hello all,
next match has been a rather exciting one; with the Mephisto Europa A giving sort of a lesson to the Tiger Grenadier, which can feel very lucky with a shared score. As far as hardware is concerned, it is a very modest 6301Y with 2 actual Mhz facing a powerful SH7034 @20Mhz (that's 13.7 times faster according to my estimation!)
As often, the Grenadier chooses rather unusal openings, but funny enough is out of its book sooner than the Europa - and this is true in both games!
During the first game as White, the small Morsch program plays better chess than the Donninger's one. I am not a strong player but I could immediately spot some odd moves from the Grenadier - no need for any deep analysis to tag them as questionable. The Grenadier only saves itself
thanks to a hasty Pawn promotion, the materialist Europa A allowed itself to be tempted with, neglecting a corridor mate threat.
In the second game with opposite castlings, both devices prepare attacking the opponent King's corner, the Grenadier can push forward three linked Pawns whilst the Europa A is faster with one single storming Pawn the Grenadier failed to consider dangerous enough. As soon as move 34 the King of the Grenadier is disloged from its corner and threatened by no less than two Rooks, a Queen and two Bishops... that could have mate in 4. That's a bit deep for the Europa, so the fight will last much longer, nevertheless ending in a win for the small device.
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.25"]
[Round "4-3"]
[White "Mephisto Europa A (lv a3)"]
[Black "Tiger Grenadier (tibono setting lv 15s avg)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1702"]
[BlackElo "1855"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "A81"]
[PlyCount "80"]
1.d4 f5 2.g3 e6 {Out of book} 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nc3 {Out of book} 4...Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Nf3 O-O 7.O-O d5 8.Qd2 Ne4 9.Nxe4 fxe4 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Rf5 13.Qc3 c5 14.f4 Bd7 15.Qb3 b5 16.Rad1 Raf8 17.Rd2 a5 18.Rfd1 a4 19.Qc3 b4 20.Qe3 Bb5 21.a3 Bc4 $6 {obviously an odd move from a human POV!} 22.axb4 cxb4 23.b3 axb3 24.cxb3 Bb5 25.Qb6 e3 26.Ra2 Bd7 27.Qxe3 R5f7 28.Ra7 Kh8 29.Qd4 Qe8 30.e4 Bb5 31.exd5 Rxa7 32.Qxa7 Qh5 $6 {again a strange choice. Why move this Queen away from the fight on Queen side?} 33.Rc1 Be2 34.dxe6 Qg6 35.e7 Rg8 36.Qb7 $6 {Bd5 would have increased pressure} 36...Qd3 37.Qc6 Bd1 38.e8=Q $4 {ignores the corridor mate threat. h3 or h4 would have unlocked the King; or RxB simplification was another way to prevent the mate.} 38...Qe3+ $1 {Grenadier announces mate in 4!} 39.Kh1 ( 39.Kf1 Be2+ 40.Ke1 Bc4+ 41.Kd1 Qe2# ) 39...Qe1+ 40.Bf1 Qxf1# 0-1
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.25"]
[Round "4-3"]
[White "Tiger Grenadier (tibono setting lv 15s avg)"]
[Black "Mephisto Europa A (lv a3)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1855"]
[BlackElo "1702"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "D00"]
[PlyCount "140"]
1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 Nf6 3.Nd2 {Out of book} 3...Nc6 4.Ngf3 Ne4 5.c3 Nxg5 {Out of book} 6.Nxg5 e5 7.Ngf3 e4 8.Ng1 Bg4 9.Qa4 Be7 10.h3 Bd7 11.O-O-O O-O 12.Qb3 Bc8 13.e3 Re8 14.Kb1 Qd7 15.g4 Bh4 16.Rh2 Bf6 17.Rg2 Na5 18.Qc2 Bg5 19.Be2 Qc6 20.Nb3 Nxb3 21.Qxb3 Bd7 22.f4 Be7 23.f5 a5 24.Rf1 a4 25.Qc2 a3 26.Qb3 $2 {b3 or b4 was much more secure} 26...axb2 27.Qxb2 Ra3 28.Rc1 Rea8 29.c4 $2 {Bd1 would have enabled additional support from the g2 Rook} 29...Rxa2 30.Qb3 R2a4 31.c5 Ra3 32.Qd1 $6 {even if the game is already lost, again an odd move (moves the Queen too far away from the immediate fight).} 32...Ra1+ 33.Kb2 R8a2+ 34.Kc3 {Grenadier announces: Black can mate in 4} 34...Qa4 $6 {Bxc5! was the correct move} ( 34...Bxc5 35.Bc4 Bb4+ 36.Kxb4 Qb6+ 37.Kc3 Qa5+ 38.Kb3 Ba4# ) 35.Qxa4 Rxc1+ 36.Kb3 Rxa4 37.h4 Rca1 38.g5 Bxf5 39.Kb2 R4a2+ 40.Kb3 Rxg1 41.Rxg1 Rxe2 42.Rg3 Rh2 43.Kc3 Rxh4 44.Rg1 Bc8 45.Ra1 Bf8 46.Ra8 Bg4 47.Rb8 Rh3 48.Kd2 Rh2+ 49.Kc1 Ra2 50.Rxb7 c6 51.Rc7 Re2 52.Rxc6 Rxe3 53.Rc7 Rd3 54.Kb1 Rxd4 55.g6 hxg6 56.Kb2 Rc4 57.Rb7 g5 58.Rb8 Rxc5 59.Re8 f5 60.Rb8 d4 61.Rd8 d3 62.Rd4 Rc2+ 63.Kb3 Bd1 64.Rd8 Rc8+ $1 65.Ka2 Rxd8 66.Kb2 d2 67.Ka2 {Grenadier announces: Black can mate in 4} 67...Rb8 68.Ka1 Be2 69.Ka2 Bc4+ 70.Ka1 d1=Q# 0-1
MfG,
Tibono