7th February, 2003

There's a dangerous sense of Deep Blue déjà vu in the New York air for
Garry Kasparov, as the world number one was held to a draw by Deep
Junior in the penultimate game of their $1m FIDE Man vs. Machine match,
which is now tied 2.5-2.5.

While Kasparov was determined to win his last white game against the
computer to avenge his defeat six years earlier to IBM‚s Deep Blue, the
latest incarnation of the silicon beast had other ideas as it clearly
„stunned‰ the world‚s strongest-ever player with a speculative „Greek
gift‰ sacrifice as early as move ten à and with half its pieces still on
the original starting position!

Such was the shock of the audacious sacrifice so early in the game that
for many of the spectators and pundits at the match venue of the New
York Athletic Club, it almost seemed as if Kasparov had badly blundered
as he had in 1997 when he lost the final game to Deep Blue. It is still
unclear if the combination was sound, but Kasparov admitted after the
game that „I didn‚t feel comfortable at all.‰ Instead preferring to opt
for a draw by repetition to keep the scores level.

The critical line to avoid the repetition of moves was 16 g3 Nh2+ 17 Kf2
Ng4+ 18 Ke1 Qh3 19 Rg1 Nd7 20 Kd1 Ndf6, and white holds onto the extra
piece à but at what price? There‚s no clear route to victory and he
does have great difficulties in unravelling his position.

Now, with one game of the six-game match left to be played, Kasparov
finds himself in a similar position to 1997: the match tied and the
unenviable task of playing black against a computer in the final game.
„The last game is very difficult for a human. It is a great burden on my
shoulders," said an emotional Kasparov after the game. "I only hope I
can do better than in '97.‰

The match will now be decided by the final game to be played on Friday,
starting at 3.30pm Eastern Standard Time (12.30pm PST, 8.30pm GMT).
Such is the interest now in Kasparov‚s latest duel with the computer,
top US Cable Sports Channel ESPN2 have announced they will be
transmitting four hours of live coverage on the final day.

G Kasparov à Deep Junior
FIDE Man-Machine, (5)
Nimzo-Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 d5 6 cxd5 exd5 7 Nge2 Re8 8
0-0 Bd6 9 a3 c6 10 Qc2 Bxh2+ 11 Kxh2 Ng4+ 12 Kg3 Qg5 13 f4 Qh5 14 Bd2
Qh2+ 15 Kf3 Qh4 16 Bxh7+ Kh8 17 Ng3 Nh2+ 18 Kf2 Ng4+ 19 Kf3 Nh2+ draw

JOHN B HENDERSON