built a focused

Will Houdini give birth to a Neo-Romantic era?

By RC Gonzalez
If you have never heard of the Romantic Era of chess, imagine Zorro and the flashy maneuvers that are expected from the a man wearing a black mask and a cape. Now visualize a scene where he is simultaneously fighting with several villains and in the heat of battle: he leaps on a table, then fights backwards up a spiral staircase, and finally swings on a chandelier with a damsel in his arm. Now, associate that bravado to chess and you have the essence of the Romantic Era. The emphasis of Romantic players was to attack at all cost. Instead of swords and swinging chandeliers, piece sacrifices and initiative is the standard. [See Evergreen Game for example.] Sadly, Wilhelm Steinitz brought an eventual end to the Romantic Era when his ideas of sound positional play eventually overwhelmed (or underwhelmed?!) his swashbuckling predecessors with a steady accumulation of long term advantages. For many people, positional play is dull and Steinitz and his ideas are more of a curse than a blessing when he changed the game of chess from an art into a science. Fortunately, for the chess world's Miniver Cheevies, there may be hope. Robert Houdart, the creator of the chess engine Houdini has designed his brainchild to focus on initiative and aggression, even at the cost of material. in essence, Houdini plays with a romantic style. In a recent game between Houdini and Rybka, the styles of the two world's strongest chess engines clashed. Houdini weakened its own king's position with the idea of using the g file as an avenue of attack (move 1 4). Later in the game, Houdini used its b pawn as a decoy in order to lure Rybka's queen away from the action (move 22). In the heat of battle, Rybka's forces became uncoordinated; conversely Houdini's

Issue 1 , June 201 2

army concentrated an attack on the black king with brutal results. Since many casual players and Grandmasters use computer programs for analysis, will Houdini's innovative approach rub off on opening theory and more importantly on the new generation of players thus creating a Neo-Romantic Era? Only time will tell. Evergreen Game [Date "1 852.??.??"] [White "Adolf Anderssen"] [Black "Jean Dufresne"] [ECO "C52"] 1 .e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O d3 8.Qb3 Qf6 9.e5 Qg6 1 0.Re1 Nge7 11 .Ba3 b5 1 2.Qxb5 Rb8 1 3.Qa4 Bb6 1 4.Nbd2 Bb7 1 5.Ne4 Qf5 1 6.Bxd3 Qh5 1 7.Nf6+ gxf6 1 8.exf6 Rg8 1 9.Rad1 Qxf3 20.Rxe7+ Nxe7 21 .Qxd7+ Kxd7 22.Bf5+ Ke8 23.Bd7+ Kf8 24.Bxe7# 1 -0

Houdini vs. Rybka (Resign function deactivated) [Date "201 2.02.29"] [White "Houdini 2.0c x64"] [Black "Rybka 4 x64"] [ECO "D55"] 1 . d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nc3 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Rc1 a6 9. cxd5 exd5 1 0. Bd3 Be6

Trivia: Q: Who is known as The Pride and Sorrow of Chess?

Continured from front...

11 . O-O Nd7 1 2. Ne2 Bg4 1 3. Qb3 Bxf3 1 4. gxf3

A word from the editor:

Nb6 1 5. Kh1 c6 1 6. Rg1 Kh8 1 7. Rg2 Bg5 1 8. Rcg1 Rg8 1 9. f4 Be7 20. Bc2 Nd7 21 . e4 Qb6 22. Qh3 This is an experiment from a person whose life has been influenced by chess. My goal is to grow this small newsletter into something mighty. If you have an interesting game or puzzle email it so it can be considered. Be sure to go to the Facebook page to keep up with local events and chess happenings at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/downtownchess/

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The Best of Karpov Hardcover: 280 pages Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 st U.S. edition (1 975)

Qxb2 23. Bb1 Nf6 24. e5 Nh7 25. Qd3 Nf8 26. Ng3 Qa3 27. Nf5 Qxd3 28. Bxd3 Ne6 29. Nxe7 Nxf4 30. Rg3 Rgf8 31 . Nf5 g6 32. Nxh6 Kh7 33. Nf5 c5 34. Rf3 Nxd3 35. Rxd3 cxd4 36. Nd6 b6 37. f4 Ra7 38. f5 Kg8 39. Rxd4 Rd8 40. fxg6 f6 41 . Nf5 fxe5 42. Rh4 Rg7 43. Rh5 Re8 44. Nh6+ Kf8 45. Rf1 + Ke7 46. Nf5+ Kf6 47. Nd6+ Kxg6 48. Nxe8 Kxh5 49. Nxg7+ Kh6 50. Nf5+ Kh7 51 . Kg2 Kh8 52. Nd6 Kg8 53. Rf5 Kg7 54. Rxe5 Kf6 55. Rxd5 Ke6 56. Rd3 Kf6 57. h4 Kg6 58. Rg3+ Kf6 59. h5 Ke5 60. h6 Kxd6 61 . h7 a5 62. h8=Q Kd5 63. Rg5+ Kc4 64. Qc8+ Kd3 65. Rd5+ Ke4 66. Qf5+ Ke3 67. Qf3#

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Trivia: A: Paul Morphy (1 837-1 884)