The match for the title of World Robot Chess Champion will be held Saturday, May 19 on Strastnoy Boulevard. KUKA Monstr (Germany) and CHESSka (Russia) will battle it out for the title.
On the same day, the German visitor with artificial intelligence will play a demo match against one of the world’s strongest human players – Alexander Grischuk, the former World Blitz Champion and a representative of the Russian national team.
Both competitions will be held in blitz chess format, in which the players are given 5 minutes per game, in accordance with FIDE rules.
The Russian robot CHESSka, the first chess robot to beat grandmasters in blitz chess, was created by Konstantin Kosteniuk, Honored Coach of Russian Chess and an inventor with tens of registered patents.
CHESSka is already well-known among Russian chess fans. This “chess terminator” has played against former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Alexandra Kosteniuk, as well as Sergei Karyakin, one of Russia’s leading players, and has beaten a number of well-known grandmasters.
Challenging our hardware heavyweight for the title will be KUKA Monstr, created by the German company KUKA Robotics, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial robots.
Though it is younger than its Russian opponent, its creators favor it to win the match. They say that blitz chess is precisely where KUKA can fully manifest its intelligence, accuracy and speed.
Other world-class robot makers showing interest in developing chess-playing robots include FANUC Corporation of Japan and ABB of Sweden.
The winner of the match will receive the title of First in History Absolute World Robot Blitz Chess Champion. The organizers plan to hold such events every year, creating a Big League of chess robots called ChessRoboLiga-1 for makers of industrial robots, analogous to Formula 1 for automakers.
Spectators of the event on Strastnoy Boulevard will have a chance to compete in blitz tournaments as part of the Moscow Chess Boulevard competition, play simuls with grandmasters and participate in a competitive program with prizes.
Event program
11.00: Arrival of guests and registration of participants in the tournament and simul
12.00: Start of chess tournament and simul with a GM
12.15: Start of the competition program for the audience
13.00-14.00: Match between KUKA (Germany) and World Blitz Champion Alexander Grischuk (Russia)
14.30-15.30: First round of the match between the two chess robots
15.30-16.00: Awards ceremony honoring the winners of the tournament, participants of the competition program and participants of the session with the GM
16.00-17.00: Second and final part of the meet
17.00: Awards ceremony honoring the creators of the World Champion Chess Robot
Venue: Moscow, Strastnoy Boulevard (Pushkinskaya and Chekhovskaya subway stations)
Organizers: Summa Group, the Russian Chess Federation, the Center for Physical Education and Sports of Moscow’s Central Administrative District and the Tigran Petrosyan Chess Club with the participation of the Foundation for Creative Chess, the Vladimir Dvorkovich Chess Parlor, and ChessQueen Company.
For more information, call Eldar Mukhametov on +7 916 5425224 or email him at moscowchess@gmail.com.
