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Subject: Re: Deep Blue vs Kasparov 1997 difficult positions

Author: K. Burcham

Date: 10:50:10 04/17/02

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I am only interested in the 1997 Deep blue.
we know changes were made between the 1996 match
and the 1997 match that increased the strength. not only
in knowledge and software, but there was also a substantial
increase in kns with hardware improvements. below is taken from IBM
site. if all this is true, then 1997 Deep Blue was probably stronger than
1996 Deep Blue.

thanks slate,
kburcham


The current version
The latest iteration of the Deep Blue computer is a 32-node IBM RS/6000 SP
high-performance computer, which utilizes the new Power Two Super Chip
processors (P2SC). Each node of the SP employs a single microchannel card
containing 8 dedicated VLSI chess processors, for a total of 256 processors
working in tandem. Deep Blue's programming code is written in C and runs under
the AIX operating system. The net result is a scalable, highly parallel system
capable of calculating 100-200 billions moves within three minutes, which is the
time allotted to each player's move in classical chess.

Improvements in this year's model
The most prominent improvement in Deep Blue is its speed. The computer is now
running on a faster system, the latest version of the RS/6000 SP, which employs
the Power Two Super Chip (P2SC) processors. "That will give us a factor of two
speed-up over the system that played last year," says Deep Blue developer Murray
Campbell. "And in chess programs, speed is very important. The faster you are,
the stronger you play."

This means that Deep Blue will be able to examine and evaluate twice as many
chess positions per second than last year. Exactly how many? According to the
development team, Deep Blue will be able to explore 200,000,000 positions per
second. Incidentally, Garry Kasparov can examine approximately three positions
per second.

Deep Blue's "chess knowledge" has been significantly enhanced over the past 12
months through the efforts of team consultant and international grandmaster Joel
Benjamin. Garry Kasparov is certainly a great chess player -- perhaps the
greatest in history -- but the new and improved Deep Blue offers a challenge
that even the world champion has yet to experience.

The increase in computing power will also allow Deep Blue to adapt to new
strategies as the game progresses. Those following last year's match will
remember that Kasparov eventually defeated Deep Blue by switching strategies
mid-game. The development team feels that this tactic will not be as effective
this time around.

Deep Blue's chess knowledge has also increased over the past 12 months. "We
spent a lot of time, several months, working with a grandmaster, Joel Benjamin,"
states Campbell. "There are sometimes things that a grandmaster knows that are
sometimes difficult to put into a computer program. We are working hard to get
to know as much about chess as possible."






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