Not so smart (Kasparov, Computers and chess)

The Economist ^ | Jan 30th 2003

[Mr. Mojo]

Inevitably, there has been renewed speculation about the implications for mankind if the best human player loses again to a computer.

Kasparov isn't the best player anymore; World Champion Vladamir Krammnik holds that distinction.

[chance33_98]

blah blah blah - whos winning? :)

[chance33_98]

Nevermind - found it: The six-game Man vs. Machine match is tied at two apiece.

[Mr. Mojo]

Inevitably, there has been renewed speculation about the implications for mankind if the best human player loses again to a computer.

The author later admits that no such implications - negative ones, at least - exist when he writes, "First, Deep Blue, Deep Junior and their sort are human creations. The real victors, if Mr Kasparov loses again, will not be machines, but the humans who designed and built them."

[Mr. Mojo]

The always emotional Kasparov has been acting like a child, constantly complaining of "fatigue." He should quit his whining and get on with the business of winning.

[chance33_98]

The always emotional Kasparov has been acting like a child, constantly complaining of "fatigue."

I saw that too. When I lost in tournaments I could have made up lots of reasons, and there were certainly times I was extremely tired, but when you play to win you don't make excuses. Get the rest you need, study hard, and if you lose suck it up and look for a brighter day. There is always a reason you lost - it's the one you use that defines your character.

[Russell Scott]

We saw what chess did to Bobby Fisher's brains. Turned them into a bowl of oatmeal.

[chance33_98]

We saw what chess did to Bobby Fisher's brains. Turned them into a bowl of oatmeal.

Indeed, damn shame too. I used to study all his games, read books on him and spassky, etc. I could tell he was a little nutty then - had no idea how nutty he really was until the last few years...

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

You would have thought that such speculation would have ended in 1997 with the defeat of Garry Kasparov, the world's top-ranked chess player, by Deep Blue, a computer built by researchers at IBM. Mr Kasparov made much of the notion that he was defending humanity's honour; Newsweek called the contest “the brain's last stand”.

Personally, I would have liked to see the result of a couple of Rounds played between Deep Blue and Bobby Fischer...

A massively-powerful computer "thinking machine" pitted against an erratic, uniquely-brilliant chess strategist who is not only a savant Genius beyond the ken of mortal men, but who is (by all accounts) categorically insane.

("Hi, I'm Bobby Fischer, and I can't decide what to do this weekend. Perhaps I'll come out of retirement after 20 years of complete inaction, casually defeat every Grand Master in the world while arrogantly mocking their stupidity, and win the World Chess Championship like taking candy from a baby... only to sink back into my own morbid, paranoid isolation. Or, I could just stay at home reading the Elders of Zion and anonymously post wacked-out anti-Jewish screeds on fringe neo-Nazi internet websites while sitting around staring at my navel. What to do, what to do....")

[Mr. Mojo]

There is always a reason you lost - it's the one you use that defines your character.

Well said.

Kasparov was an endurance monster when he was younger (best displayed in his marathons with Karpov), and it could very well be that he has simply just lost his edge. I'm sure it must be frustrating, especially since many - not I - consider him the greatest grandmaster of all time. But if he can't take the heat, he should retire. Playing at a very high level into middle age is not very common for players of his calibre; Emmanuel Lasker was one glaring exception.

[Sawdring]

Haha, is he really that weird and smart?

[Sawdring]

I suppose everyone knows the former but not the latter.

[RightWinger]

we now know that chess-playing skill does not, in fact, equal intelligence

I have a solid ivory chess set (probably illegal to have it now) I won in a tournament back in the late 60s. I never could figure out how a dumb ole boy like me could beat all of those smart guys. {;o)

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

We saw what chess did to Bobby Fisher's brains. Turned them into a bowl of oatmeal. 8 posted on 02/03/2003 7:32 PM PST by Russell Scott

Indeed, damn shame too. I used to study all his games, read books on him and spassky, etc. I could tell he was a little nutty then - had no idea how nutty he really was until the last few years... 9 posted on 02/03/2003 7:35 PM PST by chance33_98 (Freedom is not Free)

I'm the most meager of incompetent Chess novices ("fool" would be a better term) but I don't think that you can blame Chess for turning Fischer's brains into a bowl of oatmeal.

Bobby Fischer was born as Bobby Fischer. Chess is just the "outlet" in which this deranged autistic-savant founds his expression.

Fischer's "Chess IQ" is not only off the charts... there are no charts. By all accounts, his "Chess-IQ" is deep into the multiple hundreds at least -- if not the bloody thousands. His "Reality IQ" is, unfortunately, barely a few degrees above absolute zero.

Will Graham: No, I know that I'm not smarter than you.
Doctor Hannibal Lecter: Then how did you catch me?
Will Graham: You had disadvantages.
Doctor Hannibal Lecter: What disadvantages?
Will Graham: You're insane.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Haha, is Fischer really that weird and smart? 12 posted on 02/03/2003 7:41 PM PST by Sawdring

No, I don't begin to do him justice. God has a sense of Humor, I guess... the man is practically an Alien.

He's a heck of a lot smarter than that, even.
And a heck of a lot weirder, too. (Though the funky Jew-hating thing is true, unfortunately)

On both counts.

[general_re]

I have a solid ivory chess set (probably illegal to have it now) I won in a tournament back in the late 60s.

If it's that old, it's legal for you to own and sell domestically, generally speaking - the only thing you can't do is export it under the Endangered Species Act. If you could show that it was more than a hundred years old, you'd also be able to export it. FYI ;)

[Alberta's Child]

Mr Kasparov made much of the notion that he was defending humanity's honour; Newsweek called the contest “the brain's last stand”.

Oh, please.

I don't think humanity is any worse off just because the world's greatest distance runners would finish the Daytona 500 about 180 laps behind Sterlin Marlin or Dale Jarrett.

[Alberta's Child]

I know someone who played Bobby Fisher back in the late 1950s when he was a kid. He said even back then you could tell that he had a few toys in his attic.

[Voice in your head]

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