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A Chess game: Kasparov vs. Deep Thought
KASPAROV CRUSHES DEEP THOUGHT,
SHINES IN AMERICAN MEDIA
by Don Maddox
In a November PLAYBOY interview, World Champion Gary Kasparov answered a
question about the competitive nature of chess by declaring, "Chess is a game
for fighters. I have been a fighter since the age of six. I already have
twenty years of blood on my hands."
On Sunday evening, October 22, the 26-year-old Soviet superstar was washing
silicon from those same hands after dismantling the world's strongest
chessplaying computer, Deep Thought, 2-0 in a two-game, 90-minute-per-side
sudden death match at the New York Academy of Fine Arts in New York City.
The match, organized by television chess commentator Shelby Lyman and
sponsored by AGS Information Services, Inc., of Mountainside, New Jersey, was
billed as a test of the shrinking "intelligence" gap between man and machine.
During a 45-minute press conference before the match, Kasparov acknowledged a
sense of responsibility as World Chess Champion to accept the challenge
presented by advancing computer technology.
MAN AGAINST MACHINE
"Just imagine a computer rated 2800, about my strength," he insisted. "Of
course I have to challenge it just to protect the human race."
Kasparov, who has repeatedly stated his belief that no computer will ever be
able to defeat a world chess champion, proceeded to back up his claims in the
first game by strangling Deep Thought with the black pieces. The computer,
estimated by Kasparov to play in the neighborhood of 2500 FIDE, resigned
following the World Champion's 52nd move.
Deep Thought-Kasparov,G AGS Computer Challenge (1) 1989
1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.Be3 c4 7.b3 cxb3 8.axb3 Ne7
9.Na3 Nbc6 10.Nb5 Bb8 11.Bd3 Bf5 12.c4 0-0 13.Ra4 Qd7 14.Nc3 Bc7 15.Bxf5 Qxf5
16.Nh4 Qd7 17.0-0 Rad8 18.Re1 Rfe8 19.c5 Ba5 20.Qd3 a6 21.h3 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Nf5
23.Nxf5 Qxf5 24.Ra2 Re6 25.Rae2 Rde8 26.Qd2 f6 27.Qc3 h5 28.b4 R8e7 29.Kh1 g5
30.Kg1 g4 31.h4 Re4 32.Qb2 Na7 33.Qd2 R4e6 34.Qc1 Nb5 35.Qd2 Na3 36.Qd1 Kf7
37.Qb3 Nc4 38.Kh2 Re4 39.g3 Qf3 40.b5 a5 41.c6 f5 42.cxb7 Rxb7 43.Kg1 f4
44.gxf4 g3 45.Qd1 Rbe7 46.b6 gxf2+ 47.Rxf2 Qxd1 48.Rxd1 Rxe3 49.Rg2 Nxb6
50.Rg5 a4 51.Rxh5 a3 52.Rd2 Re2 0-1
But Kasparov saved the real fireworks for the second game. "In the first game,
I played quietly," he said after the match. "In the second, I tried to crush
it." By move 15, GM Edmar Mednis, providing move-by-move commentary, was
declaring the result a foregone conclusion. Gary Kasparov had reduced the
strongest chessplaying machine in the world to a mass of quivering chips. The
human audience applauded gleefully as Deep Thought clung to an embarrassingly
hopeless position until resigning at move 37.
Kasparov,G-Deep Thought AGS Computer Challenge 1989
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.d5 Ne5 6.Nc3 c6 7.Bf4 Ng6 8.Be3 cxd5
9.exd5 Ne5 10.Qd4 Nxf3+ 11.gxf3 Bxf3 12.Bxc4 Qd6 13.Nb5 Qf6 14.Qc5 Qb6 15.Qa3
e6 16.Nc7+ Qxc7 17.Bb5+ Qc6 18.Bxc6+ bxc6 19.Bc5 Bxc5 20.Qxf3 Bb4+ 21.Ke2 cxd5
22.Qg4 Be7 23.Rhc1 Kf8 24.Rc7 Bd6 25.Rb7 Nf6 26.Qa4 a5 27.Rc1 h6 28.Rc6 Ne8
29.b4 Bxh2 30.bxa5 Kg8 31.Qb4 Bd6 32.Rxd6 Nxd6 33.Rb8+ Rxb8 34.Qxb8+ Kh7
35.Qxd6 Rc8 36.a4 Rc4 37.Qd7 1-0
After the second game, Kasparov said, only half in jest, "I think the computer
needs to be taught something -- how to resign."
THE MAN ON THE STREET
But saving the human race from an electronic menace is not Kasparov's only
reason for answering Deep Thought's challenge. He is clearly a young man with
sense of purpose and a vision of the future of chess in America. He came here
to attract the attention of the American media and to prove that chess has an
appeal to the American public. And he succeeded.
With guest appearances on Good Morning America, a 30-minute segment of PBS's
"The Eleventh Hour" (aired October 30), and news bytes all over the country
for weeks leading up to the match and for days afterwards, Kasparov has
clearly -- at least for now -- put chess on the American media map.
On the Friday before the Deep Thought encounter, Kasparov appeared on Late
Night with David Letterman and initiated a telex game with the talk show host,
featuring one move a night for several weeks. After taking some light-hearted
ribbing from Kasparov for shoving his Rook pawn, Letterman answered Kasparov's
1. e4 with 1... d5.
"How's that," asked Letterman.
"It's better," answered the World Champion, with amused emphasis on the word
"better."
The Kasparov-Deep Thought match itself drew world-wide press coverage.
Correspondents were present from Associated Press, Reuters, The L.A. Times,
OMNI Magazine, USA TODAY, The NEW YORK TIMES, The NEW YORK POST, SPORTS
ILLUSTRATED, Der SPIEGEL, and many other prominent mainstream publications.
Television interviews were underway throughout the match, and both the
analysis room and the playing area were thronged with spectators.
The impact of this increased visibility on the American chess scene is hard to
overestimate. The afternoon following the match, I was on a New York City
street talking with Kasparov and his good friend Eric Schiller. An older,
well-dressed woman walked by. She stopped, she looked, she gestured shyly with
her hands.
"Mr.... Mr. Kasparov?" she asked hesitantly.
Gary smiled, walked over, and spent 10-minutes talking politely and warmly
with a woman who, a week ago, probably barely knew that chess existed, much
less that its champion was the kind of superstar likely to turn heads on an
American street corner.
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