Brains in Bahrain
Encyclopedia
Brains in Bahrain was an eight-game chess
match between World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik
and the computer program
Deep Fritz 7, held in October 2002. The match ended in a tie 4-4, with two wins for each participant and four draws
.
—play conservatively for a long-term advantage the computer is not able to see in its game tree search. After a draw in game 4, Kramnik lost game 5 due to a blunder
. Game 6 was described by commentators as "spectacular". Kramnik, in a better position in the early middlegame, sacrificed
a piece to launch an attack—a strategy known to be highly risky against computers, which are at their strongest when defending such attacks. True to form, Fritz found a watertight defense and Kramnik was left in a bad position. Kramnik resigned the game, believing his position to be lost. However, post-game analysis has shown that Fritz was unlikely to have been able to force a win—Kramnik gave up a drawn position. The final two games were draws. Given the circumstances, most commentators rate Kramnik the stronger player in the match.
; the reigning world computer chess champion Shredder
declined an invitation to compete. The 24-game match started very poorly for Fritz, which lost five games in a row before coming back strongly in the last ten games to tie the series and finally win the play-off. Fritz became Deep Fritz when its hardware was extended to an eight-processor machine for the competition.
lost against Deep Blue in 1997. The code of Fritz was frozen some time before the first match and Kramnik was given a copy of Fritz to practice with for several months. Another difference was that in games lasting more than 56 moves, Kramnik was allowed to adjourn until the following day, during which time he could use his copy of Fritz to aid him in his overnight analysis of the position.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
match between World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
and the computer program
Computer chess
Computer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess acts as solo entertainment , as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human...
Deep Fritz 7, held in October 2002. The match ended in a tie 4-4, with two wins for each participant and four draws
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
.
Outcome of games
The first game was drawn. Kramnik won games 2 and 3 by "conventional" anti-computer tacticsAnti-computer tactics
Anti-computer tactics are a style of play used by humans to beat strong computer opponents at various games, especially in board games such as chess and Arimaa. It involves playing conservatively for a long-term advantage the computer is not able to see in its game tree search...
—play conservatively for a long-term advantage the computer is not able to see in its game tree search. After a draw in game 4, Kramnik lost game 5 due to a blunder
Blunder (chess)
In chess, a blunder is a very bad move. It is usually caused by some tactical oversight, whether from time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness. While a blunder may seem like a stroke of luck for the opposing player, some chess players give their opponent plenty of opportunities to blunder.What...
. Game 6 was described by commentators as "spectacular". Kramnik, in a better position in the early middlegame, sacrificed
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
a piece to launch an attack—a strategy known to be highly risky against computers, which are at their strongest when defending such attacks. True to form, Fritz found a watertight defense and Kramnik was left in a bad position. Kramnik resigned the game, believing his position to be lost. However, post-game analysis has shown that Fritz was unlikely to have been able to force a win—Kramnik gave up a drawn position. The final two games were draws. Given the circumstances, most commentators rate Kramnik the stronger player in the match.
Selection of Fritz and creation of Deep Fritz
Fritz had been chosen to play Kramnik by winning a qualifying event in Cadaques, Spain in 2001. The other competing program was JuniorJunior (chess)
Junior is a computer chess program authored by the Israeli programmers Amir Ban and Shay Bushinsky. Grandmaster Boris Alterman assisted, in particular with the opening book...
; the reigning world computer chess champion Shredder
Shredder (chess)
Shredder is a commercial chess program developed in Germany by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen in 1993. Shredder won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1996 and 2000, the World Computer Chess Championship in 1999 and 2003, the World Computer Speed Chess Championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and...
declined an invitation to compete. The 24-game match started very poorly for Fritz, which lost five games in a row before coming back strongly in the last ten games to tie the series and finally win the play-off. Fritz became Deep Fritz when its hardware was extended to an eight-processor machine for the competition.
Advantages
Kramnik was given several advantages in his match against Fritz when compared to most other Man vs. Machine matches, such as the one Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
lost against Deep Blue in 1997. The code of Fritz was frozen some time before the first match and Kramnik was given a copy of Fritz to practice with for several months. Another difference was that in games lasting more than 56 moves, Kramnik was allowed to adjourn until the following day, during which time he could use his copy of Fritz to aid him in his overnight analysis of the position.
External links
- Deep Fritz 7 - Product details and price at ChessbaseChessBaseChessBase GmbH is a German company that markets chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess. Set up in 1998, it maintains and sells massive databases, containing most historic games, that permit analysis that had not been possible prior to computing...
, 28 August 2002 - Brains in Bahrain page on chessgames.com