Humans succumb to computer’s power
In the Man versus Machine chess match the current world chess champion, Vladimir Kramnik, took on arguably the strongest computer program available today, namely Deep Fritz.
Deep Fritz, running on a Dual Intel Core 2 Duo 5160 system, defeated Kramnik 4-2 in the six game match.
The result is a blow for the humans in the ongoing battle, especially since the other recent matches involving Kramnik and previous world champion Garry Kasparov have generally ended in draws.
Back in 2002 in Bahrain, World Champion Kramnik finished a similar match against the machine with a tie. This time around the more advanced program proved too strong for the human champion.
Before the match Kramnik was upbeat about his chances. "The machine is the clear favorite, but don’t discount me just yet,” the world champion said.
“I know some top players would be very nervous about playing the computer – they might even avoid this kind of match. That’s understandable since a cut-and-dried defeat can affect your future game. Of course, this computing monster keeps getting better year by year, month by month, day by day: My opponent will be incredibly strong. But I think I can still beat it,” Kramnik said.
A massive blunder – missing a mate-in-one – cost Kramnik the second game contributed to the comprehensive victory by Fritz.
Human-Computer matches made headlines in the late nineties with Kasparov first defeating IBM’s Deep Blue and then losing to an improved version in 1997.
Earlier versions of very strong chess playing computers relied on brute computing power rather than true artificial intelligence found in computer programs today.
Deep Blue, for example, was a massively parallel, 30-node, RS/6000, SP-based computer system enhanced with 480 special purpose VLSI chess chips. This machine was capable of evaluating 200,000,000 positions per second.
Most knowledgeable chess enthusiasts believe that the latest over-the-shelf chess programs like Fritz or Chessmaster, running on a decent PC, are stronger than the 1997 IBM Deep Blue computer.
This is a clear indication as to how far Artificial Intelligence programming techniques have progressed, and it is unlikely that humans will be able to hold their own against chess programs in future.
Loading ...