WMCCC 1981

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The Second World Microcomputer Chess Championship took place from September 21 to 28, 1981, Salon Timmendorf in the Maritim Hotel, Travemünde, West Germany, hosted and sponsored by the Horten AG, a German department store chain and primary German Novag distributor at that time. The two last playoff rounds took place in Hamburg. The tournament organizers were Gerhard Piel, an architect and collector of computer chess machines, Frederic Friedel, a science journalist and Dieter Steinwender, a computer scientist. Tournament director was Horst Metzing of the German Chess Federation. The ICCA along with the FIDE sanctioned the tournament as a world championship, ICCA observers were Ben Mittman and Ken Thompson.

=Final Standing=

Playoff

 * CC Country Codes
 * SOS: Sum of Opponent Scores
 * SoDOS: Sum of Defeated Opponent Scores

=Participants=

Commercial Group

 * CC Country Codes

=Commercial Controversy= The published rules provided for participation in an open and commercial category. The organizers had hoped that by sponsoring a purely commercial section, they could provide the computer chess buying public with a clear indication of which is the strongest commercially available chess machine. In doing this, however, they wanted to avoid what had happened after previous microcomputer chess tournaments when misleading advertising claims were made by manufacturers or by their representatives. The lack of a precise definition for the commercial group became a source for a great deal of controversy, and soured many of the participants, the organizers, and the ICCA observers on this type of tournament. The requirement for the manufacturers section for commercially available chess computers, forced Hegener & Glaser to withdraw their intended entry Mephisto II since commercial production would not begin until November, and Hegener & Glaser chose not to enter in the open group as well. Finally, the Applied Concepts personal withdrew their programs after some rounds from both sections of the tournament, due to a bug in their Capablanca module of the Great Game Machine. =Photos & Games=

Fidelity X - Philidor X
David Levy operating Philidor vs Fidelity X [Event "WMCCC 1981"] [Site "Travemünde, Germany"] [Date "1981.09.21"] [Round "1"] [White "Fidelity X"] [Black "Philidor X"] [Result "0-1"]

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Na3 cxd4 7.Nb5 Qd7 8.Bf4 e5 9.Bxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 Qe7 11.Qe2 dxc3 12.Nc7+ Qxc7 13.Ng6+ Ne7 14.Nxh8 cxb2 15.Qxb2 Qa5+ 16.Ke2 Qa6+ 17.Kd2 Qa5+ 18.Kd1 Bg4+ 19.f3 Rd8+ 20.Ke2 Be6 21.g3 Nd5 22.Qc1 Bc5 23.Kd1 Nc3+ 24.Kc2 Bf5+ 25.Bd3 Bxd3+ 26.Kd2 Ne4+ 27.Kd1 Nf2# 0-1 Game and short analyze on Lichess.org :

Playoff
Ron Nelson, Kathe & Dan Spracklen, David Levy in CC Mark V - Fidelity X [Event "WMCCC 1981 (Playoff)"] [Site "Hamburg, Germany"] [Date "1981.09.28"] [Round "2"] [White "Chess Champion Mark V"] [Black "Fidelity X"] [Result "0-1"]

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qe3 Nf6 5.Bd2 Ng4 6.Qg3 d6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.Nd5 O-O 9.Nf3 Nf6 10.Bd3 Nxd5 11.exd5 Nb8 12.O-O-O Na6 13.Ng5 Bxg5 14.Bxg5 f6 15.Be3 Bd7 16.f4 Nb4 17.Qh4 f5 18.Qxd8 Raxd8 19.a3 Nxd3+ 20.Rxd3 Bb5 21.Rc3 c5 22.dxc6 Bxc6 23.Bd4 g6 24.Rg3 b6 25.h4 Rde8 26.h5 Re4 27.Rd1 Kf7 28.hxg6+ hxg6 29.Rh3 Rxf4 30.Rh7+ Ke6 31.Rxa7 Bxg2 32.Bxb6 g5 33.b4 Rc4 34.Rg7 Be4 35.Rg6+ Ke5 36.Rd2 g4 37.Bf2 Rfc8 38.Bg3+ f4 39.Rg5+ Bf5 40.Re2+ Kf6 41.Bh4 Rxc2+ 42.Rxc2 Rxc2+ 43.Kd1 Rh2 44.Rh5+ Ke6 45.Rh6+ Kd5 46.b5 g3 47.Rh5 Ke4 48.Rh8 Rxh4 49.Re8+ Kd3 50.Re1 g2 51.Kc1 Rh1 52.Rg1 Rxg1+ 53.Kb2 Rb1+ 54.Ka2 Be6+ 55.Kxb1 Kc3 56.Ka1 g1=Q# 0-1 Game and short analyze on Lichess.org :

=See also=
 * CPWTIPC 1981
 * European MCC 1981
 * Stockholm MCCT 1981

=Publications=
 * David Levy, Kevin O’Connell (1981). A New World Champion. Chess, October/November 1981
 * 2. Mikrocomputer-Schachweltmeisterschaft in Travemünde und Hamburg. pdf hosted by Hein Veldhuis - various articles and documents, including:
 * Ben Mittman (1981). Second World Microcomputer Chess Championship, Travemünde and Hamburg, West Germany - Opening Address. ICCA Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 2
 * Ben Mittman, Ken Thompson (1981). Second World Microcomputer Chess Championship, Travemünde and Hamburg, West Germany. ICCA Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 2
 * Gerhard Piel (1981). Mikro-WM in Travemünde und Hamburg. Rochade, 07-1981 (German)
 * Gerhard Piel (1981). Wilde Weltmeisterschaften. Rochade, 08-1981 (German)
 * László Lindner (1981). 2. Mikrocomputer-Schachweltmeisterschaft in Travemünde, veranstaltet von Horten-AG, Düsseldorf. Rochade, 10-1981 (German)
 * Horten AG, Presseabteilung - Das Organisationkomitee (1981). Die Geschichte der Schachcomputer. Ein Beitrag anlaßlich der 2. Mikrocomputer-Schachweltmeisterschaft. Schach-Magazin 64, 10-1981 (German)
 * László Lindner (1981). Nocheinmal Travemünde. Rochade, 11-1981 (German)
 * Ivan Kühnmund (1981). Mephisto schlägt den Weltmeister Revanche für die Niederlage am grünen Tisch. Deutsche Schachzeitung, 11-1981 (German)
 * Tom Fürstenberg (1981). 2e Micro WK Travemünde/Hamburg. Computerschaak, 11-1981 (Dutch)
 * Jan Louwman (1981). Wereldkampioenschap Computerschaak te Travemünde. Computerschaak, 11-1981 (Dutch)
 * Björn Schwarz (1981). Güld’ne Pfründe in Travemünde. 2. Mikrocomputer-Schachweltmeisterschaft. Chip 12-1981 (German)
 * Jaap van den Herik (1981). Spracklens programma - wereldkampioen bij micro’s. Schakend Nederland, 12-1981 (Dutch)
 * László Lindner (1982). Aufruf des Internationalen Computerschachbundes in der Angelegenheit der Weltmeisterschaften. Rochade, 01-1982 (German)

=Forum Posts=
 * Consumer Computer Chess History Trivia by ChessChallenger, Hiarcs Forum, December 22, 2015

=External Links=
 * 2nd World Microcomputer Chess Championship from the ICGA Tournament Database
 * WMCC 1981, CSVN tournament site
 * 2. WMCCC Travemünde 1981 from Schachcomputer.info - Wiki (German)
 * Focus - Hamburger Concerto, Live (1975), YouTube Video
 * Line-up: Thijs van Leer, Jan Akkerman, Bert Ruiter, Colin Allen

=References=

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