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Arno Nickel vs Hydra (Computer)
"Dehydration" (game of the day Aug-25-2008)
Corr. Chess Match (2004) (correspondence), Abu Dhabi/Berlin, Sep-16
Sicilian Defense: Paulsen. Bastrikov Variation English Attack (B48)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-17-08  jeeky1996: Nice victory.

In my opinion, all computers are strategically dumb except Rybka of course.

Jul-24-08  ravel5184: <last pawn> Are you the person I think you are?
Aug-25-08  andrewjsacks: This version or level of Hydra is obviously not that strong.
Aug-25-08  dabearsrock1010: towards the 35th moves of the game while white's king appears more exposed black's king is the real glaring weakness on the board which eventually decides the game. The refutation of 37...e5 is stunning and is a result of the king's weakness.
Aug-25-08  RandomVisitor: Wow. This was one of the first games I analyzed, over 2 years ago.
Aug-25-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: I think 41. Rc7 would also have won. If 41...Rf8, then 42. Raa7 Kg8 43. g5. If 41...Bc4, then 42. Raa7 Rf8 43. g5 Ng7 44. Nf7+.
Aug-25-08  RandomVisitor: See Nickel's analysis of this game:
http://amici.iccf.com/issues/issue_...

Arno Nickel on the time control for this game:
"we played with Fischer time: 20 days for the game and in addition 2 days per move"

Aug-25-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <RandomVisitor: ... "we played with Fischer time: 20 days....">

Be very interesting to know the time duration of each move, logically, openings were played relatively quickly, and slows down into the middle game.

Be curious to find out which move(s) took the longest to play, for both sides.

Aug-25-08  Katu: <jeeky1996:In my opinion, all computers are strategically dumb except Rybka of course.>

...and Fritz?

Aug-25-08  AniamL: Good pun.
Aug-25-08  kevin86: Black will be steamrolled by two rooks and a knight:

To be rolled. 23...♖xg5 24 ♖b8+ ♖g8 25 ♖xg8+ ♔xg8 26 ♖a8#.

or smothered 24 ♖b8+ ♖g8 (or ♘g8 25 ♘xf7#) 25 ♖xg8+ ♘xg8 26 ♘xf7#

Aug-25-08  ajile: I don't like White's spearhead pawn on e5. So I guess I'd prefer Black play a line with an early d6 to prevent this.
Oct-18-08  The Rocket: nickel was allowed assistence by personal computer engines so Its impossible to say how many moves he actually came up with
Dec-07-08  DwayneMeller: If the rocket is right...Nickel did not really win and is a fraudulent cheat! I've never heard of any human sitting down 1on1 against a high level computer ( fritz10 rybka or chessmaster10's chessmaster) and beating it ( I have heard of fritz6 being beaten by Anand but that was 6 not 10!)...now I hear this guy beat Hydra? A comp I never heard of...but is supposedly stronger than rybka zappa etc? You got to be kidding me! This was correspondence chess & EVERYONE knows comps slow down after that period of time (which is why his analysis is better than Hydra's moves) only in a sit down "OTB" type match like 2hours each Nickel v.Hydra NO COMP ASSISTANCE could he say "I beat Hydra" Hydra would tear him to shreds! Cuz he ain't smart enough to beat Hydra and he knows it!!!
Feb-15-09  WhiteRook48: maybe Nickel didn't get computer analysis. But we all know we should no match A Dime against Hydra (awful pun)
Feb-22-09  WhiteRook48: you have no evidence that he cheated
Feb-27-09  WhiteRook48: fascinating!
Mar-10-09  YuanTi: <If the rocket is right...Nickel did not really win and is a fraudulent cheat! I've never heard of any human sitting down 1on1 against a high level computer ( fritz10 rybka or chessmaster10's chessmaster) and beating it>

Haha. Chessmaster is not even mentioned at high level computer games, and playing correspondence chess generally isn't regarded as cheating. Had GMAN followed a computers moves, he would almost certainly have lost, as Hydra was more powerful than any other chess computer at the time.

Jan-18-11  kevins55555: Did anyone notice this unusual thing?<<<<<<<<Abu Dhabi/ Berlin>>>>>>>> on the site? Abu is a character of the Aladdin scene of Disney!
Mar-17-11  theodor: 42. ..;Rf8?!
Mar-25-11  theodor: 43.g5;Ng8 44.Ra8(g8), threatening Rxf7#
Mar-03-12  Xeroxx: Arno Nickel vs Hydra
Jul-25-15  thegoodanarchist: Strategic mistake by Black, putting the knight on h6. Black is practically a piece down after that, since the knight is <almost> useless.
Jul-25-15  morfishine: Quite an interesting game, particularly for that year and how far engines have progressed since then. Surely an error was <35...Kh8> what with the pawn on <f6> Black's back rank is weak in the extreme: the only route to escape was via <f8>
Jul-25-15  thegoodanarchist: <morfishine: Quite an interesting game, particularly for that year and how far engines have progressed since then.>

Do you think the world team here on cg.com could defeat today's top engine in the correspondence chess time control used on this site (for the human side only)?

Could GMAN, for that matter?

I believe that the time control for the engine was 6 hours per move or something like that - I would want to place the same control on the engine for the sake of repeating the experiment.

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