I had noticed on Franklin Campbell’s website how Israeli computer programmer Uri Blass revealed his Israeli ¾ Final CC Championship win was attained by the major use of computer programs. Thus, I invited Uri to show CCN readers how he conducted this experiment which resulted in a perfect 7/7 score . 33-year old Uri majored in Mathematics and has a Master of Science in Statistics. "I know more about chess programs than the average user and I had also suggested some productive ideas in CCC (Computer Chess Club) for programmers", Uri disclosed. Uri believes that the computer programs are not worse than CC-IMs and also have chances against CC-GMs. He also forecasted that in a few years time, the influence of the computer programs will result in at least 80% of CC games to end in draws.

Before you start panicking about how the end of CC chess is near, note Uri's opinion that the level of play in the following games was not high except for that of IM Azar Pinhars, Dov Rozenberg and Zav Dov. Most of his opponents either made tactical or clerical blunders.

Junior 5.9 (a beta version) was used against Rozenberg and Sternik.

CC-IM Pinhas Azar (2456) - Uri Blass [B97]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Nb3 Be7 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Qc7 11.Bd3 h6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Ne2 Nb6 14.h4 Bd7 15.g4 0-0-0 16.g5 Be7 17.Rdg1 d5 18.e5 Rdg8 -0.05/13 18146 19.gxh6 Rxh6 20.h5 Nc4

My opponent offered me a draw but I decided that I want to play and was not afraid from the fact that he is an international master in correspondence games

most programs wanted to play Bc5 but I analyzed it and I think that white can draw after it, chessmaster6000(ss=10) wanted to play Bd8 but not for the right reasons

27.Nfd4 Qf7 28.Rf1 Qe8 29.Rfg1 Bb6 30.c3 Rgh8 31.Rxh6 Rxh6 -0.60/20 7472 32.Nd2 Nxd2

Most programs wanted to play Qxh5 but I found that white has good chances to draw in this line by doing comp-comp games after Qxh5 Qxh5. I thought that no program can find 32... Nxd2 but Rebel surprised me and found the right idea

33.Kxd2 Bxd4 34.cxd4 Rxh5 35.Rxg7 Ka7 -0.80/24 23331 36.Rg3? (Qf3 was better) 36...Rh4 37.Rd3? (I expected b3) 37...Qa4-+ -1.51/25 18650 0-1

I heard my next opponen, Michael Surin had decided to quit CC because he did not have enough time for it and also he did not like the fact that everyone can use a computer. There was a misunderstanding about one move. I played 29.Bd3 and although he repeated this move correctly, he subsequently wrote 29.Bc2 in a later letter. I did not notice the change for a while and finally, when I noticed it, I rang him up and he was surprised at the clerical error. I thought the matter was settled but later, he introduced a conditional which included 36…Rxc2. I spoke to him on the phone again and he changed his move. However, 36…Bxd4+ os a losing error which resulted from yet another writing mistake. He decided he had enough and quit CC at this point. Uri Blass - Michael Surin (2279) [B33]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

131072kB, f5book.ctg. PentiumIII 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.c3 Ne7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.Nc2 f5 14.exf5 d5 15.Bd3

My programs are too greedy even at long time control and if I give them to analyze without book they want to play stupid moves like 15.Qxd5 or 15.a4

17.Qh5 is the popular move,I found that the result of most games in this line was a draw and I looked for something different and I found that Rebel liked a4 and decided to play it

17...Qg5 18.f4 0.80/17 429 18...Qh6 (exf4) 1.41/10 578 19.f6 Bxf6 [19...Qxf6 20.fxe5 Qxe5 0.96/19 4829] 20.axb5 axb5 21.Qg4+ [21.Rxa8 Rxa8] 21...Kh8 22.Rxa8 Bxa8 23.fxe5 Bxe5 24.g3 d4 [24...Rg8 25.Qf5 f6 26.Nd4] 25.Qf5 Qg7 26.Nxd4 Bxg3 27.Qxh7+ Qxh7 28.Bxh7 Bc7

my opponent offered a draw,I believe that my advantage is not enough to win but decided to continue

29.Bd3 1.34/16 4100 29...b4 30.Rf5 1.45/17 0 30...Kg7 31.h4 bxc3 32.Rg5+ Kf6 33.bxc3 Rc8 34.Kf2 Bb6 35.Rb5 Bxd4+ 36.cxd4 Rc1 37.h5 1-0

Kalman Sternik - Uri Blass [E29]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 c5 6.e3 Nc6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Ne2 b6 9.e4 Ne8 10.f4 Qh4+ 11.g3 Qh5 12.0-0 d6 13.Be3 Nf6 -0.61/2418028 14.Kh1 Na5 -0.92/22 18711 15.Qc2 Bb7 -1.61/22 19477 16.d5 exd5 -3.77/22 11475 17.exd5 Ng4 -5.52/21 4700 18.Bg1 Nxc4 -6.49/22 9734 19.Be4 # 19...Qxd5 -7.63/21 3890 0-1

Zav Dov - Uri Blass [E53]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

45056kB, f5book.ctg. PentiumIII 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.Nf3 Qc7 10.Ba2 b5

The theoretical continuation was b6 and I have few games with b5 but this was the idea of Junior after some hours and I did not find something wrong with it

This sacrifice was not the idea of the programs, they prefered Rc7 with the idea to defend against gxh5 gxh5 Rxh5 by Ra7 when there is no Ra5 to defend the pawn but I did not find chances to win without a sacrifice

This was an important move because if the white king can get to e5, the position is drawn

Uri Blass - Dov Rozenberg (2474) [C42]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

134217720kB. PentiumIII 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Nc3 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Bg4 12.Rb1 Nd7 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Nb6 15.Bd2 [15.Bd2 0.37/21 29045] 15...Qc7 16.Rfe1 Rfe8 17.a4 [17.a4 0.44/20 20806] 17...Bh2+

some of my programs like this move but it was clear to me that wasting a tempo cannot be a good idea,Rxe1+ was better 18.Kh1 Bd6 19.Rec1 [19.Rec1 0.71/21 23912] 19...a5 0.38/10 518 20.Rb5 0.78/22 30027 20...Qc6 21.Rcb1 0.91/21 19948 21...Bc7 22.Bf4 0.97/22 29630 22...Bd8 23.Be5 0.95/20 22999 23...Re6 24.Bc2 1.10/22 25241 24...Re7 [24...f6 25.Bg3 1.27/21 18001] 25.Kg1 1.05/20 22434 25...f6 26.Bg3 1.24/21 20791 26...Kh8 27.Qh5 1.99/21 27889 27...g6 28.Bxg6 2.45/20 27912 28...Nxa4 25 29.c4 Nc3 30.cxd5 3.65/20 21121 30...Qd7 2.28/13 2640 31.d6 4.11/21 21764 31...Ne2+ 32.Kh1 4.11/23 19686 32...Nxg3+ 33.fxg3 4.11/21 15 33...Qxd6 34.Bxh7 4.23/21 15763 34...Rxh7 35.Qe8+ Kg7 36.Rxb7+ Bc7 37.Qxa8 Kh6 38.Rc1 Re7 39.Qh8+ 7.27/21 19869 39...Kg6 40.Qg8+ Kh6 and black resigned after the next move* 1-0

Uri Blass - Batia Halaf [B89]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 a6 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.a4 Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.f4 Bd7 12.f5 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Rac8 14.Bb3 e5 15.Bf2 Bc6 16.a5 Qb8 17.Rfd1 Bb5 18.Nxb5 axb5 19.Re1 0.97/17249 [19.g4 1.80/9 298 19...h6] 19...b4 1.70/10 271 20.Qb5 0.87/23 17855 [20.Red1 0] 20...Rfe8 21.Kh1 0.95/22 29359 [21.Rad1 d5; 21.Ba4 Red8] 21...Qc7 22.Bb6 0.92/22 32992 22...Qc6 23.Qxb4 1.18/22 18011 23...d5 24.Qd2 1.34/22 25252 24...Nxe4 25.Qxd5 1.75/22 11600 25...Nd6 26.Qxc6 2.71/23 17220 26...bxc6 27.Rxe5 Bf6 28.Rxe8+ Rxe8 29.c3 Nxf5 30.Ba4 Ne7 31.a6 Ra8 32.a7 and after some moves black resigned* 1-0

Uri Blass - Alex Gonsberger [C16]
Israeli CC 3/4 Finals
[Blass,U]

65536kB, f5book.ctg. PentiumIII 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6 7.Qg4 Ng6 8.h4 h5 9.Qd1 Ba6 10.Bxa6 Nxa6 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Ne2 Ne7 13.Nf4 g6 14.Bf6 Rh7 15.g4

this move was suggested by Rebel,I do not know if it is the best move but I needed to try to open the position in order to win the game

16.h5 was an alternative but I decided to play 16.Qxg4 after my opponent told me the condition if 16.Qxg4 0-0-0 and I decided that after 16.h5 0-0-0 I have nothing better than 17.Qxg4 so I decided that 16.h5 is not better than 16.Qxg4 and this reason was enough for me to reject 16.h5

18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Nxd5 Qd7 20.Nf6 Qc6 21.Rh3 3.35/21 18622 21...Rgh8 22.d5 3.90/20 0 22...Qc5 23.Nxh7 3.99/20 5092 23...Rxh7 [] 24.dxe6 4.29/18 3065 24...fxe6 25.hxg6 5.27/21 23200 25...Rxh3 [25...Rg7 26.0-0-0 Qxa3+ 6.05/19 2548 27.Kb1] 26.Qxh3 Qxe5+ 5.93/19 1278 27.Kf1 5.93/19 976 27...Nc5 28.Re1 9.72/17 28...Qd5 29.g7 Qh1+

my opponent thought that I have a pawn at h2