iPhone Shredder

Apr 08

MongoChess, General Tech , , No Comments

The Shredder chess engine is a fairly popular and very powerful chess engine for windows, mac, and now the iPhone.  I had never played with it prior to the iPhone version, having already had Fritz which is probably the most popular chess analysis tool /engine around.

Anyhow, I purchased this app for the iPhone the other day.  At almost $10 bucks, it’s kind of steep as far as iPhone apps go, though after playing with it for a couple of days, I really like it.  I won’t go into the details, but if you are interested, you can check out the complete feature list here.

One of the cool features shredder has is that it will adjust to your playing strength.  It starts at a base of 1400 ELO, then adjusts itself up or down as you win or lose against it.  It also provides you with a rating based on your play.  My personal opinion is that it rates both sides too high based on some of the mistakes that it makes which have allowed some of my wins against thus far.

 
Below is my first game against shredder playing the black pieces.  Enjoy.

[Event "?"]
[Site "Shredder for iPhone / iPod touch"]
[Date "2009.04.07"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Shredder"]
[Black "MONGO"]
[Result "0-1"]
[BlackElo "1983"]
[WhiteElo "1866"]
[JsCom "startply 0"]

1.d4 d5 {This is my first game as black aginst the iPhone version
of Shreader.} 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 h6 {Nothing
to fancy at this point. More or less standard development on
both sides.} 8.Bxf6 Bxf6 9.O-O Nd7 10.Qc2 c5 {Looking to get
my trade on.} 11.cxd5 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Ne5 {At this point i'm looking
to get my knight into position to start using it againt the enemy
king. I'm not to worried about the pawn.} 13.Bh7 {Wasted move?} Kh8 14.dxe6
Bxe6 15.f4 Ng4 {I like the knight here, and I like the possibility
of the Nxd3 fork.} 16.Nxe6 fxe6 {I'm not real thrilled about
the e6 pawn, but it does help get my rook into the mix.} 17.Rad1 Qb6 {Removing
the queen from danger, and putting more pressure on that key
e3 pawn.} 18.Na4 Qxe3 {I would have like the 3 way fork with
my knight there, but Queen takes seems awfully good with a check,
and possibly my bishop on d4 too. At this stage, I was looking
at 19. Kh1, Qg1+, Rxg1, Nf2 mate - that is if the queen wasn't
on c2, so I have to find away to move her, or over power her
or the rooks first.} 19.Kh1 Bd4 {Preparing the setup for a possible
invasion on g1 and blocking of the d column from white's rook.
Also eyeing a potential king rook fork on Nf2 if the setup becomes
available.} 20.Rde1 Rxf4 {If Rxe3, then Rxf1 mate. If Rxf4, then
Qxe1 mate. Not looking to good for white at this point.} 21.Nc3 {Trying
to get that piece active?} Raf8 {Looking at possibly Qxe1, Rxe1,
Rf1+, Rxf1, Rxf1 mate} 22.Qb1 {The queen to B1 does refute what
I was looking at last move, but it is now removed from the 2nd
row, so i'm now free to do my queen sac, knight mate that i was
looking at back on move 18.} Qg1 23.Rxg1 Nf2 {The king is smothered
by his own pieces, and the knight sneaks in for the mate.}   0-1

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