In July 1997 during the Swedish championship Rebel 8.0 played 2 games against GM Ralf Åkesson, ranked No. 4 in Sweden with 2520 ELO points.

Rebel8 played on a simple Pentium 90 Mhz machine, used time control 40 in 2:00. The first game Rebel8 lost on time because of an operator mistake. The second game was a clear victory for Rebel.

REBEL 8.0 - GM Ralf Akesson


    [Event        "?"]

    [Site         "?"]

    [Date         "1997.??.??"]

    [Round        "?"]

    [White        "REBEL 8.0"]

    [Black        "GM Ralf Akesson"]

    [Result       "1-0"]

    [ECO          "B43"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 d6

5. d6
With this unusual move-order Akesson tries to get the computer out of book.

6. Be3 b5 7. Bd3 Nf6 8. O-O Bb7 9. a4

9. a4
It's safer not to exchange the e4-pawn for the Black b4-pawn, since now Black has a majority in the centre.

9... b4 10. Na2 Nxe4 11. Nxb4 d5 12. c3 Nd7 13. Bxe4

13. Bxe4
Not a trivial decision, to give up the pair of bishops! Of course a chessprogram is not thinking this way...

13... dxe4 14. Qg4 h5

14. h5
Akesson's next moves look rather suspect to me. Black should do something about his backward development.

15. Qe2 Ne5 16. Rfd1 Qa5 17. Nb3 Qc7 18. Bf4

18. Bf4
This move contains a vicious trap, which Akesson doesn't notice.

18... Be7 19. Nxa6

19. Nxa6
Whoops! This must have come as a big surprise. Black loses two pawns for nothing.

19... Bxa6 20. Qxe4 Qc6 21. Qxe5 f6 22. Qc7 Bb7 23. Qxc6+ Bxc6 24. a5 e5

24. e5
The rest of the moves require no comments. Black is dead lost.

25. Be3 Kf7 26. Nc5 f5 27. f3 h4 28. a6 h3 29. Nd7 Ke6 30. a7 Bb7

30. Bb7
If 30.. Bxd7 31 Ra6+ wins.

31. Nb6 Rag8 32. Rd7 Bc6 33. Rc7 Kd6

33. Kd6

34. a8=Q Bxa8 35. Raa7 Bf6 36. Nc4+

36. Nc4+
Black resigned, as after 36 ... Kd5 37 Ra5+ Ke6 38 Ra6+ Kd5 39 Rc5 it is mate.

1-0

Last updated: Wednesday, 23. July 1997
Annotator: Jeroen Noomen
© Schröder BV, email: jnmchess@xs4all.nl
WWW: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rebchess/