chess
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Garry Kasparov did everything wrong in the first game of his match against Deep Blue in Philadelphia. Everyone knows that when facing a computer you should keep the position closed. No tactics. No complications. If you keep all the crucial decisions beyond the machine's calculating horizon, it will just dither pointlessly until it is too late.
That's the theory anyway, but putting it into practice against a beast that can compute a billion positions a second is no easy matter, as Kasparov found to his cost. After 13.Nb5, he thought for half an hour. Under most circumstances, such a move would be a waste of time: Black would soon play ...a6, kicking the knight back. Here, however, Deep Blue had calculated that the knight could stay long enough on b5 to cause Black real problems.
The key move was 17.Bg5! which exploited the fact that the knight on b5 defends d4. After 17...Rfd8 18.Bxf6 Qxf6 19.Nxc6, the black a-pawn will be lost with the c-pawn also fatally weak. As the game went, Black was unable to play 28...Qxf6 because of 29.Nd5, so had to allow the weakening of his K-side pawns. After 19.Nc4 (when bxd4 loses a piece to Qg4+) and 20.Nxb6, the Q-side was weakened too, and the knight on b5 became immune from attack.
The most impressive piece of machine thought, however, was 23.d5! followed by the cool 25.b3! White regained the sacrificed pawn and left Black with a crop of five isolated pawns, ready for harvesting.
Kasparov's counter-attack might have bluffed a human, but at a billion positions a second, Deep Blue was unruffled. A mere man might have panicked on seeing the idea of 35.Nxf7+ Qxf7 36.Qxf7 Rh1 mate, but Deep Blue knew that 35...Qxf7 would lose to 36.Qd8+ when 36...Qe8 or Qg8 lose to 37.Qf6+ and 36...Re8 to 37.Qxd4+, while 36...Kg7 37.Rxf7+ Kxf7 38.Qd5+ and 39.Qxf3 is equally fatal.
White: Deep Blue
Black: Garry Kasparov
Game One
1 e4 c5 20 Nxb6 axb6
2 c3 d5 21 Rfd1 f5
3 exd5 Qxd5 22 Qe3 Qf6
4 d4 Nf6 23 d5 Rxd5
5 Nf3 Bg4 24 Rxd5 exd5
6 Be2 e6 25 b3 Kh8
7 h3 Bh5 26 Qxb6 Rg8
8 0-0 Nc6 27 Qc5 d4
9 Be3 cxd4 28 Nd6 f4
10 cxd4 Bb4 29 Nxb7 Ne5
11 a3 Ba5 30 Qd5 f3
12 Nc3 Qd6 31 g3 Nd3
13 Nb5 Qe7 32 Rc7 Re8
14 Ne5 Bxe2 33 Nd6 Re1+
15 Qxe2 0-0 34 Kh2 Nxf2
16 Rac1 Rac8 35 Nxf7+ Kg7
17 Bg5 Bb6 36 Ng5+ Kh6
18 Bxf6 gxf6 37 Rxh7+ 1-0
19 Nc4 Rfd8
In the second game, however, humankind struck back:
White: Deep Blue
Black: Garry Kasparov
Game Two
1 Nf3 d5 38 Bc6 Kf8
2 d4 e6 39 Bd5 Ke7
3 g3 c5 40 Qf3 Bc3
4 Bg2 Nc6 41 Bc4 Qc8
5 0-0 Nf6 42 Qd5 Qe6
6 c4 dxc4 43 Qb5 Qd7
7 Ne5 Bd7 44 Qc5+ Qd6
8 Na3 cxd4 45 Qa7+ Qd7
9 Naxc4 Bc5 46 Qa8 Qc7
10 Qb3 0-0 47 Qa3+ Qd6
11 Qxb7 Nxe5 48 Qa2 f5
12 Nxe5 Rb8 49 Bxf7 e4
13 Qf3 Bd6 50 Bh5 Qf6
14 Nc6 Bxc6 51 Qa3+ Kd7
15 Qxc6 e5 52 Qa7+ Kd8
16 Rb1 Rb6 53 Qb8+ Kd7
17 Qa4 Qb8 54 Be8+ Ke7
18 Bg5 Be7 55 Bb5 Bd2
19 b4 Bxb4 56 Qc7+ Kf8
20 Bxf6 gxf6 57 Bc4 Bc3
21 Qd7 Qc8 58 Kg2 Be1
22 Qxa7 Rb8 59 Kf1 Bc3
23 Qa4 Bc3 60 f4 exf3
24 Rxb8 Qxb8 61 exf3 Bd2
25 Be4 Qc7 62 f4 Ke8
26 Qa6 Kg7 63 Qc8+ Ke7
27 Qd3 Rb8 64 Qc5+ Kd8
28 Bxh7 Rb2 65 Bd3 Be3
29 Be4 Rxa2 66 Qxf5 Qc6
30 h4 Qc8 67 Qf8+ Kc7
31 Qf3 Ra1 68 Qe7+ Kc8
32 Rxa1 Bxa1 69 Bf5+ Kb8
33 Qh5 Qh8 70 Qd8+ Kb7
34 Qg4+ Kf8 71 Qd7+ Qxd7
35 Qc8+ Kg7 72 Bxd7 Kc7
36 Qg4+ Kf8 73 Bb5 Kd6
37 Bd5 Ke7 Black resigned.
That's the way, Garry: dull and efficient. Get a small advantage and don't let go. The third game begins this evening.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments