd5 Bxd4
13. 112 33648 17936682 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 e5 Be3 f5 Bg2 e4 Nd5 Nxd5 Bxd4
14& 111 69329 36847574 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 e5 Be3 Kb8 Bxd4 exd4 Qb3 b6 Nb5 d3 Qc3
14. 111 78460 41781179 O-O-O Nc3 Bxf3 Bxf3 Nxd4 Be4 e5 Be3 Kb8 Bxd4 exd4 Qb3 b6 Nb5 d3 Qc3
Things were pretty much over for DanaSah at that point. I'm not sure what happened, but DanaSah was seeded a good bit higher than Prophet, so this was a nice win.

Round 4 - Prophet vs. Frenzee (17) [PGN] [LOG] 1-0

Prophet was incredibly lucky in this game. Sune was having some issues related to running on a quad. Frenzee played the (very) unorthodox 1. ... b5 followed up by 2. ... b4. Needless to say, Prophet was pleased with Frenzee's choice of openings and held on to its opening advantage, though seriously outsearched. Towards the end of the game the position was drawish, but I suspect Frenzee's search would've "broken through" at some point and found a win. But alas, poor Frenzee had some sort of hardware issue and Sune resigned in this position:



Sune commented that Frenzee's opening moves, which were played "from book", were in fact not in Frenzee's book at all. I've no idea what all that was about - but clearly this was a stroke of very bad luck for Frenzee. To Sune's credit he had everything worked out by round 5 and went on to finish at a respectable 4.5, but unfortunately for him I fear this loss put him too far back to compete for a top spot.

Round 5 - Prophet vs. Diep (12) [PGN] [LOG] 0-1

After finishing the first day with 3/4, I knew Prophet was due for a smackdown. The question was - who was to give it? The answer was DIEP. Diep is a strong engine with several appearances at the world championships. But still, I couldn't help but feel Prophet at least had a chance. To my surprise, Prophet was quite pleased after Diep's 4. ... Nf6.



11& 110 7143 3579137 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Qd6 Nf3 Qxg3
11. 110 9467 4745551 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Qd6 Nf3 Qxg3
12& 113 14424 7185121 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Nb8d7 Nd2 Bc2
12. 113 21055 10565573 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Nb8d7 Nd2 Bc2
13& 94 29477 14751983 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Bd6 f4 O-O Nc3
13. 94 49970 25215514 Qb3 e6 Qxb7 Be4 Qb5+ c6 Qg5 h6 Qg3 Bd6 f4 O-O Nc3

By 17. d5, Prophet was very pleased:



11& 146 9647 5551888 dxc5 Bxc5 a3 Nc6 b4 Be7 Nd5 O-O Ne2c3 a6
11& 151 11783 6798075 dxe5 Ng4 a3 Qa6 Ng3 Nxe5 Nf5 Bf8 Nd5 Nb4d3 Bxd3 Nxd3
11. 151 13918 8046640 dxe5 Ng4 a3 Qa6 Ng3 Nxe5 Nf5 Bf8 Nd5 Nb4d3 Bxd3 Nxd3
12& 159 15285 8871068 dxe5 Ng4 a3 Qa6 Ng3 Nxe5 Nf5 Bf8 Nd5 Nxd5 exd5 g6 Ng3
12& 160 22786 13290124 d5 Qa6 b3 Qb6 Ng3 O-O Nf5 Bd8 a3 Na6 Bc2 Ng4
12. 160 23281 13585903 d5 Qa6 b3 Qb6 Ng3 O-O Nf5 Bd8 a3 Na6 Bc2 Ng4


Prophet's cheery attitude didn't last too long though. Things were pretty much heading downhill after 26. Nd2:



I am not sure if Prophet was outsearched or just outplayed (or both). If anyone can pinpoint a clear error in Prophet's play, please let me know.

Round 6 - Booot (20) vs. Prophet [PGN] [LOG] 1-0

This game started fairly well. The first 12 moves anyway, but on unlucky move 13 Prophet played a silly looking Kh8 in this position:



Seems Prophet should've done something with the rimmed knight - perhaps Nb4 or Nb8-Nc6 and eventually Nd4. Or, maybe b6-Bb7 to put the bishop on the long diagonal. I really don't know what motivated Kh8. Prophet really didn't get anything going in this game. Booot built on the positional advantage, munched some pawns, and went into a KRPP vs. KR endgame.

Round 7 - Prophet vs. Homer (30) [PGN] [LOG] 0-1

This was my favorite game of the tourney, even though Prophet lost. Daniel Mehrmann and I had a nice chat over an exciting game.

Prophet was only in book for two moves, which surprised Daniel, and frankly surprised me! My book is not that large, but two moves!? Something to look at for next year...

After 15 ... Nc3 by Homer we had this position:



Which, looked strange to me (again, a patzer) because it allowed 16. Bxc3 bxc3, and the black c3 pawn is weak. But, Homer fought unphased, reaching this position at move 33:



Homer chose the line 33. ... Rxf2 34. Qxf2 Rxf2 35. Rxf2 (R+R for Q+P). Prophet evaluated the resulting position as +0.13 for white. Daniel said he thought the exchange was probably good for white too.

According to Prophet, things started to go south around 45. Kxh3.



11& 1 1135 771178 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Bxc4 Rxc4 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxe3+ Rxe3 Qxe3+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kh3 e3 Be4
11. 1 2273 1461564 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Bxc4 Rxc4 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxe3+ Rxe3 Qxe3+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kh3 e3 Be4
12& 1 3583 2357210 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Bxc4 Rxc4 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxe3+ Rxe3
12. 1 4084 2670211 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Bxc4 Rxc4 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxe3+ Rxe3
13& -11 7053 4680813 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxc4 Rxc4
13. -11 11273 7300314 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxc4 Rxc4
--- (-44,22) -> (-144,-44)
14& +++ 22155 14319246 Kxh3
+++ (-144,-44) -> (-50001,56)
14& -26 25888 17094936 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxc4 Rxc4 Bxe3+ Rxe3 Qxe3+ Kh1 Qe1+ Kg2 Qd2+ Kh3 e3 Rc7+ Kh6 Rc6 Qxa5
14. -26 25890 17094940 Kxh3 c2 Bxc2 Qf5+ Kg2 Qf3+ Kg1 Bxc4 Rxc4 Bxe3+ Rxe3 Qxe3+ Kh1 Qe1+ Kg2 Qd2+ Kh3 e3 Rc7+ Kh6 Rc6 Qxa5


The game was pretty much over at this point. Homer pushed the c3 pawn, made some king threats, and eventually promoted the pawn to seal the (well deserved) win.

Blitz Tournament [PGN] [LOG]

By the time the blitz tourney rolled around I was so tired I could hardly see straight, and I could tell I was coming down with a cold. I was looking at the screen, probably with a glazed over look. I do remember seeing the blitz game vs. Neurosis and thinking at one point - Prophet's got this. Then, a bit later, Neurosis had it - the game was over (or should have been). It was a queen up! But Prophet had two strong passers and pushed them through. Neurosis could've still drawn the game, I think, but in the end Prophet got a lucky win.

Prophet also played Chezzz, which was funny to me as I was operating Chezzz for David Rasmussen - who had the flu. (Punk must've sent a cold virus over with his program! - j/k David.) Chezzz was running on my work laptop, a Core Duo, while Prophet was running on my wife's laptop three feet away. :) Prophet ended up with a draw in that game, which was a good result vs. Chezzz. For a while I was concerned that the tablebases I downloaded all day for Chezzz were going to be the undoing of poor Prophet!

In the end, it was a fun tournament and I am happy with Prophet's performance. The times were a little brutal - starting at 1am each day(!), but after so many years I can hardly complain. Many thanks to Peter Skinner for the usual bang up job. I am not sure how much work I'll be able to put into Prophet over the next year, but I will play in next year's CCT just because it's so much fun. :)
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