30th January, 2003

DESPITE having the better of the complications in game two of the $1
million FIDE Man vs. Machine challenge in New York against Deep Junior,
Garry Kasparov opted for the safety of a draw to lead the six-game match
1.5/0.5.

In the second game Kasparov again took on the computer by steering the
game towards his trademark complications of a very tactical struggle -
something that would usually favour the silicone beast - as he
sacrificed the exchange for a strong attack. At the crucial moment of
the game, Kasparov looked to be on the verge of a second successive
victory, but erred with 25..Qa1+. He only realized a few moves later
that the all-calculating computer could force a perpetual with a cunning
queen sacrifice. In the press conference afterwards, Kasparov said that
he thought he had a forced win with the queen check, but that in
hindsight 25 ..f4 would have been stronger.

In Kasparov's epic struggles against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in
1996 (then Deep Thought) and 1997, the winner of the second game went
on to win the overall match. Kasparov faded after losing at this stage
six years ago, troubled psychologically by analysis that later showed he
missed an opportunity to draw the game. The Deep Blue phenomenon still
to this day troubles Kasparov, and he more or less admitted so after the
game: "The whole plan worked, but because of this spell on game two
[from 1997], this pressure on me, I spent probably an extra half an hour
to decide if I should save a draw or provoke more complications,"
Kasparov told reporters and spectators at the New York Athletic Club.
Many still ask to this day whatever happened to the epoch-making Deep
Blue? Despite creating history by becoming the first computer to pass
the litmus test as it controversially defeated a reigning world
champion, Deep Blue ended its formal playing days on a high with its
last game against Kasparov; who up to that defining moment had never
lost in a match-play situation.

IBM, for reasons not made fully public, chose to close the scientific
experiment which it had begun more than 30 years earlier. Perhaps it was
concerned that Deep Blue would not win the next time. As hinted publicly
by one corporate official, IBM may have simply decided to quit while it
was ahead. Another reason there was no rematch could have been
Kasparov's outburst made after his defeat, of IBM "cheating" with claims
the computer might have received human hints during critical stages of
the match.

In contrast to the omnipresent Kasparov, Deep Blue has now 'officially'
become a relic of the past. In late October of last year, one of the
two 1.4 ton refrigerator-sized towers, which housed the specially
designed chips of the computer that defeated Kasparov, was donated by
IBM to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. as part of the
museum's permanent exhibition, "Information Age: People, Information and
Technology."

"Few computers have attained the historical notoriety of Deep Blue. It
is a classic artefact in the ongoing historical comparison between the
powers of humans and the powers of computing machines," said David
Allison, chair of the museum's Division of Information Technology and
Society on its admission. Sadly the only visible difference between
this tower and several other IBM towers was a simple home-made sticker
with the recurring Kasparov nightmare of "Deep Blue" printed on it, and
stuck to the side of the black monolith.

DEEP JUNIOR - G Kasparov
FIDE Man-Machine, (2)
Sicilian Kan
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 5 Bd3 Bc5 6 Nb3 Ba7 7 c4 Nc6 8 Nc3
d6 9 0-0 Nge7 10 Re1 0-0 11 Be3 e5 12 Nd5 a5 13 Rc1 a4 14 Bxa7 Rxa7 15
Nd2 Nd4 16 Qh5 Ne6 17 Rc3 Nc5 18 Bc2 Nxd5 19 exd5 g6 20 Qh6 f5 21 Ra3
Qf6 22 b4 axb3 23 Rxa7 bxc2 24 Rc1 e4 25 Rxc2 Qa1+ 26 Nf1 f4 27 Ra8 e3
28 fxe3 fxe3 29 Qxf8+ Kxf8 30 Rxc8+ Kf7 draw

JOHN B HENDERSON