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Subject: Re: Anyone know why Garry Kasparov no longer plays Public computer chess?

Author: Russell Reagan

Date: 22:22:18 07/12/02

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On July 13, 2002 at 00:17:27, john warren wrote:

>  Since the Deepblue match I don't think garry has played against a computer
>publically. It's hard for me to believe that he is afraid, since smirin tore the
>programs to bits and Kasparov is way better then smirinmn

What incentive does he have to play? If he loses, it's just another embarassment
for him. If he wins, we will all think, "of course he won, he's Kasparov!" or
something like, "well of course he won, these chess programs aren't a super
computer like Deep Blue!" Best case, he is viewed the same. Worst case, he is
viewed with less respect as a strong chess player.

He's already rich and can do whatever he wanted to do with the rest of his life.
He has no reason that I can think of to risk playing a public match against a
computer (at least not a serious one). Maybe he will play some blitz games with
Fritz (as another poster mentioned) or something small like that, but I doubt
we'll ever see him play another serious human vs. computer match.

At least now we can say, "well he just had a bad game or two against Deep Blue,
it happens". If he lost AGAIN, then it would be detremental to his image. People
would think he was slipping, that maybe he wasn't as good as everyone thought,
and so on.

I also think that he probably doesn't really care a great deal about bashing
computer programs. If he chose to dedicate himself to that end, I'm sure he
would give our best chess engines a thorough thrashing. You can see from the
recent posts of Eduard Nemeth's games against computers (and he's only rated
about 2000) that there are serious holes in computer's play (and it only takes a
talented player willing to work hard to find and exploit them). Kasparov is the
master at finding those holes and exploiting them to the fullest.

The only problem is, he probably doesn't really find a project like developing
anti-computer strategies to be his top priority. He has much bigger things to
worry about like saving the world of human chess and beating the world's best
human chess players. So he has no reason to do such a thing, and he has
legitimate reasons for NOT doing it. To me it's crystal clear ;)

Russell



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