PART 1 • Some thoughts on kasparov vs. Deep blue
I have news for you, my fellow player: we're all going to get better.
Allow me to digress for just a moment. I mentioned earlier how I couldn't
play chess as a kid unless I managed to find a friend or relative who
would sit down and give me a game. I learned the game of chess at the
age of four but I never progressed to a competent level until I was over
30 years old. A big reason for this slow progress was a lack of opportunities to play chess.
I still remember (back in 1992) the first time I saw the combination of
Knightstalker and ChessBase University. I told Don Maddox, «If I'd had
this when I was a kid, I'd be a much better player today!» And it's true -if I'd had these tools then, I might be halfway good now.
The strength of chessplaying programs has increased dramatically over
the years. In the late 1970's it was considered a big deal if a program
beat a Class B player. These days you can buy a chessplaying program
for your PC that'll tear the head off of many grandmasters.
The technology is now in place and most grandmasters have embraced
it rather than shied away from it. Many of them are overjoyed that they finally have a training/analysis partner available 24 hours a day. Vladmir
no longer wakes up in the middle of the night with a great new novelty
running through his head, picks up a phone, and yells «Nikolai! You must
come over right now! I have an idea I want to test!» He instead makes
a pot of coffee, sits down at a computer, fires up a database program to
see if the idea's been played, and then uses a strong playing program to
analyze the resulting position and to test the idea in practical play.
The net result: better grandmasters playing more beautiful chess games
for all of us to enjoy.
This approach works for players of all levels. I remember (from my
pre-computer days) a position from a book that was driving me nuts.
The book evaluated the position as being won for White. I searched and
searched and couldn't see a win. Then, after getting a PC, I first did a
database search for the position. One game came up on the list, a game
which I replayed, sitting back and enjoying the entertaining King hunt.
Then I let a playing program chew on the position, setting it up to play
game after game. White never lost, and now I finally understand the analysis.
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