The news that Gary Kasparov, the world champion, defeated the chess computer, "Deep Thought," has been widely published. The two-game match was held last Sunday at the New York Academy of Art.
Two hours before the match began, Kasparov held a press conference for 75 journalists representing news agencies worldwide."They were attracted to the event," wrote Harold C. Schonberg in the New York Times, "because of the possibility of an upset and the philosophical problems an upset would cause."
"Deep Thought" had recently defeated two grandmasters: Bent Larsen of Denmark, a former contender for the world championship, and Robert Byrne, a former U.S. champion and now the chess editor of the New York Times.
Does this mean that the era of human chess supremacy is drawing to a close? Schonberg, the former Times senior music critic and a longtime chess writer, asked.
"Yes, in the opinion of computer and chess experts.
"The time is rapidly coming, all believe, when chess computers will be operating with a precision, rapidity and completeness of information that will far eclipse anything the human mind can do.
"In three to five years, `Deep Thought' will be succeeded by a computer with a thousand times its strength and rapidity. And computers scanning a million million positions a second are less than 10 years away."
As for the creativity, intuition and brilliance of the great players, chess computers have already demonstrated that they can dream up moves that make even professionals gasp with admiration.
It is generally assumed among most chess experts that the time will soon come when it will be necessary to hold championship matches for computers and separate ones for humans.
"Deep Thought," Kasparov said, had a strength between 2450 and 2500. "How could it beat a player near 2900?" he asked. Kasparov's FIDE rating is the highest in chess history, 2795.
He said he had played many of "Deep Thought's" games, and it was possible to steer the computer into lines it did not like or was not prepared for.
"Computers have their psychology, too," he said. "If you know a computer well, you can anticipate its moves. Sometimes I can visualize the next move played by a computer."
Kasparov, unlike many of the experts, was even doubtful that a computer could ever play with the imagination and creativity of a human, though he did look ahead to the next generation of computers and shuddered at what may be coming.
"Deep Thought" can scan 720,000 positions a second. The creators of "Deep Thought" have developed plans for a machine that can span a billion possibilities a second, and it may be ready in five years.
"That means that I can be champion for five more years," Kasparov said with a grin. "But I can't visualize living with the knowledge that a computer is stronger than the human mind. I had to challenge `Deep Thought' for this match to protect the human race."
For his work in the two games,
Kasparov's fee was $10,000. The event was sponsored by AGS Communications Inc., a computer company now part of the NYNEX Information Solution Group.
In the first game, Kasparov drew black and went into a Sicilian defense after the computer's 1. P-K4. He played carefully and precisely, building up a violent attack on the kingside and also developing a passed pawn on the opposite wing.
Every chess expert in the hall knew after 25 moves or so that Kasparov had much the better position. But "Deep Thought" did not agree. When the machine was asked how it estimated the game, it kept on insisting that the position was even.
Not until about 10 moves before the end did "Deep Thought" state that its position was untenable and that it was playing with the equivalent of a piece down.
"If a human was beaten as decisively as I just beat `Deep Thought,' " Kasparov said, "he would be so intimidated that he would be an easy target in the second game. But not a machine. It cannot be intimidated."
-CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SOLVERS! - Dean Thompson, Ardean Watts, Ted Pathakis, William DeVroom, Paul R. Lindeman, Raeburn Kennard, Covert Copier, Jim Turner, Ken Frost, Brian Griffith, Al Nicholas, Aaron Kennard, Joan Nay, Kay Lundstrom, Mel Puller, Hal Knight, Michael Marsh, Mark Stranger, Harold Rosenberg, Edwin O. Smith, Robert Tanner, Monroe Iversen, Brian Harrow, Grant Hodson, William D. Rice and Ann Neil.