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WMCC London diary
| Worldchampionship London 2000 - Day 1 | By Jeroen Noomen |
From August 21 until August 25 the world microcomputer chess championship (WMCCC) takes place in London. For the Schröder company REBEL and CHESS TIGER are taking part. From day to day I will write about the results, the standings and background information. The schedule is as follows:
| Monday August 21 | Round 1, 2 |
| Tuesday August 22 | Round 3, 4 |
| Wednesday August 23 | Round 5 |
| Thursday August 24 | Round 6, 7 |
| Friday August 25 | Round 8, 9 |
Unfortunately the internet coverage of this event is way below par. I simply cannot understand this. The ICCA time and time again seem to show no interest in getting a broader audience for the WMCCC. Just take a look at CCC and read how many people are complaining. It is simply a disgrace. Thanks to people like Shay Bushinksy (from JUNIOR), Frank Quisinsky and some others we are getting some information out of the tournament hall. Thanks guys! Still, we have no games, which is absolutely unbelievable! My story below is based on the information from CCC, Frank Quisinsky's chess page and some telephone calls I made with Ed and Markus Kästner. By the way: A big thank you to Markus for operating CHESS TIGER!
Round 1
In the first round REBEL and CHESS TIGER had an easy time. REBEL defeated FRANCESCA very easily and CHESS TIGER had even less problems with PACQUE EXPERT. I have never heard of this progam, at least Francesca is known from Paderborn, where it had played a good tournament. So, the first round went well! Biggest upset in this first round was the game JUNIOR-SOS. JUNIOR was in trouble after the opening and lost two pawns. The queen ending was difficult, but SOS was clearly winning. In the end, though, it failed to convert the advantage into a win. Only one blue eye for JUNIOR. Also SHREDDER, the reigning champion, had a lot of problems to win versus DIEP. It took quite some time, but finally SHREDDER won the game. All other favourites had no trouble in winning.
Results first round
| Shredder - Diep | 1:0 |
| Insomniac - Fritz | 0:1 |
| Junior - SOS | draw |
| Francesca - REBEL | 0:1 |
| Nimzo - Zchess | 1:0 |
| Pacque Expert - CHESS TIGER | 0:1 |
| Crafty - Xinix | 1:0 |
Round 2
Some drama in this second round to come... First upset was in the game REBEL-CRAFTY. The operator of CRAFTY had recompiled the openingbook before the game and this appeared not to be a good idea (I don't know the full story, this is what I read on CCC). CRAFTY was out of book quickly and REBEL had a huge advantage after the opening phase. It simply took the chance and completely outplayed CRAFTY. 2 out of 2 for REBEL, a fine start! On the other hand, I was not too pleased with the happenings in the top game CHESS TIGER versus SHREDDER. A surprise opening by TIGER was met by an even bigger surprise by the world champion, leaving the TIGER struggling. In the ending SHREDDER showed its capacity and won the game. Needless to say that I wasn't amused….. FRITZ-NIMZO also saw some crazy stuff. It looked like a draw all the time, but around move 75 Nimzo made a horrible blunder and lost! Also JUNIOR was struggling for the second time, now against DIEP. The opening was clearly better for DIEP, but JUNIOR was able to complicate matters and suddenly showed a score of 0,00 (draw). Play continued and….. DIEP lost on time! JUNIOR lucky for the second time in the beginning of this WMCCC.
| Results second round | Standings after round 2 | |||
| CHESS TIGER - Shredder | 0:1 | 2,0 points: | Fritz, REBEL, Shredder | |
| Fritz - Nimzo | 1:0 | 1,5 points: | Junior | |
| REBEL - Crafty | 1:0 | 1,0 points: | CHESS TIGER, Crafty, Francesca, | |
| Diep - Junior | 0:1 | Nimzo, SOS, Zchess | ||
| SOS - Insomniac | draw | 0,5 points: | Insomniac | |
| Xinix - Francesca | 0:1 | 0,0 points: | Diep, Pacque Expert, Xinix | |
| Zchess - Pacque Expert | 1:0 | |||
All games of WMCC 2000! Download wmcc2000.pgn.
The results and standings from WMCCC 2000