Friday, March 14, 2008

8th Freestyle Tournament






Once again the Earth has accomplished the required distances in its orbit for a Freestyle Tournament to be held. The exact planetary alignment that triggers such an event is still a mystery to the engine chess world. It is however believed to coincide with the release of new software and or hardware.

What is Freestyle Chess (From Norm’s site)

In a normal chess tournament there are very strict rules about what you can do or not do during a game. Certainly enlisting outside help – from a human or a computer – is one of the more serious transgressions. In Freestyle Chess everything is allowed. The players are expected to work in teams or with computers. There are no restrictions. Use Fritz or Deep Shredder, consult openings books or chess Informants, call Anand or Kramnik and ask for help (if you know them well enough)...

I will be playing in the tournament this year and it is my hope that most players will be using Fritz, Deep Shredder and Crafty as their analyses engines. Perhaps they will also allow the Gm or Im on the team to override the peppered engine book. As for me I am bringing in a Medium and conducting séances during play. The departed spirit of Fischer has agreed to play for my team.

One thing is for sure that these Freestyle Tours give the average engine player the opportunity to play in a fair and well run tournament against the worlds top players. I highly recommend that players interested in competition enter this event.

The 8th PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament has a $16,000 Prize Fund

The Main Tournament will be played between April 11-13 and the Final April 25-27. The entry fee is 25,00 Euro ($38.00 US)

Here is the entry form:

You can find many particulars about the tour here at Norms site as well as further contact information.

All past Freestyle Tour games can be downloaded here. (It is probably a good idea to review these game to see what may be expected)

I have a strong feeling that we shall see many surprises this year, not the lest among them being effective performances by un-sponsored teams. As world famous programmers, human grandmasters and state of the art computer hardware clash with players that purchased computers and software from the local department store, anything can and will happen.