Hello,
A bit of a surprise playing the second match in group 5, round 1: Novag Chess Champion MK1 vs Mephisto Maestro Travel. Of course the surprise is not blowing in the score: two points for the Maestro Travel, no worries. Who would have thought the MK1 would grasp any semipoint or more?
No, the surprise is the MK1 could proudly stand 28 moves on par with the Maestro Travel, in its first game as White. Even then, the mistake it commits is a positional one, quite obvious for a human player, not so much for a weak program. And the Maestro Travel will still need 10 moves or so to get a strong material advantage... Good job, little MK1!
On another hand, if playing with the CP2000 is a pain in the neck, doing so with the MK1 as White is a pain in the a$$
The second game is much much comfortable: at first, playing the MK1 as Black is straightforward, you just need to focus on the input to avoid potential mess, as there is no control. And the second reason is the game only lasted 16 moves, the MK1 being thoroughly overwhelmed by an early attack from the Maestro Travel.
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.26"]
[Round "5-1"]
[White "Novag Chess Champion MK1 (lv 2)"]
[Black "Mephisto Maestro Travel (lv 15s)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "735"]
[BlackElo "1561"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "A00"]
[PlyCount "106"]
1.Nc3 {No book} 1...d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 {Out of book} 4.b3 Bb4 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nbd4 Qd7 7.g3 Nc6 8.Nxc6 Qxc6 9.Bd3 O-O 10.Bb2 Bd7 11.Ne5 Qd6 12.a3 Bc5 13.Nxd7 Nxd7 14.h3 Rfd8 15.g4 e5 16.g5 Qe6 17.h4 Nb8 18.h5 h6 19.gxh6 gxh6 20.Be2 Rd6 21.b4 Ba7 22.a4 Nc6 23.Bg4 f5 24.Bh3 Nxb4 25.Ba3 Bc5 26.Rg1+ Kh8 27.Rg6 Qd7 28.Rxd6 Bxd6 29.c3 $2 {weakens d3 square, a strong outpost for the Black Knight} 29...Nd3+ 30.Ke2 Bxa3 31.Rxa3 e4 32.f4 c5 33.Ra2 Rg8 34.a5 Qb5 35.Bxf5 Nb2+ 36.c4 Qxc4+ 37.d3 exd3+ 38.Bxd3 Rg2+ 39.Kf1 Rf2+ 40.Kxf2 Nxd1+ 41.Ke2 Nc3+ 42.Kd2 Qxa2+ 43.Kxc3 Qxa5+ 44.Kb3 Qd2 45.Bf1 Qxe3+ 46.Kc2 Qf2+ 47.Kd1 Qxf1+ 48.Kd2 b5 49.Ke3 a5 50.f5 Qxf5 51.Ke2 b4 52.Kd2 b3 53.Kc3 Qc2# 0-1
[Event "The 64-cup"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2023.10.26"]
[Round "5-1"]
[White "Mephisto Maestro Travel (lv 15s)"]
[Black "Novag Chess Champion MK1 (lv 2)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1561"]
[BlackElo "735"]
[EventDate "2023.09.26"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "31"]
1.e4 e5 {No book} 2.d4 Bb4+ 3.c3 {Out of book} 3...Ba5 4.dxe5 Nc6 5.b4 Bb6 6.Qg4 Nxe5 7.Qxg7 Ng6 8.Nf3 a6 9.Bg5 Bxf2+ $2 {of course useless and due to the horizon effect. f6 was correct.} 10.Kxf2 Nf6 $6 11.Bxf6 Rg8 $6 12.Qxg8+ Nf8 13.Bxd8 c5 14.Ng5 cxb4 15.Bf6 {Mastro Travel announces mate in 2} 15...h6 16.Qxf7# 1-0
100 games played so far in this 64-cup
MfG,
Tibono