Last I read (and this was within the last year) there isn’t a computer that can play a good game of Go yet.
Checkers computers, however, can pretty much always beat human players. AFAIK, there is only one human who can beat the best checkers computers, and that may not even be true anymore.
Brian
Chess is a game with a finite number of moves. Given sufficient computational power, a computer will eventually ‘solve’ chess, that is, compute what the inevitable result is of all possible move combinations, determining once and for all whether White, moving first, obtains sufficient advantage to guarantee a win.
At present, no computer can manage this, nor do they attempt to do so in computer versus human games.
Last I heard, the best Go programs could reliably beat human players… Provided those players were six years old, or so. Meanwhile, the top checkers computer is so good that it has to be given its opening move randomly for there to be any chance of a human beating it (at least, if the computer moves first).
Absolutely solving chess is impossible for any computer as we now know them (it’s one of those things that even with a thousand times the computing power of the entire world would still take many times longer than the lifetime of the Universe), but it may actually be possible for a quantum computer, when those are sufficiently developed.
Many, many years ago, Dad Kunilou had worked his way up to the rank of “Master” in chess (a skill he could not pass along to me, alas) and he used to pick up a few bucks by playing exhibitions.
He once played the West Point chess club. He beat the instructors, but lost to the students. His explanation? The instructors were playing by-the-book games which he was familiar with and well-prepared for. The students, on the other hand, threw all sorts of unconventional openings and tactics at him, catching him off guard.
He died before Kasparov and Big Blue, but his opinion of computerized chess before that was, it’s fine for keeping your skills sharp, but there’s no competition like a really good human player.
First: Thanks for all the replies!
Second: Can anyone provide to me an explanation what happened as Deep Blue beat Kasparov. (Not play by play of course, but something on the line of how many games and who won, draw?)
Try the following:
http://www.siam.org/siamnews/bookrevs/chesside.htm
Thanks that is just what i’ve been looking for
Another one (even better) is http://www.cs.vu.nl/~aske/db.html
Or better yet, go to http://www.yahoo.com and type “Big Blue Kasparov” and it will give you what you are looking for.
I remember Fischer was considered a surly oddball 10-20 years ago but I didn’t realize he had gone totally bonkers. Is he institutionalized? What happened?
He’s not institutionalized, but living in a country in which Americans have been forbidden to go.
He’s more than an “oddball.” Remember his last official match, when he won the crown? He accused the Russians of all sorts of psychic maneuvers. He almost did not even show up due to his paranoia. It took a lot of coaxing from members of the USCF to get him to play in the first place. He hasn’t played since officially and some of his ressons have merit, but some don’t.
Besides the chess aspect, he has accused the Jews - Nazi-like - of being responsible for the world’s woes. After he won the Title, he moved to California and lived like a Bohemian, altho he was rich, winning all that money, and never played in another official match or tournament. A match recently was being arranged in Yugoslavia, but it fell through; however, Fischer has remained there.
I say he’s a paranoid schizophrenic due to his life-long views, statements, and activities. I don’t think I’m over-reacting or exaggerting. Altho I’m not a psychologist or psychiatrist, it is obvious to even a layperson that that is what he is.
This is a good enough sign of insanity normally, but Fischer is himself Jewish.
Wrong. Fischer is not Jewish, except insofar as he was born Jewish. However, he converted to some other religion, the name of which escapes me, but is one of those fanatic religions.
It may not have been “official”, but he played Boris Spassky in 1992 in an exhibition match (a rematch, 20 years later, of the 1972 Championship).
Right. That was the match in Yugoslavia, and I believed he won that match, although my memory fails me. It’s a real tribute to his chess abilities that he can win a match with Spassky after not playing in a recognized match or tourney in 20 years. He’s still a paranoid schizophrenic, por at least has a paranoid personality disorder. However, he has shown that he has lost touch with reality on many occasions, as witness the bizarre allegations at Iceland and his attack on Jews.