Deep Fritz, billed as the most powerful chess computer, beat world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia on Tuesday to draw level in a million-dollar challenge here with just two games to go, organisers said.
Kramnik conceded he had been entirely outclassed by the ”beautiful” play of his mechanical opponent in their sixth game. ”I am not so depressed — the result is not positive, but the game was a pleasure,” the world champion told a post-game press conference.
”There were some beautiful moves. I do not think that I made any real mistakes. I did the right thing from a human point of view. I enjoyed the game, it was so beautiful.”
The Deep Fritz team said they felt vindicated by the result but had never doubted the strength of the programme they had created. ”Some people wrote Deep Fritz off after the first three games,” said team member Frans Morsch.
”But we have learned by the first few games and found a way to really challenge Kramnik. We have always had confidence in our creation.”
The eight-game contest, postponed last year in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, is seen as a sequel to ex-world champion Garry Kasparov’s 1997 losing encounter with supercomputer Deep Blue in New York.
Kramnik, who ended Kasparov’s 12-year reign as world champion in November 2000, is playing Deep Fritz in Manama, the capital of the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. He stands to win one million dollars from King Hamad if he beats the machine and 700 000 dollars if he draws.
The matches are broadcast on the www.brainsinbahrain.com
website. Here are the moves of the game:
White: Deep Fritz
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6
4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7
7. Bg2 c6 8. Bc3 d5 9. Ne5 Nfd7
10. Nxd7 Nxd7 11. Nd2 O-O
12. O-O Rc8 13. a4 Bf6 14. e4 c5 15.exd5 cxd4 16. Bb4 Re8 17.
Ne4 exd5 18. Nd6 dxc4 19. Nxf7 Kxf7
20. Bd5+ Kg6 21.Qg4+ Bg5
22. Be4+ Rxe4 23. Qxe4+ Kh6
24. h4 Bf6 25. Bd2+ g5 26. hxg5+ Bxg5 27.Qh4+ Kg6 28. Qe4+ Kg7
29. Bxg5 Qxg5 30. Rfe1 cxb3 31. Qxd4+ Nf6 32. a5 Qd5 33.Qxd5 Nxd5
34. axb6 axb6 0-1. – Sapa-AFP