ArKheiN wrote on 01/07/11 at 12:24:14:


About 1) Yes, the games will be played simultaneously, per Email. At the end the games will be put into this thread for discussion.

About 2) It's the strongest currently available engine. See http://www.cruxis.com/chess/houdini.htm.

I challenge everyone to battle out the pawn sacrifice 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.h4 h5 13.Bg5 b5!? 

I know that 13...Rc5 supposed to be fine and prefered by probably all of you. Nevertheless I believe that 13...b5!? is no worse and I have done quite a lot of analysis to support this oppinion!

The details of the challenge are the following:

1) I play the Black side and you start with move 14.
2) We will only play 10 moves (20 plies). Move repetitions won't count.
3) We play at a rate of 2 days/move. Exceptions have to be agreed by both players.
4) At the end the position will be evaluated by Houdini 1.5 at depth 25. White wins if the evaluation is >+0.2. Black wins if the evaluation is <-0.2. Everything in between is counted as a draw.
5) The one who wins against me will get my analysis of the Burnett variation. If you lose, you may also give me some analysis of a dragon line, but that is optional.
6) Every person may play one game at most, but I'm ready to play against up to 10 players. First come, first serve.


To help you a little: The main lines are 14.Ndxb5 Qb6, 14.Ncxb5 Rc5 and 14.g4 a5, but you may also go for any sideline. 

I'm looking forward for exciting games!