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Kasparov to play virtual-reality chess match
The world's top-ranked chess player Kasparov is facing a hi-tech challenge: playing a game invented more than a millennium ago, against a computer.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 08:48 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
New York:
The world's top-ranked chess player Kasparov is facing a hi-tech challenge: playing a game invented more than a millennium ago, against a computer, with voice-activated moves posted on a virtual board. The Russian chess player is ready to compete against a computer program called the X3D Fritz. The four-game match is scheduled for November 11, 13, 16 and 18 in New York. The games can be followed on the website of the sponsor, Manhattan-based X3D Technologies Corp. In the "Man vs. Machine" match, the chessboard will be suspended in the air on a screen in front of Kasparov, who will have to wear 3-D glasses, voice-activate the chess pieces and use a joystick to rotate the virtual board. At 40, Kasparov is considered a mature champion by chess standards. But he says playing a computer helps keep his chess brain in shape. Even if he loses, Kasparov will earn 150,000 US dollars for the match. If he wins, his reward is 200,000, and a draw earns him 175,000. Kasparov's match against the computer follows the release of his book My Great Predecessors, Part I - a personal analysis of the great masters that has produced ripples in the chess world. Chess experts have discovered some analytical flaws, which Kasparov proudly defended in an Internet article as "defects," which he said "unexpectedly turn into virtues" by eliciting lively discussion among chess lovers. Generally considered the greatest chess player of all time, Kasparov was world champion between 1985 and 2000, with a tournament record second to none. After relinquishing his world title in 2000 to fellow Russian Vladimir Kramnik, he responded by taking first place in the next 10 major international events. It is not the first time Kasparov has been challenged by a computer. He won against the "Deep Blue" IBM computer in 1996, but an upgrade of the machine defeated him the following year. Earlier this year, he managed a draw against the "Deep Junior" Israeli chess programme. The International Computer Games Association (ICGA) and the United States Chess Federation (USCF) have sanctioned the match as the first official world chess championship in virtual reality. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Chess
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