Kasparov Blinked
Posted: 2003-02-07 09:09pm
Today was the terminal game in the first organised FIDE Man v. Machine championship match, squaring off current human champion Gary Kasparov against Deep Junior, the latest contender from IBM.
After initial deployments and some positioning moves to feel out Deep Junior's strategy, Kasparov, playing black and gaining a pawn within the first twelve moves, had managed an early queen exchange; a good strategy against a computer since the removal of the queens reduces markedly the number of options available to the computer and makes for a more even matchup. Kasparov then embarked upon a bold middle game by lining up matched rooks along the C file and sacrificing one for a knight, which opened up opportunities for a bishop exchange and the capture of more of white's pawns. Materially and positionally, Kasparov was in an advantageous position.
But when Deep Junior responded by moving its remaining bishop to A3 to set up an attack against a central black pawn, Kasparov got spooked and subsequently offered a draw. After some conferencing, Deep Junior's programmers agreed and the match ended right there. After the match, Kasparov told reporters that he simply did not want to lose to the computer.
Following the contest on ESPN2 this afternoon, from what I saw it seemed that Kasparov could have played out the game and fought to a natural draw on his own, or may even have managed the win. His defensive position was good and he had the material advantage. But he let himself get spooked and took the first opportunity to bail out.
It was Man v. Machine, and Kasparov blinked.
After initial deployments and some positioning moves to feel out Deep Junior's strategy, Kasparov, playing black and gaining a pawn within the first twelve moves, had managed an early queen exchange; a good strategy against a computer since the removal of the queens reduces markedly the number of options available to the computer and makes for a more even matchup. Kasparov then embarked upon a bold middle game by lining up matched rooks along the C file and sacrificing one for a knight, which opened up opportunities for a bishop exchange and the capture of more of white's pawns. Materially and positionally, Kasparov was in an advantageous position.
But when Deep Junior responded by moving its remaining bishop to A3 to set up an attack against a central black pawn, Kasparov got spooked and subsequently offered a draw. After some conferencing, Deep Junior's programmers agreed and the match ended right there. After the match, Kasparov told reporters that he simply did not want to lose to the computer.
Following the contest on ESPN2 this afternoon, from what I saw it seemed that Kasparov could have played out the game and fought to a natural draw on his own, or may even have managed the win. His defensive position was good and he had the material advantage. But he let himself get spooked and took the first opportunity to bail out.
It was Man v. Machine, and Kasparov blinked.
