Chess: How does White win?

THERE'S controversy at the very top of the computer chess circles as Rybka, the best chess-playing software program in the world and reigning four-time World Computer Chess Champion (WCCC), has been banned from competing in major events as it allegedly plagiarises from two other chess engines, Crafty and Fruit.

A damning report published on Wednesday by the former Scottish champion IM David Levy, president of the International Computer Games Association (ICGA), describes how the author of Rybka, Vasik Rajlich, got to the top of the computer chess world by using improperly attributed code.

The ICGA has stripped Rybka of its four world titles and is demanding back trophies and the prize money. Rajilich was apparently given every opportunity to present evidence rebutting the findings of the report from the ICGA appointed 34-member panel of programming experts, but he declined to respond.

It seems the ICGA's case hinges on Rybka's similarity to Fruit, an open-source chess engine that was the runner-up at the 2005 WCCC. The following year Rybka surfaced, and many claimed at the time that it evaluated moves identically to Fruit. The allegations swirled around the computer chess fraternity for years, but action has finally been taken.

The ICGA isn't disqualifying Rybka because it copies Fruit, it's upset that Rajlich claims his engine is his own original work, and refuses to give credit where it's due, as is the protocol with using code from any open source software.

W So - V Laznicka

AAI Tournament, (7)

Queen's Gambit, Exchange variation

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Be7 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Bf4 c6 6 Qc2 Nf6 7 e3 Nh5 8 Be5 Nd7 9 Be2 Nxe5 10 dxe5 g6 11 Bxh5 gxh5 12 O-O-O f6 13 e4 d4 14 exf6 Bxf6 15 Nf3 Bg4 16 Ne2 Qa5 17 Kb1 c5 18 Nf4 O-O 19 h3 Bd7 20 Nxh5 Rae8 21 Nd2 Bh4 22 f4 c4 23 g4 d3 24 Qc1 b5 25 f5 Kh8 26 Nf3 Bd8 27 Qh6 Rf7 28 f6 Rg8 29 Ne5 Be6 30 Nf4 Rxf6 31 Nxe6! 1-0