First official advanced chess match in Ukraine ends in thrilling draw
April 2, 2013, 5:35 p.m.
Sports — by Mark Rachkevych
Kyiv’s Radisson Blu hotel hosted the nation’s first officially sanctioned advanced, or computer-assisted, chess match on April 2 between reigning women’s chess champion Anna Ushenina and women’s international master Olena Boytsun.
The match ended in a 40-move draw after Boytsun, playing white, held the initiative for most of the game that put Ushenina uncomfortably on the defensive in a sharp position that originated in the Slavic Defense.
Both players “teamed up” with computer chess programs to play a high-quality game, virtually blunder-free. No player could look at their opponent’s computers, however. The idea is to use a chess program to help evaluate candidate moves during the course of the game, but the human player ultimately decides which move to make and is always in control.
“Advanced chess is the synthesis of creative chess play and latest computer technology,” said Kirsan Ilyumzhinov via video link, president of FIDE, the world’s chess governing body.
Advanced chess was first introduced after then world chess champion Garry Kasparov lost a chess match in 1997 to IMB’s Deep Blue computer program.
In 1998, he played the world’s first advanced chess match against Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov in Spain. Both used the ChessBase information search program combined with the Fritz-5 chess program, that ended in a 3-3 draw.
Rated 2477, Ushenina became Ukraine’s first women’s chess champion after winning the title in December 2012 in Russia. She overcame Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova in a tie-breaker.
She also was an integral part of Ukraine’s gold medal-winning national chess team, which took top honors in March at the World Women’s Chess Olympiad held in Kazakhstan.
Boytsun is rated 2264, and is a recognized economist and founder of the Chess for Children charity in Dnipropetrovsk.
Source: http://www.kyivpost.com
Who’s the beauty queen?
Olena Boytsun is.