[extropy-chat] computer chess again

[Spike]

For those who follow these sorts of things,
silicon and carbon are going to slug it out
once more over the chess board starting Tuesday
11 November as Kasparov takes on Fritz, a
commercially available chess program running
on an ordinary 2.4GHz computer.  

How it thrills me to realize I can attach
the adjective "ordinary" to such a device, to
know that such ordinary devices can be had by
average proles such as me for a couple days
wages from an average paying job such as mine.  {8-]

Perception management on the part of IBM after
the Kasparov-Deep Blue match of 1997 has caused
many people to believe that chess computers are
currently stronger than the best humans, however
since 1999, there have been 7 matches between
computers and human players with Elo ratings 
over 2700 (the top 10 to 15 human players).

Remarkably all seven of these matches have ended
in a tie score.  These seven matches represent
a total of 49 games.  The fact that the top humans 
and computers are dead even over all that time
suggest that the humans are getting better at
exactly the same rate as the top chess software.
Perhaps someone can suggest a different explanation
for the even score since 1999.  

A decisive outcome in next week's match for either 
side would surely be both exciting and puzzling.  
Of course, a sense of solidarity with my own kind 
leads me to cheer on the silicon player, but I
will be eagerly anticipating the match anyway,
and will report its progress Wednesday when I
return from a business trip.

For anyone wishing to place bets, I understand
that there are opportunities available to do
so on the web.  This in itself is a sign of the
strange and wonderful times in which we are
fortunate enough to live.  

spike