July 1, 1997 the Mephisto Chess Challenger (MCC) chess program played 2 games against world champion Anatoly Karpov in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

MCC played on a fast Pentium PRO 200 Mhz, used time control 30 minutes for the whole game. Both games ended in a draw, Karpov as the better chess player and the computer as the tough defender.

Mephisto Chess Challenger is developed in cooperation with Hegener & Glaser AG, Munich Germany and the Schröder BV, Deventer The Netherlands and is meant for the mass market. For more information please contact the german distributor Schach Niggemann at Schach.Niggemann@t-online.de

MCC comes with the Rebel Gold chess engine and most of the Rebel 8.0 features including a 25,000 game database, all on Cdrom.

Karpov, A - Mephisto Chess Challenger


    [Event        "?"]

    [Site         "Gelsenkirchen"]

    [Date         "1997.07.30"]

    [Round        "?"]

    [White        "Karpov, Anatoly"]

    [Black        "Mephisto Chess Challenger"]

    [Result       "1/2-1/2"]

    [Annotator    "Jeroen Noomen"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 Nbd7 6. Qc2 Bd6 7. Bd3

Position after 7. Bd3
Karpov's recent favourite move. He has tried this for example several times against Kramnik.

7... dxc4 8. Bxc4 O-O 9. O-O b5 10. Be2 Bb7 11. Rd1 Qb8 12. a3

Position after 12. a3
Computer is out of book here, it knew only 12. e4

12... e5 13. h3 Re8

Position after 13... Re8
This is playable, but maybe 13 ... a6!? was a good option to protect b5. In that case Black can try to achieve the freeing move c6-c5.

14. Rb1 a5 15. dxe5 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Bxe5 17. b4 axb4 18. axb4

Position after 18. axb4
Now the computer has problems because of the backward c-pawn and the bad bishop on b7. Within the next moves it cannot come up with a decent plan.

18... Bh2+ 19. Kh1 Bd6 20. Bf3 Be7 21. Ne4 Nd5 22. Nc5 Qa7 23. Bxd5 cxd5 24. Bb2 Bxc5 25. bxc5

Position after 25. bxc5
White's bishop is much stronger, which is of great help to Karpov's attacking plans.

25... Bc6 26. Rd4 Qe7 27. Rg4 f6 28. Rh4 h6 29. Bd4 Reb8 30. Rb4 Rb7 31. Qg6 Be8 32. Qf5 Qf7 33. Rf4 Rba7 34. Qg4 Kh8 35. Qf3 Ra2

Position after 35... Ra2
Giving Karpov a nice opportunity. Ra6 was necessary.

36. Bb2

Position after 36. Bb2
Far too cautious! I think Kasparov or Anand wouldn't think here and play 36 Bxf6! gxf6 37 Rxf6 immediately. Black is clearly lost!

36... Bd7 37. Rfd4 Bc6 38. Qg3 Qe7 39. Rh4 Kh7 40. Kh2 g5

Position after 40... g5
A strong move that not only wins a pawn, but also removes the White rook from its attacking position.

41. Rhd4 Qxc5 42. Qf3 Qd6+ 43. g3 Qe6 44. h4 R8a7 45. Kg1 Kg8

Position after 45... Kg8
Still, with his bad bishop and the blocked nature of the position, it is very hard for Black to come up with an active plan. The next moves nothing happens, so in the end a draw was agreed.

46. Qh5 Be8 47. Qd1 Qe7 48. Qb3 Bc6 49. Qc2 R7a6 50. Qf5 Kf8 51. Rb3 Bd7 52. Qg6 f5 53. Qh5 Qf7 54. Qd1 Bc6 55. Rbb4 Ra7

Position after 55... Ra7
Draw agreed

1/2-1/2

Last updated: Tuesday, 29. July 1997
Annotator: Jeroen Noomen, email: jnmchess@xs4all.nl
© Schröder BV, email: rebchess@xs4all.nl
WWW: http://www.xs4all.nl/~rebchess/