Publisher:
Private Publication, 2007
Edition:
Paperback medium
ISBN: 978-1-84753-380-7 Pages: 260 Language: English
Anno 2007 it has become apparent that chess computers have superior calculative prowess in matches with human players under tournament conditions. Is this the "End of Human Chess"?
In this book it is demonstrated that it is surprisingly easy to defeat chess programs. What is the trick? “If you can not beat them, join them”. Play computer chess with analyses and variations displayed on BOTH sides of the board. By nature the chess game is a draw. Abandoning head calculation, the human player only interacts with typically intuitive "risk moves" from time to time in a move sequence to have them numerically evaluated. This approach is called MAN-ASSISTED-MACHINE CHESS or MAMS. The risk margins are considerably larger than in tournament games leading to spectacular games. “No guts, no glory” is the motto.
A series of principles to debalance the draw margin is proposed and tested. We do not follow conventional theory and let endgames technically be executed by the machine once sufficient advantage is obtained. Do not hold on to the traditionally small but steadily increasing advantage in the opening, come out with a numerical deficit in favour of mobility of all pieces to be able to "tilt" the game to victory in a later stage.
In an appendix the opening lines played in the recent match between ruling world champion Kramnik against Deep Fritz (2-4, Bonn 2006) are transformed to winning positions.
From the introduction by the author: "I will demonstrate that it is fairly easy to beat even the most powerful chess machine. (...) Away with the opening books and the cautious approach we learned from them! Back to the romantic era of high risk variations! (...) We concentrate on imagination. Let the machine worry about the 'technique'. (...) We want: flamboyant chess from the old days. Without stupid mistakes of course."
Andy Walker writes at Chessville about this book: "I have my suspicions about how this book came about. I think Albert "Happy" Alberts was sitting in one of the Amsterdam `Brown Cafes', sipping genever and absorbing the heady atmosphere, and in animated discussion about how to beat the pesky computers (...) I wanted to dislike this book, I really did... But I've come to quite like it."
