The Chess Mind

This was the score in an odds match played this past Monday. GM and anti-computer expert Roman Dzindzichashvili started every game with the white pieces and Black's f-pawn, but even so he was unable to defeat Rybka 3.0 in the match or even a single game. Rybka won game 2 and drew the rest, though "Dzindzi" had an overwhelming advantage in game 3. These computer are awfully tough!

There's another article about Rybka on the ChessBase site promoing its features, and it looks really good, too. Shritzarcs is going to have its work cut out for it if it hopes to compete with Rybka.

The Rybka-Dzindzi match games can be replayed here.

Frankly, this is a good thing, and it makes sense for both sides. Rybka has been dominating computer chess the past couple of years, while ChessBase has the biggest name and distribution network. I'd pass along a link, but something seems wrong with the ChessBase site for the moment. Anyway, Rybka 3.0 (a significantly new version) is scheduled to get mailed out August 1, and they're taking pre-orders for it now.

Update:

(1) The link is good now - here it is.

(2) The ad is worth checking out, as the new Rybka has some interesting bells and whistles that make it interesting for reasons other than its strength as a playing/analysis partner.