The games of the match
(The
final TWIC report.)
In
GAME ONE, Kramnik played well,
(on the Black side of a Catalan); and possibly had a won game. But his
advantage slowly evaporated, and eventually Kramnik had to settle for a
draw. [The CB report
of the round, this article has full
annotations.]
In
GAME
TWO, Kramnik played the Black side of the Queen's Gambit
Accepted. I watched part of this game on-line, it was an EXTREMELY
complex affair, in the end, Kramnik blundered horribly ... and allowed a
mate in one. [The CB report.] In
GAME
THREE, Kramnik was White and transposed into a
Catalan by playing 1.d4 Nf6; 2.c4 e6; 3.g3. Early on, I thought that
play clearly favored Kramnik. The computer did not castle until move 19.
Kramnik was ahead a pawn, it would have been easy to assume that White
was winning easily. However, after a few inaccurate moves by White, and
then one really bad play by White, suddenly it was White who was in
trouble. (I followed this game briefly on the Internet, all the pundits
and kibitzers on one server were predicting an easy win for the
computer.) However, Kramnik - still ahead a Pawn, sacked the exchange to
force an obvious and blatantly theoretically drawn endgame. [The
CB report.] In
GAME
FOUR, Kramnik played the Black side of a Petroff
Defense, (which is known as the Russian variation in Europe). The
computer avoided the main lines with 3.NxP/e5, instead choosing 3.d4,
Kramnik played this one rather badly - at one point I thought that the
computer had missed a clear win. However, once more Kramnik showed why
he is one of the greatest defenders of all time. He simplified, and set
up a fortress through which the computer could not penetrate. [The
CB report.] In
GAME
FIVE, Kramnik allowed the computer a true
Nimzo-Indian ... something I thought was an error in strategy. (Often
times, piece play takes precedence over everything else, and the
computer's greatest strength is tactics.) The game followed a
fairly well-known theoretical path, but Kramnik diverged on move 17 by
boldly pushing his RP forward two squares. (A move
that appeared to be a gross violation of general principles, I might
add.) This was perhaps the most interesting and forceful game of
the match, the tactics became more and more intense. The end of the game
featured a draw by Mexican Stand-Off, neither side could afford to vary
... both parties were being threatened by death, mutilation and
checkmate ... the threat of mutual annihilation caused both 'players' to
smoke the peace pipe. [The CB report.] In
GAME
SIX, Kramnik - perhaps desperate for a win - varied
form his earlier match strategy of closed positions and classical
openings, and decided to meet the machine's KP opening, (1.e4); with the
Sicilian, (1...c5). This was probably a bad decision, Kramnik is good
enough to play this active (but risky) defence against any human, but it
was not what he excels at. Here, Vladimir Kramnik was finally made to
look mortal, the box pushed him around, made threats, picked off a Pawn
or two, and then pounded him into submission. [The
ChessBase report.]
Final Observations
Many
will claim that this was a disaster for the humans ... I don't see it
that way.
In
fact, Kramnik played heroically. Not only did he play well at the board,
he did not ever lose his composure away from board. In a couple of the
games, he looked to be clearly outplaying the monstrous machine, but you
MUST have perfect tactics to bring home the point!!! All-in-all, Kramnik
earned my respect for his fine play and his behavior as a cultured
gentleman.
In
the end, I think that this event was an all-round success for chess. We
did not learn anything, a human can no more beat a machine in a game of
chess than I can beat a motorcycle in a 1/4 mile sprint. The loss by the
human race can be endured, if I want revenge, I can take an old PC out
into the parking lot and destroy it with a sledge-hammer. (The funny
thing is that the box won't know or care ... what is happening to it ...
which kinda takes the fun out of such an action, anyway.)
What
is NOT to be underestimated is the amount of publicity that was
generated ... it was a HUGE media event! (It would take millions of
dollars to buy such coverage for our royal game.)
On
behalf of everyone who plays chess, I would like to thank V. Kramnik,
ChessBase, the sponsors, and all the news correspondents who covered
this match.
[
The official site.
]
[ The CG page
of these games ... LOTS of commentary! ] |
