September 2017 Chess Games

Games shown here were played against my chess applet, the Homeostatic Chess Player, a computer program I wrote in the first year of this century.

Ruy Lopez

The so-called "Spanish game," after the Spanish bishop who first described it 600 years ago. Homeostatic Chess Player vs. Rick on Intel CORE i7 Dell Inspiron laptop, September 21-22, 2017. Minimal look-ahead set to six tempi. The computer is playing white.

	White	Black
1.	e4	e5
2.	Nf3	Nc6
3.	Bb5	a6         The bishop move to b5 is the signature move of the Ruy Lopez opening. The pawn move a6 is the modern treatment.
4.	Bc4	Bc5        Taking the knight does not win a pawn as black gets it back with a queen fork of the knight and a pawn.
5.	Nc3	Nf6        We have now transposed into an Italian four knights game with the pawn on a6 representing an extra move for black.

Position after move 5.

6.	Ng5	O-O        Two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn is a fairly even trade, but in the early game the minor pieces serve better.
7.	Na4	Ba7
8.	O-O	d6
9.	h3	Bd7        White's prophylactic h3 denies an active development for black's queen's bishop.
10.	d3	Qc8        Black intends to sacrifice the bishop at h3.

Position after move 10.

11.	Bd2	h6         Getting luft (breathing room for the king) and "putting the question" to white's knight.
12.	Nxf7	Rxf7
13.	Bxf7+	Kxf7
14.	c4	Bxh3       White's c4 locks the center and ignores the danger from black's potential sacrifice on h3.
15.	gxh3	Qxh3

Position after move 15.

16.	Be3	Ng4        White must lose back the material.
17.	Re1	Nxe3       Re1 is forced.
18.	fxe3	Bxe3+
19.	Rxe3	Qxe3+
20.	Kg2	Kg8        Black is two pawns up, but more importantly, white's king is exposed.

Position after move 20.

21.	Qf3	Qd2+       All that's left is the mopping up.
22.	Kh3	Nd4
23.	Qd1	Qe3+
24.	Kg2	Rf8        The chess applet is programmed to resign when it sees mate coming.
25.	Rb1	Rf2+       White resigns.

Position after move 25.

Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com