Author: Mig Greengard
Date: 23:42:32 11/24/03
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On November 24, 2003 at 14:41:56, Pierre Chevalier wrote: >Kasparov passed these opportunities during his match vs Fritz: >Game 1: 33 Qf5 instead of opting for a draw >Game 2: 17...f4 closing the position and pawn storming the king >Game 3: He wins! no problem here >Game 4: He could have played the Queen sacrifice which he used to beat Kramnik >Why didnt Kasparov go all out for wins? In game one 33.Qf5 is a ridiculous computer move (voluntarily pinning your own rook) that would hardly have been considered by any sane human, no matter how strong, against a computer. It would require perfect play for many moves or White loses and you still don't get winning chances. A computer has no losing chances in that position against a human; its pieces are too active. Kasparov was well aware of that. There are various classes of positions in which a computer simply cannot lose to a human. In an open position with your king exposed like in game one the human can only hope to draw and it's just as likely he'll lose on a blunder. Kasparov just took the safest way to a draw. According to subsequent analysis by Kasparov, 17...f4 is very close to losing for Black in game two. White's play on the queenside side is too fast. There is also the factor of playing against a computer, which is not going to get mated unless you have overwhelming force. Without a light-squared bishop, that isn't possible. So again, the human may draw or he may lose, but he has no winning chances against a computer in that position, which objectively is already better for White. The queen sacrifice Kasparov played against Kramnik has been played before and White can force a draw very easily with the queen versus rook and bishop. So "playing for a win" was not going to be possible in that line. Even worse, giving a computer a queen is suicidal in that position. Unless you play flawless defense it's going to pick off a pawn or worse and you still have no chance at all to win. In all three cases you are recommending Kasparov keep losing chances while gaining no winning chances. In game six against Junior in January I'd definitely agree that he chickened out in a position with at least equal chances. But I don't find any sign of that in the X3D Fritz match. If he'd had a "must-win" situation in the final game with black he likely would have selected a different opening, but it's very hard to get the sort of position you want when the machine has white.
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