Author: Vine Smith
Date: 13:39:08 07/11/02
Go up one level in this thread
On July 10, 2002 at 22:35:40, John Merlino wrote:
>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
Did you have any other clues for reconstructing the game besides knowing the
position at move 14? The sequence leading to this point is less than obvious,
especially the sacrifice offered at move 12, implying that either this game was
copied from some other source, or a fairly strong player assisted in its
creation.
By the way, HAL never announced mate in two. It was simply engaging in
conversation during a casual game, and merely pointed out that Poole had
overlooked the tactical sequence allowing the queen to go to f3.
Did Poole really "resign" AFTER being mated, as the notes imply? Stupid human.
Maybe this is what drove HAL to start killing the crew.
Regards,
Vine Smith
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