'Studying with Modern Engines'

The September 2022 Chess Life had a topical article, 'But Does It Actually Work?; Sadler and Doknjas on improving by studying with modern engines' by IM John Watson. The master book author and reviewer discussed two books:-

• Sadler, Matthew. The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement. New in Chess, 2022.
• Doknjas, Joshua. The AI Revolution in Chess. Everyman Chess, 2002. [sic; 2022?]

The article is available online at Watson Book Review: Sadler, Doknjas, and Modern Engines (uschess.org). Watson explains,

To grossly oversimplify, the older-style engines (like Stockfish Classical, with what he calls 'hand-crafted evaluations') have continuously improved and are generally superior in calculating outrageously deep and ingenious tactics. Nevertheless, the neural network engines like Leela Zero with self-learnt evaluations can play a more profound and effective strategic ('positional') game, which tends to outperform the calculating monsters.

What can be learned from these engines, especially the NNUE engines? Watson again:-

These books convince me that engine study can lead to improvement, but generally in fairly narrow and specific contexts. First, by finding exact orders, well-timed maneuvers, and successful plans in the opening, as is practiced by every leading player in the world. More generally, in discovering typical maneuvers in certain structures and better evaluation of contrasting strategies -- for example, certain pawn sacrifices or flank attacks.

What does that say for chess960? The opening is different for every game and the phrase 'typical maneuvers' is meaningless. Perhaps it's better to ignore the engines completely.

Chess in the Artist's Studio

The first Sunday of the month means a new post in the long-running series Top eBay Chess Items by Price (March 2010). The priority generally goes to artwork, where -- if you don't count The Spanish Forger Liked Chess (September 2022) -- the previous post was A Wizard or a God? (August 2022).

This month I had three interesting paintings to choose from, so I went with the one I liked most. Titled, 'Henri Dillon (1851-1909) signed French oil on canvas - chess game interior', it sold for GBP 1,850.00 ('Approximately US $2,086.80' according to eBay) after 27 bids from 12 bidders.

The description said,

Henri Patrice Dillon (1851-1909)

A very beautiful and atmospheric oil by Henri Patrice Dillon the French painter who was born in San Francisco but moved to France to paint. This work shows too men in an intense game of chess in a smoky interior -- one of the men is puffing on a pipe and the smoke has filled the whole room. In the background a woman watches. The walls are adorned with sculptures and paintings.

Title: "The Chess Game" • Signature: Signed lower right • Medium: Oil on original canvas • Size: c. 18 x 22 inches unframed • Condition: Unlined original canvas -- some old repairs and retouchings

As for 'an intense game of chess', the fellow on the right appears to be sleeping. The setting looks like an artist's studio. The start of the artist's French Wikipédia page, Henri Patrice Dillon (fr.wikipedia.org), translates to:-

Henri Patrice Dillon, known as "H. P. Dillon", born November 28, 1850 in San Francisco, and died May 16, 1909 in Paris, was a French painter, illustrator and lithographer of Irish origin, who made a career in the Paris of la Belle Époque.

As for the other two 'interesting paintings' for the month, I tried to find them elsewhere on the web, but failed. This is usually a straightforward process and I'm sure I've seen one of the paintings, by Rodolfo Tarallo, several times before. Has something changed?

Fashionable Fischer

Last week's post in the 'Fischer Friday' series, 'To Sam, With Thanks' (October 2022), featured an eBay item,

Signed by Bobby Fischer to his friend Saemi Rock, a.k.a. Saemundur Palsson, friend and bodyguard in 1972.

Palsson is seen frequently in 'Bobby Fischer vs. the Rest of the World' by Brad Darrach. The previous post where I quoted the author was October 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (October 2022), about a day where Darrach and his LIFE colleague, photographer Harry Benson, spent with the soon-to-be World Champion.

According to Darrach (p.125), Fischer first met Palsson on the 4th of July, the day the American arrived in Iceland. After an anecdotal account of their meeting, Darrach wrote,

And that's how Bobby Fischer, cast up like Robinson Crusoe on a desert island, found his man Friday -- the smiling, cunning, tireless Nordic aborigine, loyal as a tapeworm, who from that moment enveloped him in a private atmosphere as a baby is wrapped in a bunting. Bobby has an affinity for men like "Saemi" (pronounced Symie) Palsson, for soft, agreeable, motherly men who allow him to feel all-powerful.

Here's another excerpt from Darrach (p.128), constructing more dialog from the same day. It touches on a subject important to Fischer: men's fashion.

"I would be very honored," [Palsson] said, "if you would come to my house for dinner sometime."

"Yeah, yeah." Bobby was in high spirits now. When they started off again he wanted the truck to go faster, but Palsson had a good thing going and didn't want to spoil it. "With that valuable cargo," he explained later, "I wanted full control of the machine. So I told him a Land Rover couldn't go any faster than seventy or eighty kilometers an hour."

On the way back, Bobby asked about tailors -- who were the best ones and how much would it cost him to have a suit made up? "I want something mod. Not too mod but a little, y'know?"

Palsson promised to check out a British tailor who had set up shop in Reykjavik.

"But I don't want him using my name in ads or anything, unnastan'?"

Palsson understood.

By the time the Land Rover stopped in front of Bobby's house it was almost 6 A.M. With somebody to boss around, Bobby had already begun to act more confident. He felt he had put down a root in Iceland; maybe the place wasn't as bad as he had thought.

The next day the two men met again (p.139):-

[Fred] Cramer's car crunched to a stop in front of Bobby's house at 10 P.M. Bobby was dressed and had company.

Saemundur Palsson, out of uniform, had arrived about an hour earlier with his seven-year-old son, Asgeir. Palsson noticed that Bobby was keyed up and restless. "D'ja call the tailor?" he wanted to know right away. Palsson said the tailor had agreed to open his shop any night that suited Bobby. "Not bad," Bobby answered.

Squeezing close to his father, Asgeir sat staring at Bobby with big scared eyes. Whenever Bobby looked back, he stuffed his head in his father's armpit.

"Asgeir!" Palsson protested in Icelandic. "Why are you so shy? Mr. Fischer won't hurt you. He's a very nice man."

Asgeir said something to his father's armpit.

"Aw!" said Palsson, and explained to Bobby, "He is shy because you are so famous."

Flattered, Bobby noticed the child. "Hey, Oscar," he said, "ya want some apple juice?"

Palsson translated. Asgeir blushed and nodded.

Bobby got the juice and Asgeir sat drinking shyly. He had a broad rosy face and enormous brown eyes set far apart, like a lamb's. Bobby decided he liked him and Palsson insisted that Asgeir liked Bobby too. "Yeah," Bobby said, "I get along good with kids."

There's a well known photo from two months later showing Bobby in a suit, 'not too mod but a little'. It is placed in chronological sequence in Fischer Wirephotos II (March 2016; first photo, fourth row; see also the second photo). My guess is that the suit was purchased in Iceland.

The suggested caption said,

NXP1751250-9/17/72-NEW YORK: World chess champion Bobby Fischer manages a big smile as he walks from a plane to a limousine following his arrival at Kennedy airport from Iceland 9/17. UPI we/al

Another Fischer photo showing the same suit is on Facebook: 'Fischer and Quinteros forged a strong friendship from 1971' (facebook.com). The fellow behind Quinteros is a fuller view of the person that I've cropped out out of the photo pictured above. Who was he?

An equally well known photo is on the same Facebook group: 'During a championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland, Bobby Fischer went to a tailor to buy two suits' (ditto; further link to nytimes.com). Fischer is sitting next to a photo of Rudolph Valentino. Some people think Fischer looks like Valentino.

'Ram Mates Ewe'?

Yes, that's what the ad said. Pictured below, it appeared inside the November 1997 issue of Chess Life that I discussed a few days ago in November 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (November 2022).

Center of ad: 'Hereford to field eight. • Ewe to tractor seven. • Ram mates ewe.'

The two page ad started,

Introducing Chessmaster 5500, the latest in the award-winning software line for the chess-obsessed. Thanks to patented Illustrated Voice Analysis, Chessmaster 5500 doesn't just play you, it talks with you. Get detailed tips and advice from the Chessmaster himself.

Hear International Master Josh Waitzkin analyze his favorite games. And watch the Chessmaster ponder thousands of potential moves in the new Visual Thinking Window. Interactive tutorials and difficulty settings that range from beginner to expert make Chessmaster an excellent mentor and worthy opponent for any skill level.

What does the Farmville (wikipedia.org) imagery have to do with chess? Beats me. The ad continued,

Instant access to Chessmaster Live. By linking to Chessmaster Live through Chessmaster 5500 you can play others from around the globe 24 hours a day. Compete in on-line tournaments. Improve your game with brain-teasers, tips and advice columns from Grandmasters. Even challenge and chat with friends.

With thousands of games played daily, Chessmaster Live is the most popular chess community on the Internet. For more information and the name of your local retailer, call [phone]. • MINDSCAPE.

The bottom of the ad gave a domain for 'Chessmaster Live': www.chessmaster.com. The Wayback Machine's first capture of the domain is for January 1999, Title: 'Chessmaster' (archive.org). The page started,

The newest version of the world's finest and best loved chess program, Chessmaster 6000 is the complete computerized chess resource for all age groups and skill levels. With exciting new features that explore the human side of the game and complement the richest feature set available, all players will experience computer chess in an entirely new way.

Yesterday's post on my World Chess Championship blog, Smartchess Interviews Karpov (November 2022), also stemmed from the latest 'On the Cover' post and also relied on the Wayback Machine. When did Internet and Web technology start to impact chess literature? I'll look at this in another post.

November 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover'

How quickly we tend to forget. Last month, in October 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (October 2022), we saw Bobby Fischer on the cover as 'The World Champion!!'. This month his historic feat already risks sliding into the back pages of CL&R.

Left: '?'
Right: 'Herculean Labors'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

Grandmaster Walter Browne, left, after winning the 1972 U.S. Open in Atlantic City. N.J. USCF Executive Director Ed Edmondson is at right. Crosstable [inside]. Photo by Col. Paul L. Webb.

The last time we saw GM Browne 'On the Cover' was the 1972 portion of the May 1972 & 1997 post (May 2022), where he was a co-winner at Lone Pine. The November 1972 issue was his third cover appearance that year, two more than Fischer.

'Crosstable [inside]' was the bulk of the 2-1/2 page U.S. Open tournament report, along with a list of winners. The written report was a six-paragraph box titled, 'The Open: Kolty Komments', including everything you needed to know about the site's air conditioning.

More on the Fischer - Spassky match followed the Koltanowski report. I've already mentioned Anthony Saidy's write-up, 'A Tale of Two Titans - Ten Weeks That Shook the Chess World', in Hatchet Job (June 2022). Saidy was followed by GM Robert Byrne's analysis of games 12 and 13 (out of 21 games played).

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

Thank you, Frank Elley, for never throwing anything away. Including the slide of the artwork by Jack Jones.

Which you received in 1983. Sent to you by McLean & Friends, Atlanta, Georgia, [phone].

This work, done as a sample for Chess Life, doesn't quite represent the era of Hercules, but it is a fine tribute to our Weekend Warriors who did battle over the Labor Day weekend, vying for state and regional championships.

The related five-page article, also titled 'Herculean Labors', covered Labor Day tournaments from eight states. An article by Rachel Landry featured an interview with then FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov, plus his relationship with GM Ron Henley and Smartchess Online. Is this worth a follow-up?

TCEC S23 Sufi, CCC19 Rapid : Both Underway

'Another two weeks, another report about the world's top two ongoing engine vs.engine competitions.' That's what the lead sentence for this post should say, except that it's been three weeks since the previous report. My wife frequently insists on taking vacations that interfere with all of my well-planned schedules. That previous report, TCEC S23 DivP, CCC19 Blitz Final : 'Well' Underway (October 2022), can be summarized as follows:-

TCEC: S23 DivP is well underway. Stockfish is two points ahead of LCzero and KomodoDragon, which are separated by a half-point. • CCC: Stockfish won 'CCC19 Blitz Main' ahead of LC0 and Dragon, who were well ahead of the other seven engines. In the 'CCC19 Blitz Challenger Match', Dragon beat LC0 by six points in a 300 game match. Stockfish is pummelling Dragon in the 'CCC19 Blitz Final' match.

You might guess that a three-week interlude would mean more to report than the normal two-week interlude, and you would be right. The following summary brings us up-to-date to the current situation.

TCEC: In S23 Premier Division (DivP) Stockfish won all of its mini-matches, finishing three points ahead of LCzero and KomodoDragon. Those habitual contenders for 2nd/3rd place in all recent engine events tied, but were still well ahead of the other five engines. How did TCEC break the tie to determine Stockfish's final opponent? The first tiebreak rule said,

1. In case of engines being tied, then the direct encounter(s) between the tied engines decides first.

The two engines finished +2-2=4 in their individual mini-match. The second tiebreak rule said,

2. The Sonneborn-Berger [S-B] is the second criterion.

LCZero had S-B tiebreak considerably superior to KomodoDragon. The difference appears to be due to LCZero's much better performance against Stockfish, 'minus one' versus KomodoDragon's 'minus four'.

The Dragon then played a consolation 'Infrafinal' match against Ethereal, the engine that finished clear fourth (although with an even score) in DivP. KomodoDragon won the 100-game match by 19 points.

The 100-game S23 final match (aka 'Superfinal' or 'Sufi' in TCEC jargon) has seen five of the games finish, with Stockfish having a one point lead over LCZero. For the result of the previous Sufi, see TCEC S22, the Fish Again; CCC17 Bullet Top-3 (April 2022; 'the Fish's fifth straight Sufi victory').

CCC: In the 'CCC19 Blitz Final' 300-game match, Stockfish beat Dragon by 60 points. After a few exhibition events, including two in an 'OpenBench Interlude' series, the site launched a 'CCC19 Rapid' multi-stage event.

Eight engines competed in the 'CCC19 Rapid Newcomers' stage, with the top four promoting to the eight-engine 'Qualifier #1'. Those promoted engines finished in the last four places, so four different engines promoted to the eight-engine 'Qualifier #2'. Those four engines are currently occupying the last four places. The next stage should be the 'Main' event.

[For further information from the various stakeholders in the engine-to-engine events, see the tab 'TCEC/CCC Links' at the top of this page. • NB: Leela = LC0 = LCzero; Dragon = KomodoDragon]

World Chess IPO

Once again we return to the long-running series The Sociology of Chess (November 2016), last seen in 'The Root of All Evil'? (September 2022). In that post I wrote,

This is the second post in a row to deal with the so-called 'root of all evil'.

By some weird twist of fate -- evil fate? -- we now have the third post in a row. The story appeared on my most recent Yahoos post, Chess960 Mania (October 2022), where 'Yahoos' is a keyword meaning 'mainstream news stories about chess'.

If you're not familiar with IPOs, you're probably not an investor in stock markets. Wikipedia, in Initial public offering (wikipedia.org), defines an IPO as follows:-

An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment banks, who also arrange for the shares to be listed on one or more stock exchanges. Through this process, colloquially known as floating, or going public, a privately held company is transformed into a public company.

You can win big or you can lose big. If you're with the private company going public, you usually win big, at least in the short term. All others pay cash.

World Chess gearing up for IPO (8:52) • '[Published on] Oct 27, 2022'

The description of the video starts,

World Chess PLC chief executive Ilya Melenzon speaks to Proactive about his plans to list the company on the London Stock Exchange later this year. The initial public offer, of which a slice is open to retail investors via the PrimaryBid platform, is intended to raise up to Euro 8 mln for the company.

Now here I had a problem. The fellow doing all the talking on the video is Ilya Merenzon, not Melenzon. The first time we saw Merenzon on this blog was Carlsen - Anand II : Rumblings (November 2014; 'Who was that fellow sitting to the right of the match stakeholders? Introduced as "the organizer of the tournament, Ilya Merenzon"...').

Did Mr. Ilya change his name or are we witnessing a lack of due diligence? A page related to the video, World Chess gearing up for IPO (proactiveinvestors.com) starts, 'World Chess PLC chief executive Ilya Melenzon...' and the only references on the web to 'Melenzon' are related to the IPO. Looks like 'Proactive Investors' weren't so proactive when it came to World Chess (aka Worldchess).

Nitpicking aside, I'm always looking for ways to speculate on chess. I signed up with 'Proactive' for future info on the Worldchess IPO and will follow up on this blog.