Playing the King’s Gambit with Shredder

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So, I’ve been on a bit of a King’s Gambit kick lately. I set shredder up to play king’s gambit accepted, and had the game below. Shredder was set at a rating level of 1823, but I still think it is way over rated. I did find it amusing that the “coach” feature kept telling me I was messing up. Who knows, maybe I was, but my win seems to say otherwise.

[Event "10:36 PM"]
[Site "Shredder for iPhone / iPod touch"]
[Date "2009.04.20"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Mongo"]
[Black "Shredder"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "1823"]
[WhiteElo "1830"]
[JsCom "startply 0"]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 {I started out shredder in this poistion because
I wanted to play a kings gambit accepted game. It's playing strength
was set to 1823, though I think it is over rated.} 3.Nf3 g5 {An
interesting variation that I haven't played before. Granted,
I'm very much still learning the KG, so this is cool regardless.} 4.Bc4
{Playing along the lines thinking it may lead to the muzzio (sp?)
gambit with a g5-g4 push.} Bg7 {Turns out this is all still book,
I just haven't read it yet :p} 5.O-O d6 {This move wasn't in
MCO-14, so i'm not sure what line it was looking at. It does
free the bishop and hold a possible pin on Bg4.} 6.d4 {Trying
to take even more center control. At this point I feel pretty
comfortable, 2 pieces developed, castled, both center pawns front
and centered and black having some akward king side pawns, well
at least they look akward to me, but what do I know.} h6 {Another
interesting move, and not one I really anticipated. This gives
security to g5, but now i'm eyeing the d1-h5 diagonal for my
queen.} 7.Nc3 {Development.} Be6 {I was kind of dissapointed
with this move, because I rather liked my c4 bishop pointing
at the f7 pawn with hopes of opening the F file.} 8.Bxe6 {I could
see nothing better than to take it. It allows shredder to get
an e pawn back, but does further open that e8-h5 diagonal with
a check.} fxe6 9.e5 {I'm trying to find a way to move my e3 knight
so I can get my queen in the fray. I'm thinking dxe5, Nxe5 isn't
so bad, even if Bxe5, Qh5+ and then recover the piece with dxe5
in a move or so. It also takes away the f6 square from the black
knight, at least for the next move anyway.} Ne7 {He get's the
knight out there anyway dagnabit. d5 & f5 both look like good
spots for it too.} 10.exd6 {I decide I have to keep the pressure
up, and force him to not castle, if that is even the plan. I
have a square for my knight now, that is not blocking my black
bishop in, not that he's doing much good atm.} cxd6 {even though
black still has both d & e pawns, I am still feeling that my
position is a little better, even tho shredder disagrees.} 11.d5 {Creating
another square for my knight at d4, this time protected by the
queen. I'm looking at Nxd5 or even exd5 and not really worried
about it. It was at this moment tho that shredder's coach feature
kicked in and told me I was making a big mistake. I wasn't seeing
this big mistake, maybe it's there, hell I don't know, but I
told it to play on instead of take back.} Bxc3 {Interesting,
I guess it was refering to Bxc3, then it snagging the d5 pawn
and going up in material.} 12.dxe6 {The way I see it, the bishop
can wait. dxe6 gets me a dangerous passed pawn, and cuts off
black escape routes at d7 & f7. If I can get my queen out, it's
all over.} Bg7 {Retreating the bishop to save material, typical
computer move. A check with Qb6+ may have been better, I'm not
sure though, haven't dug into that line really.} 13.Ne5 {Basically,
i'm getting my knight out of the way, It's all over if he grabs
it, if not, it is in a good spot to do some damage.} dxe5 {Um
nom nom nom nom...} 14.Qh5 {Final-freak'n-ly. This is the end,
thanks for playing.} Ng6 {Forced. If Kf8, then Qf7 mate.} 15.Qxg6 {My
turn to Umm nom nom nom nom with check} Ke7 16.Qf7 {Qxg7 is a
mistake because it allows the king to escape with Kxe6. Qf7 wins
the black queen.} Kd6 {Forced into a skewer position.} 17.Rd1 {Ouch,
that's goign to leave a mark.} Kc5 18.Rxd8 {UMM NOM NOM NOM NOM
- hey, why not right :p} Rxd8 19.Qe7 {Taking the bad blocked
in bishop on g7 is a mistake. Qc7+ is also a mistake because
Nc6 blocks it and connects the black rooks giving black some
play. Qe7+ wins the rook for free.} Rd6 {blocking - trying to
hang on to mr. rook.} 20.b4 {trying to force the king away from
the rook.} Kd5 {If Kxb4, then the queen picks up the rook on
d6 for free with check. Furthermore, if Kc6, then b5+, Kc5, Ba3+
and picks up the rook because the queen and bishop will now be
on the same a3-f8 diagonal} 21.c4 {Now, the king is forced away.} Kxc4
{Shredder made this move, then resigned.}   *


iPhone Shredder

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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


iPhone OS 3.0

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The iPhone OS 3.0 has been announced today.  There are some way past due features which are finally going to be available.  Below is a quick and dirty list of some of the things to expect:

  • Cut / Copy / Paste
  • Wide-screen keyboard for email (and 3rd party apps)
  • Turn by turn directions
  • MMS Support (iPhone 3G only)
  • More blue-tooth hard ware compatibility and communication
  • Voice Memos

Supposedly, over 1k API’s have been unlocked.  This means there should be some killer apps coming out soon.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll be happy with the cut/copy/paste, and the MMS support.  

For a more detailed listing of new features, check out this link.

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