Hi all. There are several very exciting new Leela chess games being played at TCEC
Season 15 the Premier Division. This is at a 90 minutes with 5 second
increment. This game really caught my attention against Komodo chess engine a
very fierce engine that knocked out the mighty Stockfish in the TCEC cup.
In the last TCEC Cup, Stockfish was knocked out and Leela won the cup. We have the Sicilian defense
and the theory given to both. It's the Sicilian Najdorf variation. f4 e6 Qf3
Qb6 Nb3 Queen c7 and this is the end of the book given. g4
very aggressive. b5 counter-attacking g5 now here for
theoretical reference for high-level over the board games a Kasparov game
Judit Polgar against Garry Kasparov. Geneva 1996 saw Garry Kasparov playing Nfd7
here. This is quite a popular move it's actually more popular than b4 which
is what Komodo played. And in that game Kasparov managed to get an advantage in
the endgame. Towards the end game.I'll just quickly show you flick through that
game. So Judit Polgar was playing White and Kasparov managed to get a winning endgame eventually.
Queen's came off after this move Knight to c6 and black eventually mopped up all
the pawns here on the dark squares winning the endgame so that was an
interesting game. That was eventually won at move 50. So that's with the move
Nfd7. So Komodo's move is very interesting. b4 has been played
quite a few games as well. We have also a very topical and very high-level game here
with b4. there's a game where Jan Timman
was playing White against Mikhail Tal played in 1988 which saw the very
shocking Nb5 from Jan Timman. And Mikhail Tal with the black pieces managed
to soak up the pressure and eventually it was quickly decisive. Let's flick through this game
as well. Quite interesting stem games in this very topical Sicilian Najdorf.
Mikhail Tal put a lot of pressure on e4 there and crashed through.
Quite crushing this one. Na6 - end of a game that was quite crushing
game. So it seems Nb5 might might not be sound from the evidence of
that game. But here in this game we have G takes f6
from Leela so that's the end of the theory. And the two theoretical references I wanted
to show you. So bxc3 Rg1 g6 here gxf6 is also possible but
white gets it seems a small edge here this position. If you look at it there's
quite good pressure on the d file. White has good control of c5 here so g6 Rg3
Nd7 e6. Now this it really started to catch my attention.
Okay the rooks attacked. Something has to be done about that. Bishop b7 but now
isn't this really scary for white to do? Qxc3. White has if you
look at the long-term aspects of the position got a 3-1 pawn majority
here on the Queen side. But in the short term isn't there's something going on
here? After Qxc3 Leela preserved the structure
actually with this move Rxc3. And you might think that isn't this
tactically impossible possible to play rook takes c3. So this is this is the moment it really
caught my attention. I thought I must show you guys this game. So after dxe5
it looks as though Bishop b4 doesn't have to
be parried pinning the rook. But we have just the casual F takes e5 just offering
Bb4. But the opportunity is not taken up here for
Bishop b4. We have h5 instead. "Opportunity" is such nice words but is it such a
great opportunity that's the question here. If let's have a look at Knight
takes e5 instead taking out a center pawn. It seems here that kind of weakness
of the last move neglecting and giving up c5 can be used with Knight c5 hitting the
bishop and white gets a very nice position for example like this is a very
nice continuation. It seems after Knight c5 it's difficult for black. If Bishop
takes then this position where the rook going to the 7th and taking this pawn
tactically because of rook c8 is going to be a 3-0
pawn majority. White's got a big advantage there. So it's
very interesting anyway. Bb4 not being played immediately. But let's
have a look now at Bishop b4 so Knight takes e5. Now let's have a look at the
immediate Bishop b4. Why wasn't this played? Is this 3-1 pawn majority really a
killer here? I had to be very careful when checking this variation. Bishop d2
Knight takes e5 is an example there's rook c7 here and white will be getting a
small edge here. And the other line to think about is just taking on c3.
Bxc3 - so what is the big deal here?
White does have that bishop pair and has solidified the center. There is a thorn
pawn on f6. There is a 3-1 pawn majority. Let's consider g5 as
black wants to use the two-to-one pawn majority here. Na5 Bd5.
Bd4 maintaining the blockade. Well kind of liberating the c-pawn.
Still holding e5 and this position it seems might be the way for
Whites to play. With the knight switching back with Nc4 it seems as though
technically White is gaining the advantage here. It looks visually quite crushing as
though these pawns are underway and the bishop is actually protecting the rook.
So a4 and b5 might even be possible later. Because the bishops protecting the rook on a1.
It looks as though the pawns are really dangerous here so
perhaps that's why it was rejected by the Komodo chess engine - the whole Bb4.
So I thought this was extremely curious playing on the pawn
majority subtly in a way. So h5 Na5 is played hitting the bishop
bishop d5 Knight c4. The offer is taken up here with Bishop
b4 in any case. We have Bishop d2. Bxc4 Rxc4.
Is there enough here after Knight takes e5? Three to one poor (3:1) pawn majority and "Thorn" pawn.
There is also an a6 target which is now even further targeted with Ra4.
Black castles with check here. If a5 you might wonder what would happen. it seems
Bishop g2 is pretty good here. For example check and taking. It's
going be difficult for black. And I suspect b4 if if the rook tries to
hold around the a file. So basically black castles with check here though.
Instead of playing a5 and we have King c3 Knight g4 so the a6 pawn is for
the taking. But first we had Re1 stopping any pesky Ne3 perhaps.So Re1
and instead of taking on f6, b4 Nd5+ and Kb3.
b4 gave the b3 square to the King without hemming in the pawns.
That's a really key consideration with White's pawn majority here not to hem in pawns.
The lovely pawn majority is key. To make sure it gets its full potential and now finally this
is taken. We have a 3-0 Q-side pawn majority. And you might consider black has
got a pawn majority over here but it's a race situation perhaps. Also White
is not even the exchange down or anything here. An interesting pawn
majority race scenario. So f5 - statistically though
these pawns are all on the light squares which is good for the light square
bishop at the moment. Of course they can be moved forward you'd think. b5
Rhe8. b6. White's pawn is pretty quick with tempo and then we have Bb5.
And it's black which actually does give up the exchange here with Knight
takes b6. If black tries to preserve the rook with Re7 it seems as though
here c4 is strong. For example Nxb6 Ra6 and here Nc8
for example here. This is very nice for white. The pawns are big targets.
This is overall better for white and if we look at this again with King
b7 c5 Nd5. And this taking on e6 again white is significantly better here for
example like this with a big advantage. So it seems as though black is
giving up the exchange and Komodo really hasn't lost any games up until
this point (except to Stockfish). So is it really the case that it has worked this one out as well to be drawish.
Because it up to now relatively undefeated in this tournament. This is Round 35.
It might have lost the Stockfish of course - I need to check that okay. I
shouldn't say that without checking but anyway hasn't lost that many games so we
have Bishop takes e8 rook takes e8. Rd4. I'm pretty sure it did lose to
Stockfish at least one or two. Stockfish has been dominating the event so let's
just go with that assumption but apart from that the other engines it has not lost any. Komodo is in general
pretty solid. so Na8 here rook g1 King c7 and
this pawn drops off. And yes this exchange up scenario isn't that great
for black as you might expect. So let's see some technique so the rook
coming in over here picking off this pawn.
This h pawn moving and these pawns are now targeted and White is going to
use this H pawn basically. It's not just the exchange up, it's the fact that is
the outside passed h pawn is pretty dangerous here so it's pushed as well as the outside a
pawn. So we've got two outside passed pawns stretching black's pieces. The Knight
cannot cope. This is like basically giving up. The game actually
ended here. So as an example continuation h6 Nxa7 h7. e3 Check. This is
just an example continuation. We can use that H pawn to get a winning position
much more clearly. So I thought that was an interesting game. What made the game special was this whole offer
of the exchange sacrifice. But there is a deeper context here. Pawn majorities are the key consideration.
I thought it was quite interesting to cover. Now I want to try and cover the
other interesting games as I see from this tournament. I want to get back into
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