Garry Kasparov versus the computer program, Fritz/X3D
The Official
Site
for this match.
I have received dozens of e-mails
about this ... I apologize for not getting around to it sooner.
Apparently the above pages are no longer available, I leave the link here
as a historical record.
The X3D Company
has changed its name to the "Opticality Corporation," you may
visit their
website
to learn more about them. A diligent search
of their website revealed almost nothing
significant about chess. I used all the relevant key-words that I could think
of. A friend, who lives
in New York, did some research, the company may have run into fiscal
problems.
---> However ... all is not lost! Some
of these pages are archived
on the Google server.
You can also see a list of these pages - and the updates HERE! (Or
here.)
**********************
(A closer look
at Fritz/X3D in 2003.)
(This link may not be valid anymore.)
***
(See the February, 2004 issue of 'Chess Life' for several articles on
this match.)
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NOTE:
What I have decided to do ... apart from posting as much as I can as
quickly as is humanly possible ... is to take about a one or two week
break. I would like to analyze all of these games in depth ... and I
will. But for now I have some other things I must do first. (Like
earn a living!)
Within
just hours after the end of each game, I brought you at least the game
scores and a brief coverage of what happened in each game - and a
summary of the live coverage as well.
Eventually
ALL of these games will be annotated by me ... if for no
other reason than completeness, and the fact that I think that many of
the annotations already posted on the web are just plain bad. Two of
these games were BRIEFLY annotated within a few hours of their
completion and posted here. I think this is as timely as you can get.
For now I have links to all the important sites that have good coverage
of this great event. Many of these feature annotations, some by Mig
Greengard or GM Karsten Mueller. (Or many others.)
Of course until Kasparov himself writes a book on this match, it will be
impossible to do the best job possible ... or really know what the champ
was thinking at critical points in the game. (or games) I also want to
watch all the coverage
(again!) and take notes. (I
recorded all the available coverage on my VCR.)
Only after I have completed this process can I do a really good job, and
bring some of the 'flavor' of these games as they occurred.
Since
this match has started, I have gotten an average of about 150 e-mails
everyday! (Just answering all this has been a huge chore in and of
itself.) But I also wanted to say THANKS
to all the people who wrote in ... and sent me stories, snippets of
analysis, etc. I really appreciate everyone and every single e-mail. (I
also must say thanks to the Internet
Chess Club, and U.S.
Chess Live for their tremendous coverage and on-line
commentary. The on-line radio show of "CHESS-dot-FM"
was also excellent ... and helped tremendously on the days when the
coverage was booted off ESPN.)
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank ESPN and their
sponsors. Seeing chess - live!, on TV - is a real treat for me ... and
never gets old. THANKS!!! (Thank-you,
very much!)
Thursday,
November 20th, 2003. |
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In
case you have not heard, Kasparov is scheduled to play a match with FRITZ/X3D
...
sometime in November of 2003. Stay tuned as we 'ramp-up' for another big
match.
***
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opening
ceremony
The match was officially opened and all the VIPs were in
Times Square. ESPN, which will show over 17 hours of the match
live, hosted the opening ceremony at the famous ESPNZone on
Broadway.
Kasparov
expressed optimism and spoke at length about the new challenges
presented by X3D Fritz. Speaker comments and lots of photos.
[ more
] |
**
Kasparov to play virtual chess
... ... ... 09/11/2003 16:40 - (SA)
New York - Former world chess champion Gary Kasparov plays against the computer "X3D Fritz" this week in a virtual match in which the board is in cyberspace and the pieces are moved by voice command.
The event marks the first time man and machine have battled over a chessboard "in total virtual reality," according to the International Computer Games Association and the United States Chess Federation.
The four
games, on November 11th,
13th, 16th and 18th;
(2003) ... at the New York Athletic Club, will be broadcast live on
ESPN and on the Internet at www.x3dchess.com.
The 40-year-old chess great will play wearing 3-D glasses, gazing at a chess board that appears to float in the air, dictating the movement of his pieces with voice commands, and rotating the board with a joystick.
"It's pure concept: man versus machine with nothing in between," Kasparov said at a press conference on Friday.
He said the lack of a physical board and chess pieces would not immediately affect his thought process, "but I suspect it will in the long term, so we'll find out."
"In the 25 years of my professional chess career I used to move the pieces. It's all environment, a framework of the game that my mind is used to working with," he said.
"I hope that I will adjust myself and I will be able to live with this voice activating system, with the machine, the different angles, the joystick."
The match is Kasparov's third against a computer since he lost to Deep Blue in 1997 and tied with Deep Junior in February of this year.
"In 1997 I was not successful playing Deep Blue, last time was a draw, and this time should be better," he said.
"Five years from now, it will be impossible to beat a machine in long matches," he predicted.
***
X3D Fritz is an upgraded version of Fritz, the machine which then-world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik played in Bahrain in 2002, tying him four to four.
Hungarian chess champion Susan Polgar called the games "a wonderful promotional match."
"It will bring a lot more new people to chess," she said.
Although she has never played a machine in public, Polgar uses training software. "It's a very different experience," she said.
"With people there's a lot of psychology involved, while against the computer it's pure perfection," she said.
Kasparov is still considered the world's best chess player although he lost the world champion title to Kramnik in 2000.
(He is still the highest-rated.
A.J.G.)
Garry
Kasparov versus X3D Fritz
New
York City, USA – The latest computer challenge for Garry
Kasparov is set to begin on Tuesday, November 11. X3D Fritz will
have faster chips and a stronger program over the Fritz 8 that drew a
match with Kramnik in 2002. The computer will also have a home-field
advantage of sorts with the four games taking place on an X3D virtual
reality screen.
Kasparov
will speak his moves to X3D Fritz's voice recognition module, so unlike
in this opening ceremony photo, no mouse will be required. Official
site: www.x3dchess.com
You'll
be able to follow every move live with commentary at TWIC!
The game schedule: Nov 11, 13, 16, 18 at 6pm GMT (1pm NY time)
More
News at The Week In Chess |
Garry Kasparov versus the mindless machines
In
November of 2003, Garry Kasparov will play Fritz X3D, a program that is
supposedly very strong ... "state of the art." This is a
continuation of his duels with other machines like his matches with
"Deep Blue" and Deep Junior." While many think he is
doing this solely for self-promotion and to make money, these matches
are very interesting from a scientific viewpoint, and could be last time
a human could successfully play chess versus a computer program. It
should be both exciting AND very entertaining.
********************************************************************************************
Click HERE
to see more news stories on this match.
Click
HERE to see a nice page on the
"Q&A" just
after the opening ceremony.
Go
here
to see the
official site for the match.
READ
the post-game interview Garry gave just after the conclusion of game
four. |
|
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It's
all in the news!
16.11.2003
Everybody is talking about it – the coverage in thousands of newspapers all over the world comes in addition to the massive cable TV coverage on ESPN and TV news reports in stations around the world. Even Al Jazeera is following the progress of "Chess czar Gary Kasparov" in his New York match against X3D Fritz.
(From the ChessBase
website.) |
*********************************************************************
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Garry
and X3D in the media
Garry
Kasparov ... and his extremely powerful opponent, (Fritz_X3D) are all
over the news media. Practically every major news source on the planet
... has a story on this match. Check out all the very complete
list of links compiled by the boys at the X3D site. [ more
]
|
Click on the links just below to go to the page for that game.
Game #
1.
Game # 2.
Game #
3.
Game # 4.
A note on the machine and the hardware of Fritz_X3D
I
have a friend who works in the computer business ... he is also an
amateur player and a fan of my websites as well. He was recently in New
York and attended one of the games. He also talked - at length - with
several of the X3D employee's, and they explained to him some of the
hardware and software involved here.
The
actual FRITZ program here is being run on its own board or module -
which is a computer in and of itself. It features FOUR (4) Xeon
processors, that run at nearly 3 GHz, if my memory serves me. (2.8 GHz,
to be precise.) Additionally, this unit also boasts FOUR GIG (4 GB) of
RAM. Additionally, the computer module has access to nearly unlimited
(hard-disk) memory - on a bank of hard drives.
The
three-dimensional VIRTUAL REALITY software - and the giant monitor that
Garry was looking at all the time on TV ... were being powered and
run by a separate computer. This was a virtual super-computer
that must execute nearly billions (or even trillions) of calculations a
second ... to make the chess-board come alive in the "virtual
reality" world. (The monitor itself is estimated to cost
at least $50,000.)
And
finally, many of Fritz's functions - such as estimation and the opening
database (stored library) of 2.8 MILLION individual moves ... was
being run on a separate computer, with its own memory and its own
processor! And all of this was being integrated through an OS similar to
a SUN Micro-Systems' operating platform. (and software)
Needless
to say, this is NOT
your average PC that most of us have sitting on our desks at home!!! In
fact, many of us were led to believe that this is a PC program. And
while it is true that this software might soon be made available
commercially, the simple truth is that unless you have access to the
same kind of hardware that the Fritz Team utilized in New York; your own
version of the program will NEVER perform like this! Q.E.D. |
My narrative of the match.
Game
# 1.) Having gotten the opening ceremonies out of the way, it was
time to play some chess. Garry got a VERY nice position out of the opening,
and appeared to be much better ... even winning an exchange at one point. But
the computer defended brilliantly, perhaps better than any human ever could.
Black eventually got a strong Bishop on d5, and Seirawan even said that it
would be very difficult - if not impossible - to win. This turned out to be
the case ... and the game was eventually drawn. This game was, in my own
opinion, one of the greatest fighting draws ever played. Nearly flawless and
extremely high in fighting content.
*******
Game
# 2.) Garry surprised everyone by trotting out 1...e5; - - - instead
of his favorite Sicilian. But Garry did not come completely unprepared, and
obtained a very interesting position out of the opening. (I think he even
over-played his hand on the King-side, and a good player like Kramnik would
have ripped Black's position to shreds.) But the computer continually backed
away from the sharpest and most testing of lines. By the time White exchanged
pawns on d6, it was clearly evident to everyone that White had forfeited all
but the tiniest of advantages. But then Garry blundered, leaving a Rook
unprotected on f8. The computer pounced, and the game was over. It was a
horrible way for Garry to lose and a nothing win for Fritz team. (What was
really sad was people who e-mailed me and tried to convince me what a great
game Fritz had played. To any player who truly understands chess, it was just
plain ugly ... and disgusting. And pitiful!)
*******
Game
# 3.) November 16th, 2003. It is Sunday, and I am supposed to be
watching football. Instead I am glued to the TV ... and the computer/Internet,
and hovering over a small magnetic set. What's all the excitement about? What
the heck is going on here?
Kasparov
is on TV! Further he is playing one of the dreaded machines ... and he is
killing it!!
Kasparov
opens with 1.Nf3, but play transposes back to the Semi-Slav. (Both Garry and
the computers seem addicted to this opening.) Play can soon repeat the same
lines as game one, but the computer varies first. We have only played a
handful of moves, but soon White has a pawn chain that stretches from f2 ...
all the way to b6!! Naturally, this is ideal for the human, and the
worst-case scenario for the machine. (The emphasis is on strategy,
and not on tactics.)
Almost
immediately Garry has targeted the computer's advanced a-pawn for
annexation.
Garry
slowly and methodically stacks up on the Black Pawn on a5, and eventually
removes it from the board. Meanwhile the computer is playing for cheapo
tactics, instead of committing itself to some type of long-term
strategy.
When
the mindless machine begins moving to and fro, putting its King on h8 and then
moving it back again, it is deadly obvious that the computer does NOT have a
clue as to what the correct continuation should be.
The
Fritz team could have played on, but mercifully stopped the play around move
45. The time control had been reached and even a cheap lap-top computer was
showing the position to be a win for White. A tremendous victory for the
human-side ... and a terribly embarrassing loss for the computer and its team
of programmers. (A Class "C" player could have probably handled the
position with a better strategy than the computer demonstrated here.)
*******
Game
# 4.) The final game was drawn. The match is over. (Tied at
the score of 2 - 2.)
Garry
met the computer's opening (1.d4) with 1...d5. I think he was angling for
lines with unclear play, which computers do not handle well, or lines which
lead to an early ending. (Which the computers also do not handle very well.)
But the computer ... and its programming team seem well prepared, and met
Garry's opening with a line favored by Garry's nemesis. (GM V. Kramnik, the
man who defeated him in 2000, took his title away ... and has been
running like ____ ever since.)
The
opening did not appear to turn out very well for Garry ... it looked like the
computer was on top. GM Yasser Seirawan was all 'doom and gloom'
and predicting Garry had to sacrifice his Queen. (Or something really dumb
like that.)
But
Garry had everything under control. Play proceeded down an extremely sharp and
difficult line, and it seemed both sides did not have a choice.
At
one point, I even thought Garry was better ... until the computer snapped off
Kasparov's d-pawn. At this point - almost on blind faith that both parties
would find the best moves - I predicted a draw. SHO 'NUFF ... that was exactly
the result.
In
the end, the computer team was almost insulting (to) Garry ... forcing him to play
on in a position that was obviously drawn. Fortunately for the chess world,
the Fritz Team finally figured it out, and decided that it must be a
draw.
While
some were extremely disappointed with the result, I was quite satisfied. Garry
played two ultra-brilliant draws and an extremely beautiful crush with the
White pieces. Take away Garry's dramatic blunder in Game Two ... and he wins
this match.
**************************
I
think there are many positives to this match. Garry had one "OFF"
game ... and lost. And deservedly so, as he played well below his normal
standard in that game, blundered and the game was instantly was beyond any
ability to recover it. The Fritz program proved by its
extremely feeble play in Game Three that the computers are not completely ready to
run us off the board quite yet.
The
HUGE amount of publicity that this match received demonstrated that chess -
properly presented - is a viable TV product. I am sure chess in the U.S. - and
even worldwide - will benefit from this match. {Several big stores in New York
reported 'selling out' of chess sets.}
I
think we can thank Garry and X3D for an exciting match.
..........................................
And maybe look forward to the next set? (I hope there is a re-match.)
|
The
HUGE amount of publicity that this match received
demonstrated
that chess - properly presented - is a viable TV product. |
Back to reality
- after the virtual reality battle
21.11.2003
Garry Kasparov was in a fine mood when he sat down to go over the games and the match in an exclusive press conference. We filmed the entire remarkable session as Kasparov dissected the games and discussed the differences between X3D Fritz and Junior, anti-computer strategies, comp-comp chess, possible improvements for the next match, and much more.
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(©) A.J. Goldsby, 2002 - 2005 & 2006.
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