Karpov vs. DEEP THOUGHT
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Reported by Darren Bedwell, Compuserve 73510,2300
On February 2, 1990, a crowd gathered in Memorial Hall at Harvard
University to witness a game between GM Anatoly Karpov, former world
chess champion, and DEEP THOUGHT, the world's top-ranked chess-playing
machine. The event was sponsored by the Harvard Chess Club, American
Chess Foundation, IBM Corporation, and Metrowest Chess Enterprises.
George Mirijanian served as arbiter. The time control was G/61.
Before the game, GM Karpov fielded questions from the audience:
Question: Have you played many games against computers?
Karpov: "I have played several programs, but mostly minicomputers like
Mephisto & Fidelity; also some Russian programs. I have played this
program before in simuls; I always beat it -- until now..."
Q: Do you think a computer will ever be world chess champion?
AK: "Only if the machine can calculate chess to the end."
Q: Will you discuss this match with Kasparov?
AK: "No, we don't talk between our matches."
Q: Does the computer have a weakness?
AK (laughs): "Sure!"
Q: I'll be playing in the simul (February 3) and I was wondering what
you'll play against the Modern Defense?
AK (laughing): "Depends where you sit!"
The crowd gave the finish a standing ovation.
Up to move 12, Karpov had used a total of about 5 minutes to DEEP
THOUGHT's 9 minutes. By move 17, he had used 28 minutes. DEEP THOUGHT
took only a few seconds for those moves. By move 28, Karpov, the current
world Action Chess Champion, had only 10 minutes left on his clock. At
move 31, he had only 5 minutes left. According to the arbiter, Karpov had
"well over half a minute on his clock; in fact, probably over a minute--
plenty of time" (!?!) when the game ended. DEEP THOUGHT had over 30
minutes to spare when it resigned.
In the post-game analysis, IM Patrick Wolff described Karpov's
move 15 as "throwing down the tactical gauntlet", and that with 15. Bg5
Karpov was challenging DEEP THOUGHT where it was strongest. He then
declared the position after 27. .... Ra7? to be a technical win for
White. However, by move 38, DEEP THOUGHT had a forced draw available,
which it rejected. DEEP THOUGHT reduces positional and material
considerations to fractions of a pawn, and according to the design team,
has a "contempt factor" of 0.8 of a pawn, meaning that it will accept a
draw if it considers itself to be down by that amount or more. According
to Dr. Murray Campbell, "The machine has had a problem with connected
passed pawns in the past, and we're going to fix it."
DEEP THOUGHT takes the same amount of time to calculate every
move, even when it has only one move available. However, since it thinks
on the opponent's time as well, when the opponent makes the move it
expects, it responds immediately.
There were two display boards set up in the hall, and I was able
to keep a line score up to move 59, when the boardkeeper on my side of
the hall lost track of the moves during the time scramble! None of the
GMs and IMs present were able to keep track of the moves either, and by
the time the post-game analysis got to that point, the DEEP THOUGHT team
had shut down the modem link from their terminal! Heartfelt thanks to Ken
Ramaley of Providence, Rhode Island, who kept what may have been the only
complete score of the game outside of DEEP THOUGHT's memory banks.
I believe this is the most remarkable performance by a chess-
playing machine to date. To have available, and REJECT, a forced draw
against a former world champion, is simply incredible. Congratulations,
DEEP THOUGHT.
