[Chess 2] Empowered defense against Reaper

General Discussion
21

bxf4

(10chars)

22

Ok, the bot wants to pay 1 to duel again. Stones back to 3-3 with White gaining another one after the duel. Things could go anywhere from here and both players have a reasonable chance of bidding anything, but itā€™s predicting the most likely outcome is white bids 2, black bids 0. You want to go with that, or randomize?

Luckily enough, the result of 2-0 is also the result that is ā€œjust above averageā€ for black, if thatā€™s what weā€™re targeting. The next most likely result is 2-2, but thatā€™s not very good for black.

No matter what the result of the duel is, Black is likely to next move Ke6.

EDIT: for what itā€™s worth, I just had my system play 100 quick matches against itself from this point and the result was White 44 - Black 56. Iā€™m willing to call this ā€œnot a lock for Whiteā€ if you are.

23

I am, itā€™s rough! Most of these positions have ended up complex enough that even if they were strong for Reaper itā€™d take a better player than me to actually execute.

We could try from @echomancerā€™s suggested line though?

Rf6 Rg6
Rh6 Bd6
f4 Rb6
f5 ā€¦

24

Okay letā€™s go from 4. f5 Rxg2

25

bxg2

(also if @echomancer wants to actually play this out feel free to jump in at any time!)

26

The bot loves dueling in this matchup. It will again now. Looks like the ā€œmost likely result that is slightly above average for blackā€ is white bids 0, black bids 1.

After that, black will do Nc6. Stones are 3-3.

27

The objective of this is to see if Black can prevent a rush down victory of white, right?

In this position, I would be happy with my material advantage against Empowered, especially because Empowered is already weak on material by not having a real queen.

I would do something like d3, but if I was heedlessly rushing forward I would do e4 or Kf2

d3?

28

Or I could just be bad at Chessā€¦ :smiley:

29

[quote=ā€œechomancer, post:27, topic:590, full:trueā€]
The objective of this is to see if Black can prevent a rush down victory of white, right?[/quote]
Pretty much. Weā€™re trying to see if this matchup is 10-0 no matter what Black does. I donā€™t think it is, but we havenā€™t fully explored it yet. (Iā€™m actually more worried that Classic has no response).

After d3, we get e6

30

I remember parsing this out yesterday. I was almost positive my response to e6 is e4.

e4

31

Ran a couple scenarios. In response to e4, the bot does a surprising (to me) Bxe4. Assuming you donā€™t duel and then PxB, then next the bot duels. To give Black another slight advantage, bot suggests bids of w1 vs b2 for this one. If thatā€™s okay with you, then Black does Ke7. Stones would be 2-2 I think.
(Can provide diagram later tonight)

32

Okay, Iā€™m pretty sure I win. I ran down lots of different possibilities, and I think the move is Kf2. Stones are 2-2

33

Your diagram shows the wrong pawn being captured by Blackā€™s bishop. It should look like this before Kf2.

You still want to do Kf2?

Edit: if so, black does Kd6

34

okay, that radically changes things

35

The situation is very complicated, and Iā€™m not certain of everything, but the answer is the pawn is essential. I donā€™t bid one when I take the bishop, I bid two even if you bid zero. This is end game!

If you move your king, I move my king F2
If you move your bishop C5 I take your bishop with my reaper.

Black to move, stones 4-1 in Blackā€™s favor

36

It is complicated. Way more so than I can handle with my meatbrain. Next time thereā€™s a duel, Iā€™ll ask you what you want to do instead of just assuming. If Iā€™m copying and pasting correctly, I think we have:

  1. Rf6 Rg6
  2. Rh6 Bd6
  3. f4 Rb6
  4. f5 Rxg2
  5. Bxg2 (0-1) Nc6
  6. d3 e6
  7. e4 Bxe4
  8. Pxe4 (2-0) Ke7
  9. Kf2 Kd6

37

my brain hurts from working on other stuff so i havenā€™t looked deep at whatā€™s transpired here, but on first glance it looks wild!

also on that bxr capture early on, as white iā€™d strongly consider bidding 2 even if i know my opponent will probably bluff. keeping that bishop on the board seems like it could be very good.

38

be3. If Ke5 then Nd2 . if any other move I need to look at it before deciding.

39

Nd4. You canā€™t take with the bishop because if you do then Black will duel, bid 2, kill the bishop, and then Kc5. You canā€™t take with the reaper because Black will decline the duel and then Kc5.

40

Yep, that was the move I was afraid of. If I did have one more stone then I would have been able to take the bishop and it would most likely be game. This is also the one route that was so complex that I couldnā€™t parse everything.

Rook f6 to c5.