Human triumphs over Hiarcs 8 – just

Republica Argentina Chess Master 2002

A computer program, Hiarcs 8.0, is the star of this year's annual Republica Chess Master in Argentina. This is not surprising, since already in 2001 it was Chess Tiger won the same tournament by a margin of two points, achieved a GM norm and was elected "winner of the month" by Germany's largest computer magazine (Porsche was the loser).

The tournament is being held from July 19 to 27. You will find the reports (in Spanish) and games at the official web site. You can buy Hiarcs and Chess Tiger in the ChessBase Shop.

Final report (after round 11)

A memorable tournament

By Roberto Alvarez

Everybody will remember the fifth edition of "República Argentina" Masters, Mercosur Cup. The human triumph over the machine became a highlighted new item in the sport section of the main Argentinian newspapers.

With minimal advantage, IM Bernardo Roselli of Uruguay, won the first prize with 20 points (we must remember the scoring system employed, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss), followed by Hiarcs 8.0 with 19, and GM Oscar Panno, with 18 points. Here is the final ranking:

1  Roselli,Bernardo   URU m 2426  20.0
2  COMP Hiacs 8.0     GER  (2600) 19.0
3  Panno,Oscar        ARG g 2480  18.0
4  Valerga,Diego      ARG m 2487  15.0
5  Rodriguez,Andres   URU g 2467  14.0
6  Slipak,Sergio      ARG g 2493  12.0
7  Pelikian,Jefferson BRA m 2409  10.0
7  Spangenberg,Hugo   ARG g 2512  10.0
9  Scarella,Enrique   ARG m 2358   7.0
10 Granara,Sebastian  URU   2261   6.0
11 Paglilla,Carlos    ARG m 2381   5.0

In the 11th and last round, Roselli, with Black pieces, drew with GM Andres Rodriguez in a 14-move Petroff Defense.

Hiarcs had the black pieces against Sebastián Granara and played one of the best games of the tournament: after an irregular opening the computer managed to get the bishop pair and then, with good central play, devoted its efforts to contain the opponent's knight. After the central break 31...d4 Hiarcs exchanged both rooks, in true Capablanca style. With his bishop against a poor white bishop and a knight without a strong outpost the computer manoeuvered, putting enormous pressure on White's position, which finally collapsed. When looking at the game, without knowing the name of the players, it is would not be normal to consider the player with the black pieces a grandmaster.

With this nice victory Hiarcs took 2nd place with 19 points, with a rating performance of 2580! The second half of the tournament was specially remarkable: 4.5 points out of 5. And the program, running on a very standard computer, scored 75% against the four GMs.

GM Oscar Panno, with Black pieces, battled more than four hours but could not win his game against IM Enrique Scarella, who played solidly, without any glaring mistakes. So Panno ended unbeated and in third place with 18 points, which was more than well deserved.

The winners: Oscar Panno, Hiarcs (Roberto Alvarez) and Bernardo Roselli

The 8:00 PM closing ceremony was attended by important goverment authorities, both local and national, and a large number of visitors. Tournament director Ing. Mario Petrucci expressed our sincere thanks to the companies who made this Chess Festival a success, with special thanks to Chessbase GmbH, both for its participation in the event with one of the company's top programs, and for its sponsorship in so difficult times for our country.

Last year the computer beat the humans. This time the humans took revenge, winning the event, but not without serious difficulties. We will see what happens next year. One thing is sure: today's chess programs plays at GM level, and every chessplayer can enjoy them at home, for training, friendly games or playing chess on the net using the fantastic Playchess server.

V Rep.Argentina  2002 - FIDE crosstable
                                           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
1   Roselli Mailhe,Bernardo    2426  +213  * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1   7.5/10
2   Panno,Oscar                2480  +109  ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½   7.0/10  33.00
3   COMP Hiacs 8.0             2600   -22  0 ½ * 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½   7.0/10  30.75
4   Rodriguez,Andres           2467    +8  ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1   5.5/10  24.00
5   Valerga,Diego              2487   -13  ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 1 1   5.5/10  23.50
6   Slipak,Sergio              2493   -55  ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½   5.0/10
7   Spangenberg,Hugo           2512  -112  0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½   4.5/10
8   Pelikian,Jefferson         2409   -35  0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1   4.0/10
9   Scarella,Enrique           2358   -17  0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1   3.5/10
10  Granara Barreto,Sebastian  2261   +48  ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½   3.0/10
11  Paglilla,Carlos            2374  -120  0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ *   2.5/10


V Rep.Argentina  2002 - Prize Distribution and Mercosur Cup Crosstable

                                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 
1   Slipak,Sergio          ARG g 2493   * 1 1 0 1 3 3 1 0 1 1  12.0/10 
2   Roselli,Bernardo       URU m 2426   1 * 3 3 1 3 1 3 1 1 3  20.0/10 
3   Paglilla,Carlos        ARG m 2381   1 0 * 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1   5.0/10 
4   COMP Hiacs 8.0         GER  (2600)  3 0 1 * 1 3 3 3 1 3 1  19.0/10  
5   Panno,Oscar            ARG g 2480   1 1 1 1 * 3 3 1 3 3 1  18.0/10  
6   Pelikian,Jefferson     BRA m 2409   0 0 3 0 0 * 1 1 3 1 1  10.0/10 
7   Granara,Sebastian      URU   2261   0 1 1 0 0 1 * 1 0 1 1   6.0/10
8   Scarella,Enrique       ARG m 2358   1 0 3 0 1 1 1 * 0 1 0   7.0/10  
9   Valerga,Diego          ARG m 2487   3 1 3 1 0 0 3 3 * 0 1  15.0/10 
10  Rodriguez,Andres       URU g 2467   1 1 3 0 0 1 1 1 3 * 3  14.0/10 
11  Spangenberg,Hugo       ARG g 2512   1 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 0 *  10.0/10
(win=3, draw=1, loss=0)

Download all the games of the tournament, annotated, in PGN or ChessBase (CBV)