Author: Albert Silver
Date: 07:59:40 05/12/98
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On May 12, 1998 at 10:38:25, Robert Henry Durrett wrote: >On May 12, 1998 at 05:52:57, Odell Hall wrote: "Is it possible that >many fear that because programs are becoming so strong many amatuer >class players such as myself will no longer need lessons or may no >longer participate in simuls, for after all why would i pay to play a >grandmaster when i can simply buy fritz 5 and play one in the comforts >of home!!" > >I used to feel the same way and,as an "amatuer class player" myself, >refused to play against chessmasters in over-the-board tournaments. [If >forced to play, I would simply end the game quickly by throwing away a >piece after a few moves], because I then regarded it as being a total >waste of my time and energy. And, indeed, it really would be a waste of >the weaker player's time and energy if the chessmaster were to just get >up and leave after the game ended. > >However, upon more mature reflection, I came to realize that many >chessmasters are willing to engage in post-mortem discussions about the >game. It is these invaluable post-mortem discussions which make playing >the game worthwhile. They are sort-of free personalized instruction by >a chessmaster. I soon learned to ask for the post-mortem analyses prior >to the game beginning. [Only one ever said "No" and the game ended >quickly.] > >Fritz 5 will never match the post-mortem instructions one can obtain as >above! [And, there is no reason why the game cannot be subsequently >analyzed utilizing Fritz 5 and suitable chess database software!] Fritz >5 is not human and cannot understand human psychology, and hence cannot >explain why we make the mistakes we do. But higher-rated chessplayers >are human and do understand human thinking. They are, therefore, able >to provide instruction impossible for Fritz. Yes, this last element is often ignored or understated whne it comes to analyzing a game. After all, how can you tell Fritz: "Gee, I played this because I was afraid of f4 followed by f5." And of course, how could it tell you, "f4 isn't a threat because the black squares would be critically weakened and there aren't enough pieces for f4-f5 to be a genuine threat yet." It could no doubt give you a line, but I wouldn't trust it when it came to it's artificial commentary. This isn't to say that Fritz is useless in analysis. By no means! No strong player will say that, and if you peruse the last issues of New In Chess you will see that top players such as Yermolinsky or Svidler (among others) freely admit to using it in order to find certain variations. I think this clearly shows a deep respect for the programs. Also, while it's true that many of the top players took shots at Deep Blue's play, I seem to recall Yussupov saying that Rebel played quite respectably. Although I think Anand will come close to whitewashing Rebel later this year, it will be interesting to see how the games proceed. If Rebel comes out of the opening ok, but then gets blasted out of kingdom come then that's one thing, if on the other hand it simply gets slowly outplayed, then that's another, as most grandmasters suffer that fate anyhow.
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