Chess computer easily beaten

Press, 24 October 1989, Page 38

Chess computer easily beaten

NZPA-Reuter New York The world chess champion, Gary Kasparov, was the easy victor in a man-versus-machine chess battle on Sunday. Kasparov soundly defeated Deep Thought, the world’s highest-ranked chess computer in 53 moves in the first game of a two-game match at the New York Academy of Art

“I expected it” the smiling Kasparov said after the first game. “I think in 18 or 19 moves I was sure that I would win.”

Kasparov had predicted his victory in a news conference before the match saying that while the computer was good, it did not have enough “fantasy, intuition and imagination.”

Chess grand masters analysing the game said that Kasparov won with a quiet but aggressive game which wore down the computer. Kasparov and Deep Thought played 90 minutes each instead of the usual 150 minutes which many expected to work to the computer’s advantage.

But Shelby Lyman, a television chess commentator, said Kasparov was never in danger of running out of time, in spite of his being 15 minutes below Deep Thought. Lyman and Edmar Mednis analysed each move on a large chess board for the paying crowd of more than 400. “The game was so onesided that time did not become a factor,” Lyman said. Kasparov said that Deep Thought’s biggest problem was its failure to perceive that it was in trouble.

Murray Campbell, one of a team of graduate students from Carnegie Mellon who created Deep Thought, said the computer did not realise it was at a disadvantage until about 10 moves too late. “It wasn’t given a chance to show its best style of play because of the way Kasparov played,” said Mr Campbell.

The computer was operated by Mr Campbell and Feng Hsiung Hsu, who sat at the table with Kasparov punching in each move. Deep Thought has already beaten several grand mas-

ters. The computer’s United States Chess Federation rating is 2550, higher than the average for a grand master. Kasparov’s rating is 2780, which is the highest in the world and equal to that of former chess champion Bobby Fisher. In spite of the loss, many chess analysts at the match said they fully expect to see computers beat the best human chess champions within five years. Said one observer: “It’s only a matter of time. It’s the trend.”