Seasoned Aquarium users will immediately recognize that this is a screen-shot of the Aquarium status bar (split into two lines) where each square represents one chess engine (Rybka in this case). What is unusual here is the huge number of chess engines: thirty-four instances of Rybka, all analyzing at the same time, running on a network of computers! It is an amazing experience to have so much analysis power at your fingertips.

It is becoming more common that players have access to more than one computer on their home network. With Aquarium 2010 it is possible to run chess analysis on a network of computers, either on a local network or over the Internet. The image above is taken from one such analysis session.

In the following, a “local engine” is used to describe an engine running on the same computer as Aquarium, but a “remote engine” runs on a different computer.

The Benefit of Analysis on Networked Computers

A single chess engine can only use the CPUs of the computer on which it is running. At least this applies to currently available chess engines. Using Aquarium as a central point for managing multiple chess engines running on a network of computers gives you additional computing power, which can be used in various ways to speed up and improve your analysis.

More computing power can be used to get faster results, which is important if you have limited time or if you simply want to use more time for other things. You can analyze deeper, or examine more positions and games in the same amount of time.

The additional computer(s) allow you to run more chess engines at the same time; e.g., to get a “second opinion” of a position. You can view the position from various angles by letting a few engines (Rybka, Shredder, etc.) analyze in single variation mode while others use multi-variation analysis and perhaps one engine analyzes the opponent’s threats at the same time. The new IDeA (Interactive Deep Analysis) version in Aquarium 2010 was also designed to take advantage of a network of computers for its analysis.

Practically anyone who has access to two or more computers can take advantage of chess analysis on networked computers with Aquarium 2010, even if the computers are in different countries!

In general, the players that will benefit most from the additional analysis power of networked computers are the more serious top-level players, correspondence players, opening analysts, etc.

Few users have access to the computing power required to run as many engines as shown above, but as soon as you have one additional computer hooked up to your Aquarium, new opportunities for analysis arise.

Even if you never use more than one chess engine at the same time for your analysis, you may still want to consider using a remote engine. It gives you more flexibility and allows you to use the engine from different computers. You can, for instance, run the engine on your most powerful computer and use it from Aquarium running on your laptop, whenever that suits you. With a little computer network knowledge you can even access it via the Internet.

The more advanced your analysis techniques are and the more computers you have, the more Aquarium’s networked engine approach has to offer. If you use IDeA, either alone or in combination with infinite analysis, the networked approach is a very attractive option.

Of course the basic requirement is that you actually have access to networked computers to take advantage of the analysis features that are the subject of this column. If you do have access to networked computers, the addition of remote engines never limits your existing analysis options, but adds new ones. Therefore, the only question is how much you will benefit from the addition of remote engines. The simpler your analysis methods are the less you will gain. As an example, a user who never uses analysis presets, always analyzes with a single engine, and doesn’t use IDeA will gain much less than someone who uses multiple engines, analysis presets, and IDeA.

If you own two computers, but they are not connected on a network, you can still use them both for analysis (although you can’t use remote engines), as you are allowed to install Aquarium on computers that you own. For some types of analysis, it is a question of working habits and whether you prefer the networked engine approach or separate instances of Aquarium running on different computers.

The Types of Analysis on Networked Computers

Remote engines can be used for any type of analysis in Aquarium:

• Infinite analysis. Any combination of local and networked engines can be used for infinite analysis. As you may remember from previous columns on Infinite Analysis with Rybka Aquarium, you can analyze simultaneously with many engines, even positions from different games. In Analysis Presets in Rybka Aquarium, I described how you can create a quickly accessible “analysis preset” that can be used for analyzing any position simultaneously with different engines and different analysis settings (normal infinite analysis, multi-variation analysis, threats, etc.). Both local and networked engines can be used in the same analysis preset.
• IDeA (Interactive Deep Analysis). The new IDeA version in Aquarium 2010 is designed with analysis on a network of computers in mind. To my knowledge, the largest number of engines that has been used simultaneously for analysis in IDeA is forty-four.
• Game Analysis and Find Blunders. The analysis engine used here can either be a local engine or a remote engine. Note that you can’t analyze multiple games simultaneously using these analysis methods, although you can automatically analyze a list of games sequentially.

Remote engines can also be used in matches and tournaments, except for Randomizer matches.

How to Use a Remote Engine in Aquarium

I assume that you have already installed Aquarium 2010. We will call the computer where Aquarium is running the “master computer.” Now you want to set up a remote engine on another computer (a “slave computer”) and then use it from Aquarium. The following steps are required:

1. Install the engine and engine server software on the slave computer.
2. Configure the engine server on the slave computer.
3. Install the remote engine in Aquarium on the master computer.

These three steps are described below. After you have completed them, you can use the remote engine for analysis in Aquarium.

Installing a Remote Engine Server

Besides the engine itself, you need to install the RTHomeServer (which is available as a free download) on the slave computer. For simplicity, I will install both components into the same directory.

1a) Create a directory and copy the engine you want to use into the new directory.

1b) Download the RTHomeServer and save the downloaded file into the new directory.

1c) Extract RTHomeServer.rar (with WinRar or WinZip). After that you should see several files in the new directory, including RTSingleServer.exe, which is the remote engine server.

Now, all the required software is available and the next step is to configure the remote engine server.

Configuring the Remote Engine Server

One of the files contained in the new directory is RTSingleServer.ini, which contains the engine server configuration. At this stage, the goal is to get the server up and running, so I will only change the essential parameters.

2a) Open RTSingleServer.ini with a text editor, such as Notepad.

2b) Note the second line in the file: port=7788. The port number specified here (7788) is needed later on for the remote engine setup within Aquarium as described below.

2c) The third line in the file is engine=rybka.exe. Change rybka.exe to the name of the engine you are going to use (the one you copied to the new directory in step 1a above). An example is engine=Rybka 3 1-cpu w32.exe. Here I use the single-core version of Rybka 3 32-bit. Save the changes you have made and exit Notepad.

Finally, you need to find the IP address of the computer running the engine server. If you don’t know what an IP address is or how to find it, see the next two sections. You need the IP address when setting up the remote engine in Aquarium.

The IP Address

Every computer on a network has a unique identifying number, called an IP address. A typical IP address on your local network might look like this:

192.168.1.127

IP addresses are normally expressed as a “dotted decimal number” like the one above.

If a program needs to communicate with another computer on a network, it must to know its IP address. As an example, when Aquarium wants to use a remote engine it needs to know the IP address of the slave computer where the engine server is running.

Finding the IP Address of the Slave Computer

The following describes how you can find the IP address of a computer running Windows 7, Vista, XP, or 2000.

1. Click Start and then select All Programs (Windows 7, Vista, and XP) or Programs (2000).
2. Click Accessories and then Command Prompt.
3. At the command prompt, enter: ipconfig

The output from the command will display the IP address (or IPv4 address if you are using Windows 7 or Vista). The example shown in the image below comes from Windows XP. The IP address is highlighted.

Adding a Remote Engine to Aquarium 2010

At this point you should have completed the configuration of the remote engine server and have the following information handy:

1. The IP address of the remote engine server
2. The port number specified in the server’s configuration file

Start Aquarium on the master computer and switch to Engines view by clicking the Engines button in the sidebar. Click the Add button to install the remote engine. The “New engine properties” dialog box will be brought up.

Here you must set Type to “Remote UCI” and give the engine a name (I have selected “Remote Rybka 1″ in this example). Next, click the Setup button in the lower left corner.

Server is the IP address of the slave computer where the remote engine server runs.

Port is the port number that is specified in the configuration file of the remote engine server.

User is not used in the current version of the remote engine server. Set it to anything you like. “MyUsername” is used in the example shown in the image.

Pass is your password, but it’s not used in the current version of the remote engine server. Set it to anything you like. “MyPassword” is used in this example.

Reconnect can be left as it is.

After specifying the parameters, click OK, and then OK again, and the remote engine has been configured within Aquarium.

Determining if the Remote Engine was Successfully Installed

Go to the computer where you installed the remote engine server (the slave computer) and start it by double-clicking the RTSingleServer application. The small window shown below should be opened.

The engine server is ready for use. Now you can go to the master computer where you run Aquarium 2010. Start Aquarium and switch to the Sandbox. Select the Analysis tab on the ribbon and click Start Custom.

Here you will see the newly installed remote engine (”Remote Rybka 1″ in this example) listed among other installed engines. After selecting the engine, click OK and if everything works as expected, the remote engine will start analyzing the current position.

Look at the computer where the engine server is running to see if a connection is established and the username you selected when installing the engine in Aquarium is listed in the “Users” list.

Running Multiple Remote Engines on the Same Computer

If your slave computer has more than one core, you can use it to run multiple remote engines simultaneously. It is quite common, for instance, that IDeA users analyze with multiple single-core Rybkas on the same computer. When running the engines, you must of course make sure that they don’t use more cores than the computer has.

Each additional remote engine requires its own engine server software and must be installed into a separate directory. Otherwise, the process for installation and configuration is the same as described above, except that each server must use a unique port number. When we installed the engine server above, we left the port number unchanged in the configuration file (7788). For the next engine server on the same computer, you could use port number 7789, 7790 for the third one, etc. You also need to use these port numbers when you install each remote engine in Aquarium. If all the engine servers are running on the same slave computer, the IP address would be the same, of course.

Let’s say that you want to install four single-core Rybkas on a quad computer. You would start by creating four directories and copy the engine and the engine server software into all of them. After that you would edit the configuration file in each directory and change the engine and the port number as explained above. Finally, you would go to the master computer, start Aquarium, and install the four remote engines. They would all use the same IP address (since they are located on the same computer), but different port numbers.

Using Remote Engines on Two Different Computers

There is no hard limit on the number of slave computers that Aquarium can control. Simply install the engine and engine server on each slave computer as explained above. Note that it is OK to use the same port numbers on different computers. If you have two dual core computers and wish to run two single-core engines on both of them, you can use port numbers 7788 and 7789 on both computers.

It is best to test each remote engine in Aquarium after it has been installed, so you discover any problems as early as possible.

Connecting to Remote Engines Across the Internet

You can run engines on the master computer where Aquarium is running, computers on your local area network, and computers connected over the Internet all at the same time. It doesn’t matter where in the world the slave computers are located as long as you can connect to them.

Changing the Hash Size of a Remote Engine

By default, the hash size of remote engines is 32MB, regardless of your settings in Aquarium. You can either edit the configuration file and set the hash size to a different value or modify it so that the value specified in Aquarium overrides the default value in the engine server.

Open the configuration file (RTSingleServer.ini) with Notepad and look for the following lines:

[engine]
Hash=32

Here you can change the default hash size to a different value. Just remember, that the more remote engines you are going to run on a computer the lower the value must be.

The reason why the server doesn’t allow you to change the hash size from Aquarium can be found in the [client] section of the configuration file:

[client]
Hash=
Max CPUs=

By default, the options listed in the [client] section can’t be changed from Aquarium. If you remove the first line in the section (Hash=), the hash size specified in Aquarium will be used for the remote engine.

Also note that by default Max CPUs cannot be changed from Aquarium unless you also remove the third line shown above, “Max CPUs=.”

Advanced users should be able to understand most of the options in the configuration file by reading the comments and by having a look at the read-me file.

Conclusion

Analysis on networked computers gives you more flexibility and additional analysis power. In this column I have explained how to install and configure remote engines. After that you can use them just like any other engine in Aquarium. When used for infinite analysis, remote engines are a perfect match for Aquarium’s analysis presets, which have good support for multi-engine analysis. Remote engines are also ideal for IDeA analysis as many Aquarium 2010 users have already discovered.

Drag and Drop

Aquarium 2010 databases have extensive support for drag and drop operations. You can drag and drop individual games, a list of games, and even whole databases. Games can be dragged between different types of databases.

In many cases it is easiest to use the navigation tree in the sidebar for dragging and dropping. The graphic below shows the navigation tree with two open databases: elite2008 and hugebase. Each of them has one open game. The game Greco J. - Amateur in hugebase is being dragged into elite2008.

Drag and drop a single game

As a result of this operation, the game will be copied from hugebase and appended to elite2008.

When dragging games, the blue background highlights the source and the destination. The source has white letters on a blue background and the destination has dark-blue letters on a blue background.

In the next example, the same two databases are open, but this time we are looking at a subset of hugebase; a list of only three games instead of the full database. This list is being dragged into elite2008.

Drag and drop a list of games

The three games in the hugebase list will be copied and appended to elite2008. This same method can be used to update a database with games you download from the Internet. Normally, you would download a database in PGN format, open it in Aquarium and then drag the whole database into the destination database.

Drag and drop can also be used to merge games. In the example below, the game Greco J – Amateur is being dragged into the Karpov game.

Merging two games

As a result of this operation the Greco game will be merged into the Karpov game. After that the Karpov game will contain all moves, variations, and annotations from both of the original games.

It is also possible to merge several games by dragging a list of games into an existing game. In the next example, you see a list consisting of three hugebase games being dragged into the Karpov game.

Merging several games

The result is that the Karpov game will contain the moves, variations, and annotations from all four games.

If you want to create a new version of an open game, you can do so by dragging the game back into the same database as shown below.

Here, the Karpov game is dragged into the elite2008 database, the same database as the original game belongs to; this creates a new copy of the game in the database.

In some cases it is easier to drag and drop from the game list to the navigation tree. The next illustration shows how a game from hugebase is being dragged from the game list into elite2008.

Appending a game from the game list

There is no need to mark the game in the list before doing that. Simply drag it over to the navigation tree. The destination will be highlighted as elite2008 is in this case.

Marking games is useful if you want to drag several games in one operation After marking the games, you can drag them all into the destination database.

Appending marked games from the game list

In this example, the three marked Nigel Short games will be appended to elite2008.

Similar to what was described above you can also use this method to merge games, by dragging the marked games into an existing game, which is shown in the navigation tree.

Note that although you can drag a chess game into an EPD database, only the initial position will be stored. Also remember that CBH databases are read-only in Aquarium, so you cannot drag games into them.

Besides dragging and dropping, you can use other methods for the same purpose. The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V are also fast, but if you prefer to use the Copy/Paste buttons on the ribbon, you will find them in the leftmost tab (the home tab), as is customary in the new Fluid GUI.

Tree Views

I have often mentioned tree configurations in these columns. Many of Aquarium’s advantages can be attributed to its extensive use of trees, which are positional databases as opposed to game databases. Aquarium 2010 has several new features that make tree configurations easier to define, maintain, and use.

A tree configuration allows you to view data from several trees at the same time. The tree window displays the tree configuration in columns, and each column is connected to a tree. Some of the columns may be connected to the same tree or they can all come from different trees. It all depends on how the tree configuration is defined.

While viewing a game, select the Tree tab and click Options. The currently selected tree configuration will be displayed (Annotations, in my example). The “Tree configurations” dialog box shown below defines which tree is behind each column in the tree window.

Tree configuration with the new Quick column

The first three columns are familiar from the previous Aquarium version. “Name” is the column heading displayed in the tree window. “Tree” shows the tree that is connected to the column, and “Visible” allows you to switch the display of the column on or off. If it is marked as visible, it will be displayed in the tree window.

The new Quick column gives users a faster and easier way to select the trees that are displayed in the configuration, as you will see in the Quick Load section below. A new button has been added to the Configuration group in the Tree tab, allowing users to quickly load any trees they wish into the configuration. The Quick check boxes are used to mark the columns that users are allowed to change with the Quick Load button.

Another new feature supports the Quick Load function and also makes it easier to define and maintain a tree view. In the image below, I right-clicked over the Tree cell of the Total% line and selected Link from the menu and then Total from the sub-menu.

Linking columns: Change one to update all

What happens here is that I create a link from the Total% column to the Total column. This means that if I change the tree displayed in the Total column, the Total% column will be automatically updated to show the data from the same tree. This is what the tree configuration will look like after I have linked all the statistics columns together.

Linked columns

I have linked the following columns to the Total column as shown by the “&t”: Total%, Success, Rating, and Year. This means that whenever I change the tree for Total (currently statistics\d2m), the linked columns will automatically show data from the same tree.

I have also made Total a quick load column, as seen by the check mark in the Quick cell. The next section shows how this enables users to quickly switch to a new tree for all the linked columns above.

Quick Load is a new feature in Aquarium 2010. It allows users to quickly select trees that are displayed in a tree configuration. I’ll continue with the example above, where the Annotations configuration was modified by linking all statistics columns and changing Total into a quick load column.

The Quick Load button is located in the Configuration group on the Tree tab as shown below.

Loading a new tree for all statistics columns

If you are viewing a game, using the Annotations configuration as modified above, the Quick Load button becomes active. When you click it, a menu showing recently used trees is displayed, with the current tree highlighted with a check mark. Since this is the first time we open the menu after defining a quick load column, only the current tree is displayed in the list. Normally, after switching a few times between trees, you will find the tree you want in this list. If it isn’t, select Browse from the menu and locate the tree you want to load into the configuration.

If there are more than one quick load columns in the configuration, you will see one item in the Quick Load menu for each such column as shown below.

Two quick load columns

Here we see a menu with two quick load options: N and succ. The image shows the sub-menu for N and we see that there is a check mark next to ctg \test.ctg. This means that currently the data is read from that opening book. I can use this menu to select another tree (or opening book) for this column (and linked columns, if any). The list contains other recently used opening books: Balanced-16.ctg and Storm IV.ctg. I could either select one of them from the list or click Browse and locate some other opening book I have stored on my computer.

The addition of this new feature to Aquarium gives the user an easy way to change the data that is shown in the tree window without modifying the underlying configuration. Each configuration becomes a framework that users can tailor to their own needs, without a great deal of knowledge about the inner workings of tree configurations.

Normally, the same tree configuration is displayed in the tree window of all open games, both database games and the Sandbox. If you switch to a different tree configuration when viewing a game, the new configuration will also show up in all other games.

Aquarium 2010 allows you to lock the tree configuration for individual database games, so it doesn’t change while the game is open, regardless of the configurations selected for other games.

Locked tree configuration

Right-click the game in the sidebar and select “Lock Tree” from the menu. After that the tree configuration for the current game will not change while the game is open.

Besides the mechanism around Quick Load, another nice feature has been added to tree configurations. Now, instead of pointing directly to a specific tree you can specify a variable. Let’s start by seeing how it works. After that it will be easier to understand the advantages.

Like most things related to tree configurations, the place to define a new variable is the “Tree configurations” dialog box, which is brought up by clicking the Options button on the Tree tab.

Defining a tree variable

First click the Variables button (1). The “Setup Variables” dialog box will be displayed. Type the variable name, preceded by a “*” into the text box labeled

(2) in the image. In this example, I call the variable “*MyTree.” When you click the Add button (3), the variable will be created and added to the list above the button. Finally, type the path of the tree into the field labeled (4) in the image and click the OK button. Now the variable can be used in any tree configuration.

Using a variable in a tree configuration

The image above shows how you can use the newly defined variable. Right-click over the tree where you want to use the variable. From the menu, select Variable and then pick the variable you want to use. In this case, I chose *MyTree, the variable that was defined above. After that the tree used for the Total column, will be the tree that the *MyTree variable points to.

You can use the same variable in as many tree configurations as you like. One of the advantages is that later on you can change the variable to point to a different tree and all the tree configurations using the variable will be automatically updated to display the new tree. If you hadn’t used a variable, you would need to go into each tree configuration and modify it manually.

You can add moves one by one from a tree to the notation simply by browsing the tree (either by clicking through the moves or by using the arrow keys), but Aquarium also allows you to transfer whole variations from the tree to the notation with the click of a button.

Let’s say that we have been analyzing the following position for a while with IDeA.

We can look at the current status of the analysis by browsing the tree within IdeA, or switch to the original game in the database or the Sandbox and browse the tree from there. A faster way to get an overview of the best variations found so far is to select a position in the notation and then press the F4 key on the keyboard. In response, Aquarium adds the best variations from the tree to the notation as shown below.

Best variations automatically inserted

The tree window shows that IDeA currently sees two moves with an equal score of +2.38: 1.Qg4 and 1.Qg3. Consequently, the best variations beginning with these two moves have been added to the notation. The notation window was empty, so all the moves you see were added by Aquarium.

You can repeat this process for any position in the tree in order to see the best variations starting from the selected position. Of course you can also use it to see the best responses to sub-optimal moves and build a complex set of variations.

In most cases this is all you need to know; e.g., for a tree created with IDeA, but if you prefer to use the mouse instead of the keyboard, you can click the “Best Line From Tree 1” button on the Tree tab instead.

Insert best variations from tree

Many users probably wondered why there is both a “Best Line From Tree 1” and a “Best Line From Tree 2” button. The reason is that a single tree view can be based on several trees. The tool button (highlighted in the image above) allows you to choose two of them and assign to these buttons. Clicking the tool button opens the “Tree insert options” dialog box.

Here you see two boxes, each with a list of the trees in the tree view that contain evaluations. I have highlighted the “Eval” tree in the “Tree 1” list. This means that when I click “Best Line From Tree 1” the inserted variations will be based on the evaluations in the “Eval” tree. Similarly, I have selected the “CAP” tree in the “Tree 2” list. If I click the “Best Line From Tree 2” button, I will get the best variations based on the evaluations in the “CAP” tree.

Conclusion

In this article we examined two sets of Aquarium features: Drag and drop game manipulation and using trees. The first of these showed intuitive ways of performing a function that is well-known in graphical user interfaces and is therefore easy to understand by most users. The second one is designed for more advanced users who want to get as much as possible out of Aquarium’s tree features. These two different sets of features well illustrate that the design of Aquarium provides an easy access to common functions that are sufficient for most users, while also providing more advanced features. Some of them are unique to Aquarium and cannot be found in any other chess software, so there is no quick way to get around the learning curve – but the time invested is worth it.

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Training Package for Inermediate players is dedicated to experienced chess enthusiasts with ELO rating above 1600. It gives you theoretical knowledge of various openings, improves tactical skills and teaches the principles of chess strategy.

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN], Round 11 [ PGN], Round 12 [ PGN], Round 13 [ PGN]
 

Sergey Tiviakov - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Loek van Wely - Nigel Short 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Tiviakov 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Loek van Wely - Magnus Carlsen 0-1 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Nigel Short - Hikaru Nakamura 0-1 \br\Jan Smeets - Vassily Ivanchuk 0-1 \br\Peter Leko - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Tiviakov 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 \br\Loek van Wely - Alexei Shirov 0-1 \br\Nigel Short - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Jan Smeets 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Vassily Ivanchuk 1-0 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Alexei Shirov 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Nigel Short 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Loek van Wely 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Vladimir Kramnik 0-1 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Alexei Shirov 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Karjakin 0-1 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Fabiano Caruana 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Peter Leko 1-0 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Alexei Shirov 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Magnus Carlsen 0-1 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Jan Smeets 1-0 \br\Peter Leko - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Loek van Wely 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Vladimir Kramnik 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Leinier Dominguez 1-0 \br\Nigel Short - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Peter Leko - Magnus Carlsen 1/2 \br\Viswanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 \br\Sergey Karjakin - Alexei Shirov 1/2 \br\Fabiano Caruana - Hikaru Nakamura 1/2 \br\Leinier Dominguez - Vassily Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Sergey Tiviakov - Nigel Short 1/2 \br\Jan Smeets - Loek van Wely 1-0 \br\Magnus Carlsen - Fabiano Caruana 1/2 \br\Vladimir Kramnik - Sergey Karjakin 1/2 \br\Alexei Shirov - Leinier Dominguez 1/2 \br\Loek van Wely - Viswanathan Anand 1/2 \br\Vassily Ivanchuk - Peter Leko 1/2 \br\Nigel Short - Jan Smeets 1/2 \br\Hikaru Nakamura - Sergey Tiviakov 1-0 \br\ Magnus Carlsen (2810) (NOR) \br\Viswanathan Anand (2790) (IND) \br\Vladimir Kramnik (2788) (RUS) \br\Vassily Ivanchuk (2749) (UKR) \br\Peter Leko (2739) (HUN) \br\Alexei Shirov (2723) (SPA) \br\Sergey Karjakin (2720) (RUS) \br\Leinier Dominguez (2712) (CUB) \br\Hikaru Nakamura (2708) (USA) \br\Nigel Short (2696) (ENG) \br\Fabiano Caruana (2675) (ITA) \br\Sergey Tiviakov (2662) (NED) \br\Jan Smeets (2657) (NED) \br\Loek van Wely (2641) (NED)  

Round 1 - Jan 16th

Round 2 - Jan 17th

Round 3 - Jan 18th

Round 4 - Jan 19th

Round 5 - Jan 21st

Round 6 - Jan 22nd

Round 7 - Jan 23rd

Round 8 - Jan 24th

Round 9 - Jan 26th

Round 10 - Jan 27th

Round 11 - Jan 29th

Round 12 - Jan 30th

Round 13 - Jan 31st

Teams: Russia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Armenia, Israel, USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Greece.

 Games: Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN]

Crosstable

Here is a word from Nelson Hernandez:

I’m happy to contribute this exchange Vas and I had on December 5th, him in Warsaw, me in Virginia.

The back story…the idea for this production came to me in November and Vas readily agreed to do the project. The whole thing was done on virtually a zero budget and in some respects that shows. I had never done anything like this before and had no experience whatsoever in interviewing or film editing. It turned out that interviewing was fairly easy but the film editing was a grueling process. On my side I had the benefit of my younger son being a cameraman/director but on Vas’s side Iweta wanted nothing to do with the project, a source of hilarity at the time but a bit of a disappointment in terms of camera angles and sound (both of which were rather poor on his end). We shot about 2 1/2 hours on two camcorders; I’m sure some of the edited-out material would be of mild interest too; for instance I chopped out about ten minutes on chess programming which, in the end, I thought wasn’t lively enough. That topic can’t be properly addressed in ten or fifteen minutes, and anyway I lack the technical background to be asking those kinds of questions.

The key point I want to get across was that the purpose of this film was to introduce Vas to a general audience, broader than just the Rybkaforum. I had originally intended that this be put on Chessbase and Convekta, but in the course of editing I realized this production was too long and lacking in hard substance and controversy for a Chessbase audience, but might be perfect for Convekta and this forum. Thus the first half-hour or so is a recap of Vas’s life before Rybka and the history of Rybka. I felt it was important to get to know him as a human being and get a sense of his life journey. The second half deals with the present and future. It was never my intention to come after Vas with hostile questions or to interrogate him aggressively; I knew beforehand that he would be evasive on a lot of stuff (a lot of decisions simply haven’t been made yet) but I think I did get some new information and most of all we get a sense of how he thinks and how he reacts to questions. I know a lot of you know the Rybka story intimately already and will learn little from that part of the interview, but think of the broader audience as I did and you’ll see why I decided to ask those questions.

As with any production there are things you wish you could have asked. In this case I was a little bit surprised by some of his answers on the Internet version; on the day of the interview I really didn’t have a clear picture of how it all fit together and I didn’t realize how much he was de-emphasizing Rybka 4. This resulted in my asking some questions completely on the fly and, well, judge for yourself.

Some may say this was a Rybka propaganda piece. I don’t see it that way. I am a Rybka user and I admire Vas’s chess programming achievements. Of course I am a fan. Nonetheless I have issues with the Internet version, as many of you do. But what positive good would have been served by my going into a long explanation of my gripes and concerns? I wasn’t the star of this interview; I would be abusing my audience if I started ranting and arguing. You cannot speak to Vas directly and come away thinking he’s a bad guy. You do come away thinking that he’s a good guy who is making difficult business decisions based on shifting circumstances and opportunities. I guess we will all see how these decisions play out in the next year or two.

Download interview

From ChessOK, from MegaUpload

Discussion

@RybkaForum: http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/topic_show.pl?tid=14546

Opening Lab is a fine opening manual. It features a theoretical review of all the chess openings, which are illustrated by instructive games of the greatest chess players. Each opening variation is supplied with evaluations and characteristics of key moves. The history of the variations’ development is described, as well as their current status.

Opening Lab for download — $25 / €18
Opening Lab on CD — $32 / €25.6