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Subject: Frank Poole v HAL 9000 -- or is it CM9000?

Author: John Merlino

Date: 19:35:40 07/10/02


Here's an amusing note that I just discovered. For those of you who are familiar
with Chessmaster, there are quite a few GM annotated Classic Games in the
program. Well, for the last several years, the last one in the (chronological)
list was a recreation of the game that Frank Poole played against HAL 9000 in
the movie "2001". So, of course, we assigned the date of 2001 to this game,
making it the last in the list.

Scary that now there are 13 games AFTER it. Makes us all feel old, eh?

However, there is (or may be) one interesting position from this game. Here's
the whole game, with our annotations:

[Event "?"]
[Site "Discovery 1"]
[Date "2001"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frank Poole"]
[Black "HAL 9000"]
[TimeControl "-"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C86"]

{In Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey", super-computer
HAL 9000 engages astronaut Frank Poole in a game of chess en route to
the planet Jupiter. Although only the last few moves are seen, the
beginning of the game has been reconstructed here. Frank and HAL
undoubtedly played the Ruy Lopez-Morphy defense opening.} 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Qe2 {The so-called Worrall attack, in
lieu of the usual 6. Re1. The idea is to use the King's Rook more
profitably on d1, but Black has other plans.} 6...b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.c3 {
This is an invitation to a variant of the "Marshall Gambit," which is
usually seen only against 6. Re1.} 8...d5 {And here it is, even more
effective because of the White Queen is in a vulnerable position.}
9.exd5 {Wiser would have been the tame 9. d1, holding the strong point
e4.} 9...Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nf4 {This "in-between" move takes advantage of the
Queen's vulnerability to gain time.} 11.Qe4 Nxe5 12.Qxa8 {With three
pieces to capture, none is a bargain: 12. Qxf4 allows the other Knight
to sink into d2, with gain of a tempo, and for the pawn Black has
wonderful lines and a constricted enemy.} 12...Qd3 {Depriving the White
Queen of the last safe retreat at e4, throttling the White center, and
opening the brutal discovery by the Queen's Bishop on the next move.
White is busted.} 13.Bd1 {What else? Perhaps 13. Qa7, but then Nf3+ 14.
gxf3 and mate to follow after 15. Ne2+ Kg2 16. Bh3+.} 13...Bh3 {Of
course! The White Queen could play prosaically to a7, but the result
would be the same:} 14.Qxa6 {The film picks up the game at this point.
Frank: "Anyway, Queen takes Pawn, okay."} 14...Bxg2 {HAL: "Bishop takes
Knight's Pawn."} 15.Re1 {Frank: "What a lovely move. Rook to King one."}
15...Qf3 {HAL: "I'm sorry Frank, I think you missed it: Queen to Bishop
three, Bishop takes Queen, Knight takes Bishop. Mate." While it is true
that white has a lost position, it is NOT a mate in two as HAL claims!
Frank has many options besides Bxf3 that will prolong the game. Could
this mistake be the first sign of the computer's impending breakdown? Or
has HAL already begun to deliberately deceive his crew?} 16.Bxf3 Nxf3# {
Frank: "Uh, huh. Yeah looks like you're right. I resign." HAL: "Thank
you for a very enjoyable game." Frank: "Yeah. Thank you."} 0-1

It's the position after 11...Nxe5.

[D]r1bq1rk1/2p1bppp/p7/1p2n3/4Qn2/1BP5/PP1P1PPP/RNB2RK1 w - - 0 12

White has three pieces to capture, but the best move is to capture none of them!
Chessmaster needs only seven seconds on a PIII-600 to choose 12.d4 over any
capture.

Time	Depth	Score	Positions	Moves
0:00	1/3	-0.42	2279		12.Qxa8 Ne2+ 13.Kh1 Nd3 14.Na3
					Ndxc1 15.Rfxc1 Nxc1 16.Rxc1
0:00	1/3	0.15	2642		12.Qxf4 Nd3 13.Qe4 Rb8
0:00	1/3	0.18	4549		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7
0:00	1/4	0.25	8539		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1
0:00	1/5	0.28	24711		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1 Nd3
0:00	1/6	0.17	60082		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxf4 Nd3 14.Qf5 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1
0:01	1/6	0.36	80564		12.Qxf4 Ng4 13.h3 Bd6 14.Qf3 Bh2+
					15.Kh1
0:02	1/7	0.31	149889		12.Qxf4 Ng4 13.h3 Nf6 14.Qf3 Be6
					15.d4 c5
0:04	1/8	0.28	312668		12.Qxf4 Nd3 13.Qe4 Be6 14.Bxe6
					fxe6 15.Qxe6+ Rf7 16.a4 Nc5 17.Qe3
					Nxa4
0:07	1/8	0.32	550829		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1 Nd3 16.Rc2 Bg5 17.Qf3 Qe8
0:22	1/9	0.51	1652160		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1 Nd3 16.Rc2 Nc5 17.Qf3 Nxb3
					18.axb3
0:50	1/10	0.26	3895045		12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.dxe5 Nxb3 16.axb3 f6 17.e6 Qd6
					18.Qe4 f5
2:26	2/11	0.43	12004536	12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1
					15.Rxc1 Nd3 16.Rf1 c5 17.Qe4 Nxb2
					18.Nd2 Bg5 19.f4

What say your programs?

jm



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