Class of its own

 

Turing test

 

Champion comes to town

 

Deep whimper

 

It's you vs the machines

THE Endah Parade Chess Challenge concludes this weekend at Endah Parade in Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.

The most intriguing event will take place tomorrow afternoon when the Endah Parade computer chess competition is scheduled. Several computer chess programs like Chessmaster and Fritz will be utilised to compete with human players in the novelty six-round Swiss event.

If a player is paired against a computer program, the player will be allotted 20 minutes on his clock and the computer program only 10 minutes. If two players are matched together, they will each be given 15 minutes.

Personally, I do not harbour much hope for the players to win against computer programs, especially if they are running on today's Pentium or Pentium II personal computers.

Three years ago, I conducted a similar experiment in Penang where the obsolete Fritz2.0 program, running on an equally obsolete 16Mhz 486-computer, was entered as a competitor. None of the human players won, but prizes were given to the best players among them.

Similarly, at Endah Parade, I understand that the organisers will give five non-cash prizes to the best players in the computer chess competition.

Entry fee is RM5 per player, and registration begins at 1pm. The first round is scheduled to start at 2pm.

On Sunday, the Endah Parade open tournament will complete the two-weekend chess challenge. This is a six-round Swiss event, and registration opens at 9am. Entry fee is RM10 for players who are under 12 years old, and RM15 for others.

Ten cash prizes are on offer; first prize is RM250, second prize RM200, and third prize RM150. Fourth and fifth prizes are RM100 each, and those who finish sixth to 10th will get RM50 each. In addition, there are RM50 prizes for the best under-16, under-14, under-12 and girl players.

Entry forms can be obtained from and submitted to the information counter at Endah Parade. However, entry fees will only be collected upon registration. Entries are limited to the first 100 participants. For more details, contact Zac, Yuonne or Soo Kee (03-583 0100).

Meanwhile, last Saturday's Endah Parade blitz tournament proved to be a thriller. Wong Ji Zing had a good start to this tournament and by the 10th round, was the undisputed leader of the 66-player field with nine points.

However, Jimmy Liew caught up with Wong in the 11th round when the latter lost his game. Both players then won their final two games to tie the 13-round event with 11 points each.

A play-off was immediately arranged to decide the winner. The first game of the play-off was drawn, but then Wong outplayed Liew in the second game to take the top prize of RM200. Liew collected RM100 while Azhari Md Nor, who was third with 10 points, won RM50.

Wong Zi Chuang was the best under-12 player, and Noor Hayati picked up a consolation prize for the best girl player.

Fourth in the blitz event was Julian Delos with nine points, while tied at 8 1/2 points each were Lim Chin Lee, Julian Navaratnam, Law Tze Kang, Mok Tze Meng, Wong Zi Chuang and Premnath.

The Endah Parade age-group open tournament was held on Sunday. This tournament ended in a tie at the top between Wong Ji Zing and Deon Moh.

Both players had scored 5 1/2 points from six games but Wong was declared the under-16 winner after a play-off. Wong won another RM200, while Moh's prize was RM100. Lim Ven Gee pipped Hisyam Ismail to the third prize of RM50 although both had obtained five points each.

For the under-12 section, the winner's purse of RM200 went to Effazuan Farid who obtained 4 1/2 points. Wong Zi Chuang, also with 4 1/2 points, won the second prize of RM100, while the third prize went to Effalini Farid who scored four points. The prize for the best girl player was given to Ong Yee San.

 

Karpov barred from Linares tournament

When the organisers of the annual Linares Super-grandmaster tournament were finalising their list of invited players last year, Anatoly Karpov ran into a storm when he declined to take part in it.

Karpov's reason was simple: he was busy campaigning for a seat in the Russian parliament.

But this did not go down well with the volatile Luis Rentero who, for many years, had been involved with the Linares tournament in many capacity but notably as its main sponsor.

He charged that Karpov had known of the dates for the Linares tournament as far back as the middle of 1996, and despite several reminders in January 1997, Karpov did not have the courtesy to inform the organisers of his plans.

Obviously, the organisers have not forgotten this incident for when they were preparing for this year's Linares tournament, Karpov was not given an invitation to play.

The ones who will be playing, however, are Peter Svidler (Russia), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Viswanathan Anand (India), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Gary Kasparov (Russia).

They are currently seven of the world's strongest players, and they will play in the double round-robin tournament, a Category 21 event with an average rating of 2752, which starts tomorrow and will go on until Mar 10.

Speaking of Kasparov, we know the man is today the strongest player in the world. He has, by far, the highest rating in the latest international rating list released by the World Chess Federation (Fide) recently.

But would you consider Kasparov the world champion, or the Anatoly Karpov who won the Fide world chess championship in Lausanne last month?

Kasparov, in my opinion, can no longer call himself the world champion. Remember that it was Kasparov who in 1993 created turmoil by refusing to defend his world champion's title under the auspices of the World Chess Federation.

Remember too that it was Kasparov who was instrumental to founding the Professional Chess Association to serve his own interest by organising a rival match with Nigel Short in 1993 and Viswanathan Anand in 1995, and then let the association fade into obscurity.

The World Chess Federation is today still the only legitimate world chess body with an active chess programme, despite its own shortcomings. And Karpov, although only the sixth-ranked player in the world today, must still be regarded as the winner of the federation's world championship cycle.

Kasparov was interviewed last month by Sport Express, a Moscow magazine.

In the magazine article, Kasparov was asked when his own "world championship match" would take place. Some people, according to the interviewer, Y Vasiliev, were already call Kasparov the person who nominated himself Champion.

Kasparov was asked when he would agree to play a match against his strongest challengers. It seemed that there have been some interest shown by sponsors to finance a match between Anand and Kramnik, and the winner would be playing against Kasparov.

Kasparov's reply was non-committal other than to say that he planned to play such a match in October this year, but the announcements would only be made before the start of the Linares tournament. Well, the Linares tournament will start tomorrow, and I am sure we shall have the details in these pages next week.

There is another interesting development concerning Kasparov. It has just been announced that Kasparov and Topalov will play a highly unusual six-game match in Leon, Spain, from June 9 to 13.

What is so unusual about this match is that both the players will have access to a computer each. Both computers will be identical in their hardware configuration, but the players will load in their private database of chess games.

Very few sports in this world can claim to have such a close affinity with computers. Chess is one of them. Personal computers have become a boon for chessplayers. There are many chess database programmes, and the top players such as Kasparov and Topalov keep detail databases of games played by their comtemporaries.

The Internet has also given chess a boost in a way that would be almost inconcievable five years ago. Today, chess events are relayed through the Internet almost as soon as they happen and the obscure chess game can also very quickly gain the attention of the top players.

So, what will happen in this highly unusual chess match between Kasparov and Topalov is that both players will be using their private databases where they keep their secret research and analyses.

They will be helped by an analytic programme which will be like a tactical mistakes detector.

However, the six games will be played using a time control of one hour per player for each game. With only this limited time allotted for each player, they will have to judge how much time they can afford to spend in consulting their computers.

Although this match will be highly unusual, it is not surprising seeing that Kasparov is heavily involved with it. Soon after he lost the second match to Deep Blue last May, he had been going round with this suggestion that players should be allowed to consult chess computers during games.

There is even a name given to this form of chess. The organisers of the match have called it Advanced Chess, in which humans and computers join forces and compete as a team against each other.

They claim that Advanced Chess represents a very high-tech approach to the game and it increases the level of play to heights never before achieved. It would also give the viewing public a unique insight into the thought processes of chessplayers and computers.

Computers calculate at prodigious speeds. On a fast computer, the strongest chess programs generate and evaluate about 150,000 positions per second. In tactically complex positions they are superior to any human player.

In the opening, computers can access unlimited knowledge from their database of chess games - literally millions of tried and tested moves. In the endgame, the computers use hash tables to search very deeply, and in certain restricted endings (for instance, with just five pieces on the board) computers do play absolutely perfect chess.

Human chessplayers, on the other hand, look at only a very limited number of positions. However, they are able to sort out the relevant from the irrelevant, and look at meaningful moves instead of every nonsensical variation.

Humans are able to judge the quality of a move in the very long-term, and formulate plans that go a long way beyond the horizons of even the fastest computers. If a human chess master can survive the tactical onslaught of the machine, his strategical superiority will triumph.  

In Advanced Chess, claimed the organisers, there is symbiosis between man and machine. Each human player is equipped with a personal computer which he can consult at will during the game.

The human player enters moves for the computer to analyse, and spends time pondering the position himself while the computer checks the crucial variations. The human player is always in charge and has the final decision on which move to make.

Does all these seem interesting? I rather think so and I just can't wait for June to come around.

New chess horizons on the Net

 

A deeper shade of blue

 

An extreme case of chess

 

Evolution of computer chess

 

Deep Blue rematch

 

Internet chess

 

Computers continue to improve in chess

 

Triumph of man

Of all the traditional board games in the world - chess, checkers (or draughts), go and backgammon - I believe chess represents one of the greatest challenges to computer programmers.

The number of positions and transpositions in a chess game is almost limitless; and the innumerable tactical and strategical nuances at every stage of a game have ensured that chess retains its full intricacy and beauty.

The ideal chess game remains to be played and unlike checkers or backgammon, the mysteries of chess are far from being solved or unraveled. Computers have come a long way in helping man to understand the complexity of chess but as Gary Kasparov had demonstrated in defeating IBM's Deep Blue chess computer last month, the ideal chess-playing computer or programme remains to be built.

It is true that Deep Blue is the strongest chess-playing computer in the world today. Based on its limited six-game performance against Kasparov in Philadelphia, USA, the average rating of Deep Blue is probably around 2650 points - placing it at about the level of the top 50 to 60 best players in the world currently.

But Deep Blue is still a machine; despite its one million transistors and an impressive array of RAM and ROM blocks which enable it to analyse two to three million positions per second, Deep Blue still calculates everything by brute force.

In any given position, Deep Blue still has to analyse and compute all possible moves several plys deep irregardless of whether they are good or bad. It lacks the basic instinct or intuition not to analyse the bad moves.

As a very basic comparison, let us take the starting position of a chess game. The human player will always reject moves like 1. h3 or 1. f3 as his first move, because he knows that these moves are bad and do not help in the development of his pieces.

However, a typical chess-playing computer or software will always include the analysis of all bad moves as well as the time-honoured "good" moves like 1. e4 or 1. d4 everytime it evaluates the position.

Of course, it is very likely that sophisticated machines like Deep Blue and other strong commercially available software would have been pre-programmed to reject such moves at the start of a game.

But when a game has already been played several moves, the choices open to the human mind or the computer brain are almost limitless. Here, the computer has to evaluate every possible move - good or bad - until it arrives at what it perceives to be its strongest continuation, and plays the move.

On the other hand, the human player only has to look at the chess board and he can decide, from applying common chess principles, which are the good and bad positions. He recognises and rejects the obvious bad moves.

Intuition tells him which are the likely moves, then he concentrates on the analysis and plays what he thinks will be the best continuation. Because of this intuitive gift - the ability to separate bad from good - chess players generally do not have to think many moves ahead in a chess position.

Now, during Kasparov's match with Deep Blue, he was asked how many moves ahead did he anticipate. According to Kasparov, it would depend on the position. Normally, he claimed to calculate only three to five moves ahead.

"You don't need more but in a position where there is a forced line (of play), even with our incomplete brains, I can make probably 10, 12 or 14 moves. That is something you can do but you don't do it very often. I would say it is five moves, but I can go much deeper if it is required."

To non-chess players, this answer would generate surprise but chess players would generally be less surprised to learn that Kasparov is not that much different from ordinary folks like you and I, except that he uses his faculties much more efficiently.

See where this ability has led him. By Malaysian standards, Kasparov has added another RM1 million (US$400,000) to his bank account just by beating Deep Blue 4-2. He is already a millionaire several times over.

At the end of the match, American international master Maurice Ashley commented that the main question facing computer chess programmers was how to make the computer think more selectively. What was clear from Kasparov's feat was the human capability to stay ahead of the computer.

After Kasparov's loss in the first game, he learnt to change his attacking play to a more positionally-based squeeze style which seemed very effective.

American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan said Kasparov learned very quickly. From the first game to the next, Kasparov looked stronger and stronger, even in the drawn third and fourth games.

Seirawan agreed that Kasparov overcame the difficult task of changing his style of play, like asking a baseball pitcher to pitch left-handed when he is a righty.

"He loves tactics. He relishes a good tactical slugfest, he goes on the offensive at the drop of a hat, he loves attacking his opponent's king, and he had to put all these away and play a much different kind of chess. He did it extraordinarily well; it was not an easy thing to do at all."

The Deep Blue team, managed by Chung-Jen Tan and consisting of computer scientists Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Murray S. Campbell, A. Joseph Hoane Jr, and Gershon Brody, deserves credit for having developed this computing giant but it is obvious that many more years of work lies ahead of them if they hope to compete with a Kasparov who now understands very well how to exploit the gaping silicon holes.

At the end of the match, Tan admitted that one of the biggest problems with Deep Blue was its inability to learn from its mistakes. The machine has no intelligence of its own. Until Artificial Intelligence research can solve this problem, no algorithm will be able to beat a human chess player in match play.

In the fifth and sixth games, Deep Blue was made to look very bad by Kasparov. Seirawan even ventured to say that Kasparov had solved the riddle of the computer. Kasparov said that in those two games, he created positions where the machine had very little chance to utilise its strengths. He agreed that the fact that he could learn quickly contributed mostly to his success.

The Deep Blue team is based at the IBM Research Division's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. The Deep Blue-Kasparov match at the Philadelphia Convention Center was organised by the Association of Computing Machinery in conjunction with the association's 50th anniversary celebrations this year.

MALAYSIA-INDIA SHOWDOWN

The Malaysian Chess Federation are staging a 12-round Scheveningen-style match featuring three top local players against three Indian international masters.

The match at the Hotel Sucasa in Kuala Lumpur started yesterday and will continue until next Friday.

Representing Malaysia are FM Mas Hafizulhelmi, Ooi Chern Ee and Mok Tze Meng, while the foreign visitors are IM Lanka Ravi, IM PS Mithrakanth and IM K Murugan.

Two rounds beginning 8.30am and 4.30pm will be played on most days, but there is only be an afternoon game today while Monday will be a rest day. The match is sponsored by MCF honorary life president Dato' Tan Chin Nam. Spectators are welcome.

USM TRONOH OPEN

The Tronoh campus of the Universiti Sains Malaysia will hold the second USM open individual tournament tomorrow at its multipurpose hall.

This will be a six-round event starting at 9.30am. Participants are required to register with the organisers at 8am.

This one-day event is organised in conjunction with the 10th anniversary celebration of the Tronoh campus. Entry fee is RM10 and seven cash prizes will be offered. The top three winners will also receive trophies. For more details, contact Mohd Jamil Yahya.

Meanwhile, teams taking part in the annual USM open team tournament in Penang tomorrow are reminded to be at the playing hall by 2pm. The six-round event will be played over two days.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 5

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bb4 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 cxd5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bg5 c6 11. Qf3 Be7 12. Rae1 Re8 13. Ne2 h6 14. Bf4 Bd6 15. Nd4 Bg4 16. Qg3 Bxf4 17. Qxf4 Qb6 18. c4 Bd7 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Qd2 Ne4 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. b3 Rd8 24. Qc3 f5 25. Rd1 Be6 26. Qe3 Bf7 27. Qc3 f4 28. Rd2 Qf6 29. g3 Rd5 30. a3 Kh7 31. Kg2 Qe5 32. f3 e3 33. Rd3 e2 34. gxf4 e1/Q 35. fxe5 Qxc3 36. Rxc3 Rxd4 37. b4 Bc4 38. Kf2 g5 39. Re3 Be6 40. Rc3 Bc4 41. Re3 Rd2+ 42. Ke1 Rd3 43. Kf2 Kg6 44. Rxd3 Bxd3 45. Ke3 Bc2 46. Kd4 Kf5 47. Kd5 h5 0-1

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 6

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. e3 c5 6. b3 Nc6 7. Bb2 cxd4 8. exd4 Be7 9. Rc1 O-O 10. Bd3 Bd7 11. O-O Nh5 12. Re1 Nf4 13. Bb1 Bd6 14. g3 Ng6 15. Ne5 Rc8 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. Nf3 Bb4 18. Re3 Rfd8 19. h4 Nge7 20. a3 Ba5 21. b4 Bc7 22. c5 Rde8 23. Qd3 g6 24. Re2 Nf5 25. Bc3 h5 26. b5 Nce7 27. Bd2 Kg7 28. a4 Ra8 29. a5 a6 30. b6 Bb8 31. Bc2 Nc6 32. Ba4 Re7 33. Bc3 Ne5 34. dxe5 Qxa4 35. Nd4 Nxd4 36. Qxd4 Qd7 37. Bd2 Re8 38. Bg5 Rc8 39. Bf6+ Kh7 40. c6 bxc6 41. Qc5 Kh6 42. Rb2 Qb7 43. Rb4 1-0

Zsuzsa Polgar is the new women's world champion. The remaining games from her match with Xie Jun will be covered next week.

 

A slick move...

Chess players with Internet access can now download the popular SLICS22f.exe shareware programme from the local Jaring server. To download this file, you should either use an ftp programme like WSFTP or CuteFTP, or you can also ftp from within your web browser.

SLICS22f.exe is the most popular windows shareware programme that is used to access the Internet Chess Club and other on-line chess servers. It was the official programme used for the international G-7 tournament held in Halifax last year. Intel Corporation had also selected SLICS22f for use by Gary Kasparov in his virtual simultaneous chess exhibition on the Internet Chess Club last December.

According to its programmer Don Fong, SLICS22f can be used to view ascii game files from many different sources. It is also possible to use it as a Netscape helper application to view games.

If you are satisfied with using SLICS22f, remember that it is a shareware programme and you are supposed to register with the programmer. A contribution of US$5 (about RM13) or more is required.

USM CHALLENGE

The Universiti Sains Malaysia's Bridge and Chess Club will organise its annual USM open team tournament on Mar 2 and 3. This is a six-round event using a 60-minute time control per player for each game.

Three rounds will be played on each day with the first round on Mar 2 starting at 2pm, the second round at 4.30pm and the third round at 8pm. On Mar 3, the games will be played at 8am, 10.30am and 2pm, followed by a closing ceremony at 4.30pm.

Entry fees are RM60 for schools and RM100 for other teams. Each organisation or institution can field a maximum of three teams. A first prize of RM800 is offered to the winning team with RM500 to the runners-up. There are three other cash prizes.

For details, contact Gaik Ling. Closing date is Feb 29.

PFS Open

This is a reminder that the sixth Penang Free School open chess tournament will be held at the school on March 24. This will be played over seven rounds and cash prizes - including a RM200 first prize - will be given to the top 10 players. There will also be various category prizes.

Entry fees are RM4 for players who are under 20 years old and RM6 for others. The closing date for entries is Mar 3.

To register for the event, contact Liong Ing Kiat or Lim Cheng Teik in the evenings. Alternatively, you can register electronically with Ronnie Lau at rlau@pl.jaring.my.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

This week, we shall look at two more games from the Gary Kasparov versus Deep Blue match at the Philadephia Convention Center, USA. Although these two games were drawn, they were not without their interesting moments.

The stake is the US$500,000 (about RM1,275,000) prize fund offered by the Association of Computing Machinery which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. To the winner of the six-game match goes US$400,000 (about RM1 million) while the loser gets US$100,000 (about RM275,000).

Deep Blue and Kasparov played to a draw in the third game to leave the match tied at 1 1/2-1 1/2. Deep Blue tried to capitalise on an early initiative but was unable to gain any edge due to Kasparov's sturdy defence.

Kasparov engaged the computer in a wholesale liquidation of their pieces, skipping the middlegame and jumping into a straightforward endgame. Even though Kasparov built an advantage in his position, the computer played skillfully enough to neutralize any positional manuevering.

In Game 4, Deep Blue proved its mettle by drawing with the black pieces. This was an open game and Kasparov seemed frustrated by his inability to mount an attack against the unassailable machine. Towards the end of the middle game, things started to look a little dicey for Kasparov.

As the first time control approached, the additional pressure of the clock seemed to weigh heavily on Kasparov. But once he reached the time control, he was able to formulate a plan which ensured him the draw.

Deep Blue's team once refused his draw offer, but it finally relinquished hope of a win after Kasparov initiated a clever rook sacrifice for his opponent's knight and pawn. Deep Blue's slight material advantage could not be exploited because of the threat of a back rank mate. The game was drawn by mutual agreement.

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 3

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O Nc6 8. Be3 cxd4 9. cxd4 Bb4 10. a3 Ba5 11. Nc3 Qd6 12. Ne5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Bxc3 14. bxc3 Nxe5 15. Bf4 Nf3+ 16. Qxf3 Qd5 17. Qd3 Rc8 18. Rfc1 Qc4 19. Qxc4 Rxc4 20. Rcb1 b6 21. Bb8 Ra4 22. Rb4 Ra5 23. Rc4 O-O 24. Bd6 Ra8 25. Rc6 b5 26. Kf1 Ra4 27. Rb1 a6 28. Ke2 h5 29. Kd3 Rd8 30. Be7 Rd7 31. Bxf6 gxf6 32. Rb3 Kg7 33. Ke3 e5 34. g3 exd4+ 35. cxd4 Re7+ 36. Kf3 Rd7 37. Rd3 Raxd4 38. Rxd4 Rxd4 39. Rxa6 b4 1/2-1/2

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 4

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Nbd2 Nf6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. e4 dxe4 8. Nxe4 Nxe4 9. Bxe4 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Bc2 e5 12. Re1 exd4 13. Qxd4 Bc5 14. Qc3 a5 15. a3 Nf6 16. Be3 Bxe3 17. Rxe3 Bg4 18. Ne5 Re8 19. Rae1 Be6 20. f4 Qc8 21. h3 b5 22. f5 Bxc4 23. Nxc4 bxc4 24. Rxe8+ Nxe8 25. Re4 Nf6 26. Rxc4 Nd5 27. Qe5 Qd7 28. Rg4 f6 29. Qd4 Kh7 30. Re4 Rd8 31. Kh1 Qc7 32. Qf2 Qb8 33. Ba4 c5 34. Bc6 c4 35. Rxc4 Nb4 36. Bf3 Nd3 37. Qh4 Qxb2 38. Qg3 Qxa3 39. Rc7 Qf8 40. Ra7 Ne5 41. Rxa5 Qf7 42. Rxe5 fxe5 43. Qxe5 Re8 44. Qf4 Qf6 45. Bh5 Rf8 46. Bg6+ Kh8 47. Qc7 Qd4 48. Kh2 Ra8 49. Bh5 Qf6 50. Bg6 Rg8 1/2-1/2

 

Into the deep blue

Two significant events now taking place in the United States and Spain have made this a very special week for chess. Readers who followED this column last week would know what I mean.

The first event is, of course, the US$500,000 (about RM1.25 million) man-against-machine challenge in Philadelphia between Gary Kasparov and the IBM chess supercomputer known as Deep Blue.

Unlike previous encounters between man and chess machines or programmes where the games used to be of the 30-minute or 60-minute variety, this match is, for the first time, played according to normal regulation time control.

Each player is allowed two hours for his first 40 moves and this is followed by another hour's play of another 20 moves if the game has not finished by the fourth hour.

With this time control when there is more time for the man to think, Kasparov is expected to show a marked superiority over the computer. But the first game has shown otherwise.

It was history in the making last Saturday when Deep Blue beat Kasparov in the first game of the six-game match. Kasparov was outplayed by Deep Blue which succeeded in breaking up the former's kingside defences before it launched a devastating attack on his king.

However, in the second game on Sunday, Kasparov managed to grind out a long and protracted win in the endgame against Deep Blue. After two games, the score stands at 1-1.

Obviously, Deep Blue must be very special if it is capable of posing so much problems to Kasparov. According to IBM, the computer contains more than one million transistors; it has 48 RAM blocks and three Endgame ROM blocks. These blocks enable Deep Blue to analyse two to three million chess positions per second.

The largest two RAM blocks have 1024x10 bits each and are used to store the values of the chess pieces on each square of the chess board. The largest of the endgame ROM blocks has 128,000x1 bits and it stores the win/draw information for all known king-and-pawn versus king endings.

In a nutshell, Deep Blue is a computational engine capable of examining a billion moves in a second. It is a massive parallel, special-purpose system with an overall processing speed that is 1000 times faster than Deep Thought which was the original chess computer developed by the Deep Blue team in 1986.

For the record, after Deep Thought came Deep Thought II which was 10 times faster. Deep Thought II, later called Deep Blue Prototype, was capable of analysing more than seven million chess positions per second.

The Deep Blue development team, managed by Chung-Jen Tan, is based at the IBM Research Division's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. The team consists of computer scientists Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Murray S. Campbell, A. Joseph Hoane Jr, and Gershon Brody.

SHOWDOWN IN SPAIN

The huge media publicity over the match in Philadelphia has, unfortunately, eclipsed another chess event which is taking place in Spain. The Spanish town of Jaen is the venue of the women's world chess championship match between defending champion Xie Jun and her challenger, Zsuzsa Polgar.

Last week, I postulated that the match would be very close and it would be difficult for Polgar to wrest the title from Xie. Nothing could be farther than reality!

In this match, it is a sorrowful Xie Jun who has her back to the wall. The match is almost over for her and the score stands at 5 1/2-2 1/2 in Polgar's favour after eight games.

Xie's only win was in the first game. She then proceeded to lose the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth games. The other games were drawn.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

This week's selection of games are from the matches in Phildelphia and Jaen. More will follow next week.

Deep Blue - Gary Kasparov, Game 1

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. O-O Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4 11. a3 Ba5 12. Nc3 Qd6 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. Ne5 Bxe2 15. Qxe2 O-O 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Bg5 Bb6 18. Bxf6 gxf6 19. Nc4 Rfd8 20. Nxb6 axb6 21. Rfd1 f5 22. Qe3 Qf6 23. d5 Rxd5 24. Rxd5 exd5 25. b3 Kh8 26. Qxb6 Rg8 27. Qc5 d4 28. Nd6 f4 29. Nxb7 Ne5 30. Qd5 f3 31. g3 Nd3 32. Rc7 Re8 33. Nd6 Re1+ 34. Kh2 Nxf2 35. Nxf7+ Kg7 36. Ng5+ Kh6 37. Rxh7+ 1-0

Gary Kasparov - Deep Blue, Game 2

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. O-O Nf6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Ne5 Bd7 8. Na3 cxd4 9. Naxc4 Bc5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Qxb7 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 Rb8 13. Qf3 Bd6 14. Nc6 Bxc6 15. Qxc6 e5 16. Rb1 Rb6 17. Qa4 Qb8 18. Bg5 Be7 19. b4 Bxb4 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Qd7 Qc8 22. Qxa7 Rb8 23. Qa4 Bc3 24. Rxb8 Qxb8 25. Be4 Qc7 26. Qa6 Kg7 27. Qd3 Rb8 28. Bxh7 Rb2 29. Be4 Rxa2 30. h4 Qc8 31. Qf3 Ra1 32. Rxa1 Bxa1 33. Qh5 Qh8 34. Qg4 Kf8 35. Qc8 Kg7 36. Qg4 Kf8 37. Bd5 Ke7 38. Bc6 Kf8 39. Bd5 Ke7 40. Qf3 Bc3 41. Bc4 Qc8 42. Qd5 Qe6 43. Qb5 Qd7 44. Qc5+ Qd6 45. Qa7 Qd7 46. Qa8 Qc7 47. Qa3+ Qd6 48. Qa2 f5 49. Bxf7 e4 50. Bh5 Qf6 51. Qa3+ Kd7 52. Qa7 Kd8 53. Qb8+ Kd7 54. Be8+ Ke7 55. Bb5 Bd2 56. Qc7+ Kf8 57. Bc4 Bc3 58. Kg2 Be1 59. Kf1 Bc3 60. f4 exf3 61. exf3 Bd2 62. f4 Ke8 63. Qc8+ Ke7 64. Qc5 Kd8 65. Bd3 Be3 66. Qxf5 Qc6 67. Qf8+ Kc7 68. Qe7+ Kc8 69. Bf5+ Kb8 70. Qd8+ Kb7 71. Qd7+ Qxd7 72. Bxd7 Kc7 73. Bb5 1-0

Xie Jun - Zsuzsa Polgar, Game 4

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. Qd2 Be7 9. f3 O-O 10. g4 Rd8 11. Be3 Qc7 12. g5 Nd7 13. O-O-O a6 14. h4 b5 15. h5 Nb6 16. g6 Bf6 17. h6 fxg6 18. hxg7 Na4 19. Nd4 Nxd4 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Qxd4 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Qxg7 23. Qb6 Qe7 24. e5 d5 25. Bd3 Bd7 26. Rdg1 Be8 27. f4 d4 28. cxd4 Rab8 29. Qxa6 Rxd4 30. f5 exf5 31. Bxf5 Qxe5 32. Be6+ Kh8 33. Kb1 Ra4 0-1

Zsuzsa Polgar - Xie Jun, Game 5

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nxc6 Qf6 6. Qd2 dxc6 7. Nc3 Be6 8. Na4 Rd8 9. Bd3 Bd4 10. c3 b5 11. cxd4 bxa4 12. Qc2 Qxd4 13. Qxc6+ Kf8 14. Be2 Ne7 15. Qc2 f5 16. O-O Qxe4 17. Qxc7 Kf7 18. Bh5+ g6 19. Bf3 Qc4 20. Qxa7 Qd4 21. Qa5 Nd5 22. Rd1 Qc4 23. Bg5 Rd7 24. Rac1 Qxa2 25. Bxd5 1-0

 

Hooked on on-line chess

When I wrote about chess resources in the Internet five weeks ago, never did I realise that I was going to be smittened with the Internet Chess Club.

I have become so fascinated with the ICC that I log into the ICC server almost daily, sometimes for only a few minutes, just to hang around and watch games being played, but more often to play a few games myself.

The advantage of the ICC is that I am no longer separated by distances. My opponent will most likely be a player from another part of the world and we are linked together in a chess game played on-line and in real-time mode.

Games can either be of the blitz variety or they can be of a longer time control. But mainly, blitz tends to be the most popular genre here.

However, unlike normal blitz games that you will find in any physical chess club, the Fischerian time control is the absolute norm. For example, one player can challenge another to a blitz game using a "3 15" time control. This is a three-minute blitz game but after every move, 15 seconds are added back to your chess clock.

In theory, if you can move fast enough, taking less than 15 seconds per move, you may actually end up with more time on your clock than what you had started with. This is a most novel situation, but it hardly occurs in practice. Well, not with me, anyway.

But the time added on to your chess clock can mean a big difference between continuing your game and losing on time. If you make some moves rather quickly, you can gain back a bit of extra time for the remainder of your game.

And of course, there is nothing to prevent you from challenging someone to a blitz game with normal time controls. In this case, just propose a "5 0" time control.

If you are a paid-up member, all the games that you play against other members are rateable by the ICC. You will be given a rating based on the games you play, and these ratings change instantaneously upon the conclusion of every game. This is quite a neat feature.

Once you log into the ICC, typing "who" at the aics% prompt will list all persons who are logged on at the same time as you. This command led me to my Singaporean friend, Fide master Chia Chee Seng, who helped me a lot in the ICC initially. By the way, you can also type "help" at this prompt for some on-line assistance.

Chia is an ICC administrator and it was he who persuaded me to join as a member. All members are identified on-line by their handle which is something like a nickname. Mine is, of course, "SSQuah" which identifies me to everybody.

Not everybody's handle is that obvious, however. All sorts of nicknames are used and usually, it is impossible to know who is at the other game of your game. For all you know, he may turn out to be another Malaysian internet chess player.

The ICC used to be free but it has been almost a year since it began charging an annual membership fee. A six-month membership costs US$29 (about RM74) while a one-year membership is US$49 (about RM125). Student or youth membership costs US$14.50 (about RM37) for six months and US$24.50 (about RM63) for a year.

Non-members are also welcome to log into the ICC as guests. Although you can also play games with other players, such games are unrated by the ICC.

Who, then, are the people who hang around the Internet Chess Club? More often than not, they are just amateurs with a keen interest in the game. But the number of Fide-rated players is increasing, especially titled players like American grandmaster Roman Dzhindzhihashvili. Chess-playing computers are also on-line, and they are ever ready to meet your challenge.

So how do you log into the ICC? First of all, you will need an Internet account and this is provided by the Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) through their Jaring network.

Next, you will want a Telnet programme such as Ewan, CommNet or Qvtnet. The Telnet address for the Internet Chess Club is chess.lm.com and once you are connected, you will be required to log in using your username and password. Guests should log in as g and follow the on-line instructions accordingly.

Unfortunately, the problem with these Telnet programmes is that the chessboard is displayed in ascii mode. This is very confusing when you are playing or observing a game.

My recommendation is to use slics22f which, to me, is the best windows-based graphical interface for the ICC. This programme, written by Don Fong, can be downloaded from the ICC.

To retrieve this file, ftp to chess.lm.com using "anonymous" as the username and your e-mail address as the password. The sub-directory is pub/icc/interface/win3 and the name of the file is slics22f.zip.

You will have to unzip the file and customise the settings before using, but all the instructions are available in the zipped file.

Slics22f has its own Telnet application and once the programme is run, the user sees a chessboard on the screen. Moves are made by dragging the pieces around with a mouse.

If you have an Internet account and are in Penang tomorrow, you may wish to see a short demonstration of slics and the Internet Chess Club at the monthly meeting of the North Malaysian Internet Society meeting at the Universiti Sains Malaysia's Pusat Teknoloji Maklumat at 3pm.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

Selection of games from the recent Asian team chess championship in Singapore.

Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) - Wong Meng Kong (Singapore)

1. d4 d5, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Be7, 4. cxd5 exd5, 5. Bf4 c6, 6. e3 Bf5, 7. Nge2 Nd7, 8. Ng3 Bg6, 9. Be2 Nf8, 10. O-O Ne6, 11. Bg4 Nf6, 12. Bh3 O-O, 13. Be5 Ng5, 14. Bf5 Nge4, 15. Bxe4 Nxe4, 16. Ngxe4 dxe4, 17. Qb3 b6, 18. Qa4 b5, 19. Qc2 Bd6, 20. Bxd6 Qxd6, 21. Ne2 Rfe8, 22. Rfc1 Rac8, 23. Qc5 Qb8, 24. Rc2 f6, 25. Rac1 Bf7, 26. b3 Be6, 27. Ng3 Bd5, 28. Nf5 Rc7, 29. Qxd5+ cxd5, 30. Rxc7 Kh8, 31. Nd6 Rf8, 32. R1c6 h6, 33. h4 Kh7, 34. Nf5 Rg8, 35. h5 b4, 36. Re7 Rc8, 37. Rxc8 Qxc8, 38. Rxg7+ Kh8, 39. g4 Qc1+, 40. Kg2 Qd1, 41. Rg6 Qf3+, 42. Kg1 Qd1+, 43. Kh2 Qf1, 44. Rxh6+ Kg8, 45. Rxf6 Qxf2+, 46. Kh3 Qxa2, 47. Ne7+ Kh8, 48. Kh4 Qxb3, 49. h6 Qxe3, 50. g5 Qe2, 51. Rf8+ Kh7, 52. Rf7+ Kh8, 53. Ng6+ Kg8, 54. Rg7+ 1-0

Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan) - Rogelio Antonio (Philippines)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e3 O-O, 5. Nge2 d5, 6. a3 Be7, 7. cxd5 exd5, 8. b4 c6, 9. Ng3 Bd6, 10. Bd3 Re8, 11. O-O Nbd7, 12. Qc2 Nf8, 13. b5 Bd7, 14. a4 Rc8, 15. Ba3 Bb8, 16. Rfc1 Ng4, 17. Nf1 Qg5, 18. Qd2 Ng6, 19. a5 Nh4, 20. f4 Qh6, 21. a6 Nxe3, 22. axb7 Rcd8, 23. Nxe3 Bxf4, 24. Ncd1 Rxe3, 25. Qa5 Nf3+, 26. Kf2 Qh4+ 0-1

Ruslan Irzhanov (Kazakhstan) - Cerdas Barus (Indonesia)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e3 d5, 5. Bd3 c5, 6. Nf3 O-O, 7. O-O dxc4, 8. Bxc4 cxd4, 9. exd4 b6, 10. Bg5 Bb7, 11. Qe2 Bxc3, 12. bxc3 Nbd7, 13. Bd3 Qc7, 14. c4 Rfe8, 15. Rfe1 Ng4, 16. Be4 Bxe4, 17. Qxe4 Ngf6, 18. Qe2 Rac8, 19. Rac1 Qc6, 20. Qe3 Qa4, 21. Qb3 Qa6, 22. a4 h6, 23. Bf4 Qb7, 24. h3 Rc6, 25. Nd2 Rcc8, 26. Qb5 Red8, 27. Nf3 Nf8, 28. Be5 Ng6, 29. Bxf6 gxf6, 30. Qh5 Kh7, 31. g3 Rg8, 32. d5 Rc5, 33. Nd4 Qd7, 34. Nb3 Rc7, 35. dxe6 fxe6, 36. Qf3 Qf7, 37. Nd4 Ne5, 38. Qe2 Rd7, 39. Rcd1 Rgd8, 40. Nf3 Nd3, 41. Qc2 Kg7, 42. Re3 Nc5, 43. Ra1 Rd3, 44. Rxd3 Rxd3, 45. Ne1 Rd7, 46. a5 Qg6, 47. axb6 axb6, 48. Rb1 Qxc2, 49. Nxc2 Rd6, 50. Ne3 f5, 51. Rb2 Kf6, 52. Kf1 Ne4, 53. Ke2 Ke5, 54. c5 Rd8, 55. cxb6 Rb8, 56. Rc2 Kd4, 57. Rc4+ Ke5, 58. Rc6 Rb7, 59. f4+ Kf6, 60. Nd5+ Kg6, 61. Rxe6+ Kh5, 62. Kf3 Nd2+, 63. Kg2 Nc4, 64. Rc6 1-0

Nasib Ginting (Indonesia) - Serik Temirbaev (Kazakhstan)

1. d4 Nf6, 2. c4 g6, 3. Nf3 Bg7, 4. g3 O-O, 5. Bg2 d6, 6. O-O Nc6, 7. Nc3 a6, 8. h3 Rb8, 9. e4 Nd7, 10. Be3 e5, 11. Rc1 h6, 12. b3 Kh7, 13. Qd2 b6, 14. Rfd1 Bb7, 15. dxe5 Ncxe5, 16. Nxe5 Nxe5, 17. f4 Nc6, 18. Qf2 Qc8, 19. Nd5 a5, 20. a3 Re8, 21. g4 Ne7, 22. Bd4 Ng8, 23. g5 Bxd4, 24. Rxd4 Rf8, 25. Qh4 Bxd5, 26. cxd5 Qd8, 27. Rdc4 Rb7, 28. Qg3 f6, 29. h4 fxg5, 30. hxg5 Ra7, 31. Bh3 Qe7, 32. e5 Rd8, 33. e6 Re8, 34. f5 hxg5, 35. fxg6+ Kxg6, 36. Bf5+ Kg7, 37. Rg4 Qf6, 38. Rxg5+ Kh8, 39. Rg6 Qd4+, 40. Kf1 1-0

Rogelio Antonio (Philippines) - Dashzeveg Sharavdorj (Mongolia)

1. e4 e6, 2. d4 d5, 3. Nc3 Bb4, 4. e5 Ne7, 5. a3 Bxc3+, 6. bxc3 c5, 7. h4 Qc7, 8. Nf3 b6, 9. h5 h6, 10. Bb5+ Bd7, 11. Bd3 Ba4, 12. O-O c4, 13. Be2 Na6, 14. Bf4 Kd7, 15. Nh2 Qd8, 16. Ng4 Qg8, 17. Ne3 Qh7, 18. Bg4 Nc7, 19. Bh3 Kc8, 20. Bg3 g6, 21. Qb1 Nc6, 22. Ra2 gxh5, 23. Rb2 Kb7, 24. Bh4 Rhg8, 25. g3 Raf8, 26. Bg2 f5, 27. f4 Kc8, 28. Bf3 Nd8, 29. Rb4 Qd7, 30. Qa2 Nf7, 31. Rfb1 Ng5, 32. Bg2 Rg6, 33. Qb2 Rfg8, 34. Kh2 Kd8, 35. Qc1 Kc8, 36. Qd1 Nb5, 37. Nxc4 Nxc3, 38. Qd3 Nxb1, 39. Nxb6 dxc4, 40. Qxc4+ Qc7, 41. Qa6+ Kd8, 42. Rb7 Qc8, 43. Qa5+ Ke8 1-0

Dao Thien Hai (Vietnam) - Alexander Nenashev (Uzbekistan)

1. d4 d5, 2. c4 e6, 3. Nc3 c5, 4. cxd5 exd5, 5. Nf3 Nc6, 6. g3 c4, 7. Bg2 Bb4, 8. O-O Nge7, 9. Ne1 Bf5, 10. Nc2 O-O, 11. Nxb4 Nxb4, 12. Bg5 f6, 13. Bf4 Qd7, 14. a3 Nbc6, 15. b3 cxb3, 16. Qxb3 Nxd4, 17. Qd1 Ndc6, 18. Nxd5 Rad8, 19. Bc7 Rde8, 20. Nxe7+ Nxe7, 21. Qxd7 Bxd7, 22. Bxb7 Nf5, 23. Rfd1 Rf7, 24. e4 Ba4, 25. Bd5 Bxd1, 26. Rxd1 Nh6, 27. Rb1 g5, 28. Rb8 Rxb8, 29. Bxb8 a6, 30. h4 Kg7, 31. hxg5 fxg5, 32. Bxf7 Kxf7, 33. f4 Ng4, 34. Kg2 Ne3+, 35. Kf3 Nc4, 36. a4 Nd2+, 37. Ke3 Nf1+, 38. Kd3 Nxg3, 39. fxg5 Nh5, 40. Kd4 Ng7, 41. Kc5 Ne6+, 42. Kb6 Nxg5, 43. Kxa6 Nxe4, 44. a5 Nd2, 45. Kb5 1-0

Saydali Yuldashev (Kazakhstan) - Cao Sang (Vietnam)

1. e4 c5, 2. Nc3 Nc6, 3. Nf3 g6, 4. d4 cxd4, 5. Nxd4 Bg7, 6. Be3 Nf6, 7. Bc4 d6, 8. h3 Bd7, 9. O-O O-O, 10. Bb3 Rc8, 11. f4 Qa5, 12. Qd3 Nb4, 13. Qd2 Na6, 14. Nde2 Nc5, 15. Ng3 Qc7, 16. Rae1 b5, 17. Bd4 Nxb3, 18. cxb3 Bc6, 19. b4 Qb7, 20. f5 Rcd8, 21. Kh1 Rd7, 22. Re2 e5, 23. fxe6 fxe6, 24. Be3 Rff7, 25. Rfe1 d5, 26. e5 Ne4, 27. Ncxe4 dxe4, 28. Qc3 Rd3, 29. Qc5 Bd5, 30. Rc1 Bxe5, 31. Bh6 Bg7, 32. Bxg7 Kxg7, 33. Nxe4 Qb8, 34. Ng5 Qg3, 35. Nxf7 Qxh3+, 36. Kg1 0-1

 

Chess on the Net

Christmas has come and gone, and another new year looms before us. This being a holiday season, it is perhaps appropriate for me to take a short rest from writing about tournaments or chess politics or chess personalities and relate to you on another subject which is rather close to my heart.

I am referring to the world-wide internet community and well, it is now close to two years since I began surfing the Net. It was not so much as keeping up with the Joneses but rather, my purpose in using the Internet stemmed from a practical need to see whether there were any chess-related resources.

So far, I have not been disappointed. In fact, I am pleasantly surprised at the ever-increasing wealth of information which I have been able to garner from this remarkable source.

When I first joined the Jaring network, I could dare claim to be the one and only local chess player with a private Internet account. Today, however, there are quite a handful of local chess players who are members of Jaring.

Indeed, I know of friends and close acquaintances, even people who were strangers to me, who e-mailed me to announce their electronic presence.

So what type of chess resources are available on the Net? The very basic of resources is the Usenet or newsgroups which are actually global electronic bulletin boards where people give their opinions freely on almost every conceivable topic under the sun.

Everybody with an Internet account can subscribe to newsgroups and they are free. Unfortunately, the noise ratio for most newsgroups is rather high and one must learn to separate fact from fiction.

Originally, there was only one newsgroup for chess - rec.games.chess - where a hodge-podge of chess discussion took place. About six months ago, this newsgroup was split into five different sub-divisions.

Like the name suggests, the rec.games.chess.politics newsgroup is confined to people discussing chess politics. Recently, when the World Chess Federation (FIDE) held its general assembly meeting in Paris, I first learnt of the ouster of former FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes, through this newsgroup.

Are you interested in correspondence chess? You know, the type of chess where players use the postal services to mail their moves to their opponents in various parts of the world? It is a very slow process when you consider that a simple letter from here to Europe may take a week to arrive. That's why in Internet jargon, postal mail is often referred to as snail mail.

The Internet takes correspondence chess one step further and the rec.games.chess.play-by-email newsgroup is the place for correspondence chess players to hang around. Here, you have people talking about e-mail chess.

The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) have completely embraced e-mail chess. Through its association with the Internet Electronic Chess Group (IECG), you can actually play e-mail correspondence chess with other people around the world.

To join the IECG, e-mail Franz Hemmer at franz@hemsoft.ping.dk and request him to pair you with another person. An alternate person to contact is Henk Chang at iecg@cc.umanitoba.ca.

When playing e-mail chess, the moves and even ascii chess diagrams are sent through the Internet.

There are various rates of play but whatever the rate you choose with your opponent, at the end of every two-game match (you play one game as White and one as Black against every opponent) the results are reported to the IECG administrator who will then rate your results and push you up or down their rating list.

I was so crazy about e-mail chess at one stage that I had something like 20 games going on simultaneously!

At one point too, I even tried my hands at playing real-time chess through the Internet but you will need a popular Telnet program for connection to one of several chess servers around the world.

Most of these chess servers are free but there is one, the Internet Chess Club (ICC), which charges people for joining them. Paradoxically, the ICC is the most popular of the chess servers.

On a typical day, you may watch or even get to play with grandmasters. Roman Dzindzihashvilli, Viswanathan Anand and Peter Margeir have been known to drop by the ICC regularly. Earlier this month, Gary Kasparov even played 10 players simultaneously through the ICC.

Chess playing programs like Deep Thought and Chess Genius also make regular appearances, basically because their programmers would like to try out their software or hardware enhancements in actual games against humans.

If playing real-time chess with another person from another part of the world appeals to you, Telnet then to the ICC at chess.lm.com 5000. A free chess server is ics.chess.com 5000.

Before the World-Wide Web (WWW) really took off in popularity last year, the downloading of chess material via the internet was primarily achieved by File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

The chess site at caissa.onenet.net is unfortunately quite dated and new material are seldom posted there any more. However, internet chess players now have an alternative site, ftp.pitt.edu.

This new site is located at the University of Pittsburgh and new chess files are added almost weekly. There are games databases in several formats like ChessBase, Chess Assistant and NICBase.

Players who need chess programmes often come to this site too to search for their programmes. For instance, there are demonstration or crippled copies of Chess Assistant and even that of the latest ChessBase for Windows. Lately, you can even retrieve the strong Rebel 6.0 chessplaying program.

The software houses do not mind offering their crippled programs to the Internet community at large because they know that if you are really interest in any programme after the trial period, you will not mind paying the full price for the uncrippled version.

The downloading of chess resources is also possible through the World-Wide Web. For this, you shall need a typical browser program like Netscape or Mosaic. Most web pages, however, were developed using Netscape so those people using Mosaic may experience some difficulty with the on-screen graphics.

There are countless chess sites in the Web - certainly more than I can mention here - but three notable ones are:

http://www.pitt.edu/group/chess - the web version of the Pittsburg FTP site;

http://www.easynet.co.uk/pages/worldchess - you can find chess articles from several British newspapers and magazines like The Guardian and Spectator;

http://www.grandmaster.bc.ca the Web site for International Chess Enterprises, the publisher of Yasser Seirawan's popular Inside Chess magazine.

The beauty of these chess Web pages is that they often point you to other chess resources in the Internet, such as http://www.redweb.com/chess.

I have always recommended people new to the Internet to point their browser to http://www/yahoo.com. Now, this Yahoo site is a computer in California which displays something like a gigantic menu to visitors. Just choose "recreation" and wander around. You will reach the pointers to chess sooner or later.

Alternatively, you can easily access the chess Web pages by doing a search on the word "chess". For example, the Lycos Web page, http://www.lycos.com provides an ideal engine to begin your search.

I hope this short introduction has awaken some interest in you on the various resources available through the Internet.

Pitting skills against a machine

Computer chess is so much in the news these days. Regular readers of this column would have read about the world computer chess championship played in Hongkong recently.

You will remember that the Fritz3 chess programme running on an Intel Pentium 90mhz chip won the championship, humbling Deep Blue in the final round.

Recently too, the Penang Chess Association organised the Penang Vision 2020 tournament and it was an opportunity to test whether Fritz2, the predecessor to Fritz3, could stand up against the local challenge.

A decision was made to enter Fritz2 as a participant in this tournament but, failing to find a Pentium90, the PCA had to settle for a "humble" Intel 486SX machine instead.

The results were nothing less than spectacular. In the first round, Fritz2 beat K Nanis after getting the better of the position in the opening and in the second round, the chess programme beat Teoh Giap Seng.

Before the midday break, Fritz2 had chalked up a third win against up-and- coming junior player Ronnie Lim.

The results after the break were not any different despite Fritz2 being pitted against stronger opposition. In round four, Teng Wei Ping was worn down in a delicate ending and in the fifth round, Ooi Chern Ee fell to the machine.

Wong Kam Loong handled Fritz2 poorly in round six, and the tournament wrapped up with Fritz2 completing a rout of the field by beating Teng Wei Hong.

Oh, before I get too carried away with the success of the Fritz2 programme, here are the results of the Penang Vision 2020 tournament which was sponsored jointly by BHL Bank and the Mar Vista Resort.

The five prizes in the "2100 and above" rating group were won by Ooi Chern Ee 6 points, Teng Wei Ping and Ronnie Lim 5 points each, Wong Kam Loong 4.5 points and Colin Chong 4 points. It had been decided earlier that Fritz2 would not be eligible for any prize.

For the "2000 to 2099" rating group, the winners were Tan Kwang Yi 5.5 points, and Teng Wei Hong and Choo Tze Siang who each obtained five points. In the "1950 to 1999" rating group, the prizes went to Lim Kwang Seng 4 points, and Jonathan Chuah and Teoh Kok Liang who scored 3.5 points each.

The remaining two prizes went to the group of unrated players and those rated below 1950, and these were won by Dr Lim Boon Liang and Tan Fee Meng who obtained four points each.

BAYVIEW NEWS

In the second round of the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League last Sunday, Chung Ling High School A forged ahead in Division One with a 3.5-0.5 win over Hitachi Semiconductor.

Penang Free School A scored a 3-1 win over Universiti Sains Malaysia, while Old Frees Association beat Chung Ling High School B and Pessca beat Chung Ling Old Boys Association by similar 2.5-1.5 margins. The MSSPP Juniors- Penang Free School B match was drawn 2-2.

In Division Two, Chung Ling High School D blanketed Mara Taiping 4-0 and the MSSPP Girls beat Penang Chinese Girls High School by a similar score. Chung Ling High School C beat Hewlett Packard, Union High School beat National Semiconductor, and Bank Bumiputra beat DCI by 3-1 scores.

The standings are as follows: Division One - CLHS A 7.5 points, PFS A 6 points, OFA 5 points, USM and CLOBA 4 points, Pessca and MSSPP Jrs 3.5 points, PFS B 3 points, CLHS B and Penang Development Corporation 1.5 points, and Hitachi 0.5 point; Division Two - MSSPP Girls 7 points, CLHS C, CLHS D and Union 5.5 points, HP and BBMB 5 points, NS 3 points, DCI 2 points,Mara 1.5 points, Penang Free School C and PCGHS zero point.

The Penang Bayview Chess League, sponsored annually by The City Bayview Hotel, is played on a weekly basis and the third round at the hotel's Revolving Restaurant is scheduled for this Sunday at 10am.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

A total of 44 players are taking part in the East Asian/Oceanic zonal tournament organised by the Malaysian Chess Federation at Genting Highlands.

In the men's section, grandmasters Utut Adianto (Indonesia) and Rogelio Antonio (Philippines) and untitled players Barlo Nadera and Chito Garma (both from the Philippines) were leading with four points each after five rounds of play.

Among the four Malaysian players, Mohd Kamal Abdullah, Mas Hafizul Helmi and Darren Yong have 2.5 points each while Mohd Saprin Sabri has two points.

Leading the women's section after five rounds were WIM Hoang Thanh Trang (Vietnam) and WIM Irena Berezina-Feldman (Australia) with four points each.

Among the Malaysians, Ong Hwa Lu and Samantha Lee scored two points each, and Eliza Hanum Ibrahim has obtained one point.

The tournament ends on Monday. Until then, readers visiting Genting Highlands can catch the tournament at the Resort Hotel.

Here are two games from the event.

[Event "East Asian/Oceanic Zonal Tournament"]

[Site "Genting Highland, Malaysia"]

[Date ""]

[Round ""]

[White "Mohd Saprin Sabri"]

[Black "Irwanto"]

[Result "1-0"]

1. Nf3 Nf6, 2. c4 e6, 3. g3 d5, 4. Bg2 Be7, 5. 0-0 0-0, 6. d4 Nbd7, 7. Nbd2 b6, 8. b3 Bb7, 9. Bb2 c5, 10. e3 Qc7, 11. Rc1 Rad8, 12. Rc2 Qb8, 13. Qa1 Rfe8, 14.cxd5 Bxd5, 15. Nc4 Qa8, 16. Qd1 cxd4, 17. Bxd4 Be4, 18. Rc1 e5, 19. Ba1 Nc5, 20.Ncd2 Rxd2, 21. Qxd2 Bxf3, 22. Bxf3 Qxf3, 23. Bxe5 Nce4, 24. Qd1 Ng4 1-0

[Event "East Asian/Oceanic Zonal Tournament"]

[Site "Genting Highland, Malaysia"]

[Date ""]

[Round ""]

[White "Antonio, Rogelio"]

[Black "Nguyen Anh Dung"]

[Result "1-0"]

1.e4 c5, 2. Nf3 d6, 3. Bb5+ Nd7, 4. 0-0 Ngf6, 5. Re1 e6, 6. d4 cxd4, 7. Qxd4 Be7, 8. Bg5 0-0, 9. Nc3 Qc7, 10. Rad1 Rd8, 11. Bxd7 Bxd7, 12. Bxf6 gxf6, 13. Qe3 Kh8, 14. Nd4 Qc5, 15. Rd3 Rac8, 16. Qd2 b5, 17. a3 Rg8, 18. g3 b4, 19. axb4 Qxb4, 20. Nb3 Rc7, 21. Ra1 Rgc8, 22. Ra5 Rg8, 23. Rd4 Qb6, 24. Qd3 Rg5, 25. Ra6 Qb7, 26. h4 Rg8, 27. Raxd6 Bxd6, 28. Rxd6 Be8, 29. Qf3 Kg7, 30. Qf4 Qb4, 31. Nd4 Kf8, 32. e5 Qc4, 33. Qh6+ 1-0

 

When computers play chess

There was sensation at the International Computer Chess Association's computer chess world championships over the last weekend at the Chinese University of Hongkong.

Fritz 3, the Dutch chess-playing program running on an Intel Pentium 90MHz personal computer, trounced defending champion Deep Blue in the final round of the tournament to propel itself as the new computer chess champion.

Every three years, the ICCA organises the computer chess world championships and the 24 participants in Hongkong this year included some of the world's strongest chess playing computers.

Chess Genius, a British program which created worldwide interest by defeating Kasparov in a two-game contest last year, was also participating. Incidentally, Kasparov had his revenge two weeks ago when he beat the program 1.5-0.5 in a two-game rematch.

All eyes, however, were on IBM's Deep Blue. This program, universally regarded as THE chess program to beat, was also the winner of the ACM international championship in 1994.

Deep Blue was, however, not physically present in Hongkong. Throughout the championship, it was running on an IBM RS/6000 workstation with 14 slave processors back in the United States and its moves were relayed to the Chinese University of Hongkong via the Internet.

Four other programs were also connected to Hongkong in similar style from their home locations in Europe or North America.

Also from the United States, Star Socrates was running on a 1824 node Intel Paragon supercomputer while Hitech was on a Sun 4 workstation with dedicated chess hardware. Frenchess was running on a Cray T3D supercomputer back in France and Zugzwang was using a system with 1023 T800 transputers from Germany.

But the rest of the programs were there in Hongkong using real chessboards and clocks. Three of them - Ulysses (Germany), SOS (Germany) and Cheiron (Germany) - were running on Sun Microsystems Sparc 20 workstations; the Sun Phoenix (Canada) program was on a Sparc 2000 20cpu system; and Dark Thought (Germany) was on a DEC Alphaserver 2100.

The remaining programs - Fritz 3, WChess (USA), Junior (Israel), Rebel (USA), Zeus 3 (Spain), Virtua Chess (France), Schach 3 (Germany), Chess Genius, Pandix (Hungary), Nightmare (Germany), Ferret (USA), LChess (Netherlands), Gandalf (Denmark) and Woodpusher (UK) - were using 90MHz Pentium systems.

The ICCA world championships was primarily sponsored by IBM but the other major sponsors included Sun Microsystems, Compunetics, the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery), Saitek, Varitronix, the Hongkong Chess Federation and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

PENANG CHESS LEAGUE BEGINS NEXT SUNDAY

Teams intending to play in the fifth Penang Bayview Chess League are reminded that tomorrow is the closing date for the submission of entries. This tournament, the premier event of the Penang Chess Association, starts on June 11 at The City Bayview Hotel.

The hotel is the sponsor for the annual team event. Two years ago, it donated an 45-cm pewter challenge trophy worth RM6,000 towards the championship and at a cheque presentation ceremony earlier this week, the hotel's general manager, Nasihin Ali, reaffirmed the hotel's continued sponsorship. It will also remain the venue for the Chess League.

Only teams legitimately representing the public and business sectors, factories, universities, schools, colleges and registered associations, societies and clubs are allowed to play in the Chess League which will be played over several weekends. Each team is allowed one guest player.

Provision is made for about 24 teams to take part, and each team is allowed to register up to eight players. However, only four players from each team will be playing in every round.

Entry fee is RM150 and attractive cash prizes are guaranteed for the top five teams in each division. Division One will consist of the top teams in the state, including two teams promoted from last year's Division Two.

Teams entering for the first time will be placed in Division Two and their prospects for promotion to the premier division will depend on their performance in the league this year.

For more information, contact Alan Phang or Goh Yoon Wah in the evenings. With the closing date being tomorrow, a meeting of all team managers will be held at the hotel on June 7 at 8pm.