ESPN2 is a network dedicated to
covering sports. Chess is an art, science and most of all a sport. It can be a
fierce competition. Chess has much in common
with football. however it is much closer to boxing. The purpose
of boxing is to inflict punishment on your opponent until he is knockout
out or surrenders. Bobby Fischer, the 11th World Champion, said
"chess is a game where you get to crush you opponents
mind. The winner of a chess match knows the joys of victory and
loser knows the agony of defeat.
ESPN2 has done a great job bringing chess to hundred
of thousands of people during the live coverage of the Kasparov vs.
Deep Junior and Kasparov vs. X3D Fritz matches in 2003.
I believe that in order to keep the
interest in the Man vs. Machine matches, we need to change the parameters
of the contest. These contests are really Man vs. Near Perfection. We need
to give the human player more time to solve the tough defenses of these
silicon beasts. Garry Kasparov says that chess is a game of controlled
confusion. Those who control it best win. The silicon beasts should be
modified to sometimes introduce more confusion instead of controlling
it. This means the computers should at times play more like Tal and
Kasparov. They should take chances in order to win. The computers should
look for aggressive attacks that might be unsound, but difficult for the
humans to find correct defenses to. These modifications will bring chess
to new heights.
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