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Hydra Dominates Adams in Man vs. Machine Match

Controlling the action from start to finish, HYDRA - an Abu Dhabi based chess computer - posted an impressive victory over British GM Michael Adams, winning by the score of 5.5-0.5. Adams managed a draw in the second game with the white pieces, but was otherwise shut out.

While the match seemed to confirm that HYDRA is the strongest chess computer ever built, the score also seemed to reflect Adams' match preperation - or lack thereof. Many commentators noted that HYDRA wasn't forced to play particularly amazing chess to defeat Adams, and Adams did not seem to play the brand of "anti-computer" chess typically used by top players against strong computers.

HYDRA dominated the human opponent in the first game of the match, winning in just 33 moves. Adams fought back for a tough draw in game two, and seemed to have a chance to steady the match.

But after the machine took game three in just 28 moves, Adams seemed defeated. Although the final three games lasted longer, HYDRA won them all - even the two where Adams had white.

Having the processing power of over 200 standard PCs, HYDRA is housed in Abu Dhabi and is a 64-way cluster computer. The machine has never been beaten by a human in its current configuration.

Here is HYDRA's final win, in game six of the match.

White: Adams, M (2737)
Black: HYDRA
Man vs. Machine, Game 6
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. O-O Ne7 8. c4 d6 9. Nc3 Nbc6 10. Qe2 O-O 11. Be3 e5 12. Rad1 Nd4 13. Bxd4 exd4 14. Nd5 Nc6 15. f4 Qh4 16. Nd2 Be6 17. Nc7 Rac8 18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. g3 Qe7 20. a3 e5 21. f5 Nb8 22. Kg2 Nd7 23. b4 Kh8 24. Bc2 Nf6 25. Rc1 Rc7 26. Bb3 Rfc8 27. Rc2 a5 28. Rfc1 Qe8 29. h3 a4 30. Ba2 Re7 31. c5 dxc5 32. bxc5 Rec7 33. Be6 Rd8 34. Qd3 g6 35. Kh2 Qc6 36. Qf3 Rf8 37. g4 Qb5 38. Qg3 Qe2+ 39. Qg2 Qe3 40. Qg3 Rxc5 41. Qxe3 dxe3 42. Nf3 Nxe4 43. Kg2 Kg7 0-1