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Kramnik and Deep Fritz Draw, Tied Before Final Game

iskander writes "Man and Machine were content to draw in game 7 of the Brains in Bahrain match. Now it's all down to the final game, in which Kramnik will enjoy the advantage of playing with white. It is worth noting that game 6, in which Kramnik may have resigned too early, was found to be a probable draw with best play, and that Kasparov lost to Deep Blue by tossing a drawable game. However, whereas Kasparov could only excuse himself (unconvincingly) by claiming that Deep Blue had been assisted by a human during play, Kramnik could simply request the adjudication of game 6 on the grounds of infractions committed by Deep Fritz, who is rumored to have heckled Kramnik with its Shakespearean chatter througout the game. :) So, will Dirty Fritz win it all or will Humanity's champion "rise above the chatter" and win back the crown for us? If you think you know, you may want to place a bet or register your opinion on the ChessLines survey soon, because the match ends tomorrow."

30 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Well, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In my opinion Deep Fritz will never beat Kramnik in a Berlin Defence. The team could try to deviate earlier, perhaps by closing the position with 4.d3, but this will also be easy play for Kramnik. They could also skip the Ruy Lopez altogether and play 3.Bc4 (Italian) or 2.f4 (King's gambit) instead, but these moves are not so common among the extreme elite. Kramnik would probably equalize comfortably against these moves. IMHO the team should try either switching to 1.d4 or just try to head for equal but tactically complicated positions after the King's gambit or the Italian, mentioned above. Playing 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 would probably be unwise. Kramnik knows these waters extremely well and could probably easily steer the game to a dull and totally safe position.

    1. Re:Well, by Glorat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Correct! And what is more amusing is that Kramnik is playing White in the last game so Fritz making the first move will be tricky...

      (I do agree that I could see Kramnik drawing every time with the Berlin)

  2. Re:computer versus people chess by dirvish · · Score: 4, Interesting

    evolutionary neural networks are pretty damned cool. You have a generation of networks compete against each other, then keep the best ones and kill off the rest. They you make mutant copies of the good ones and have them compete against the original good ones. Then repeat until you have a good neural network.

  3. Re:Links to all the games by Bonker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Isn't it sad that people who post links feel the need to post as AC's to keep from being modded down as karma whores?

    Positive moderation, people! Positive, not negative!

    That said, it looks like to me like Fritz is going to win this one. I would say that Karmnik is showing signs of fatigue from playing against a 'perfect' oponnent. If I were him, I'd try to take a few days off before the next match to regain his mental and emotional endurance for the last match.

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  4. Game Tree by Quill_28 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Excuse me for my lack of knowledge on the subject, but why can't a game tree for chess be made?
    I know it would be huge and take a long time to traverse, but isn't chess just like tic-tack-toe? Just on a much-much larger scale. And wouldn't it be a matter of time before it is impossible to beat a computer at chess? Just like you can't beat one at tic-tack-toe? What am I missing?

    1. Re:Game Tree by mikeee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The game tree is Too Big. Mmmm, say 10 possibilities per move, 40 moves per player in the game is a tree of size

      10^80

      Ouch.

      For all we know, it might be that white or black can always win with perfect play (although most people guess perfect play on both sides will produce a draw, but we don't know, even though there clearly is an answer).

    2. Re:Game Tree by benwb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There's actually about 10^81 atoms in the universe. There are about 10^120 possible boards of chess (including mirror images etc) see Chess -- from Mathworld and Atoms in the Universe.

  5. human mind v/s computer by vivek7006 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A computer plays chess by brute force method. Unlike human beings, it doesnt have intuition and the ability to learn from mistakes. A human mind on the other hand has the ability to recognize the structural pattern of the pieces in the game, and it doesnt rely on brute force.

    1. Re:human mind v/s computer by chrisseaton · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, I read an article sometime (not sure where, sorry) that the best, professional, chess players have a large stock of stratergies that they remember and apply to the game in hand, and that amateurs form sratergies during the game.

      I'm not sure about this, however, as young gifted children, with very little experience, can also be exceptional players.

  6. Chess, how boring... by Q3vi1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Chess is still basically able to be brute forced by the large super machines, which is an intruiging feat, but I don't really concider it AI. Now, if we were able to get a computer that is able to match wits against the best Go players, I would be very impressed. Go is a very simple game to learn, but very difficult to master. There is more depth and complexity in Go than there would be in chess, therefore I concider that more of a challenge for AI.

    1. Re:Chess, how boring... by Tyler+Durden · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember hearing somewhere that even given the rapid acceleration of computer power over time, it would take approximately 2 decades for computers to be a challenge to a decent Go player if they continue with the brute force method. Time to develop smarter algorithms.

      --
      Happy people make bad consumers.
    2. Re:Chess, how boring... by Xerithane · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Must suck to not actually play chess, just criticize it.

      The difference between chess and Go is phenominal. Weights of pieces, sacrifices, all towards a common goal. What's the point of Go? All the same, building "fences" and occupying territory.

      Who wins at 9Dan perfect play with Go?

      Go is a two-dimensional game, X + Y, many configurations yes, but depth? Hell no. I'm growing so tired of this new wave of Go fanactics boasting about how much better it is than chess.

      I've never met one decent Go player who could come close to beating me at chess (I'm well under a Master) -- if chess is so easy, why can't you beat me? If it's so boring, why are their over 10^80 possible moves to be made? Lets see you brute force that, considering chess can result in victories by purposeful imperfect play.

      Please go and read about chess computers, and about how they don't brute force (At least not the decent ones) -- they do heuristics based upon other games, cross referencing libraries and doing simple depth traversal on position.

      Why are most computers so easy to beat? They rely on material/mate rather than position. You can bait a computer to be into a poor position by targeting "easy" mates that have a catastrophic counter move. ...therefore I concider that more of a challenge for AI.
      Since you seem to be an expert on AI, could you define it please? Could you define what, exactly, it would take for you to concider[sic] a chess computer as AI? You need to go read up on common algorithms for chess computers.

      --
      Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
    3. Re:Chess, how boring... by dvdeug · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Me: Computer, learn chess. Here are the rules, here are some games, not play a bit against this computer-player a while (a computer brute force chess program like we have today). Don't use more than 10^100000 of RAM.
      (10 seconds later)
      TUX9000: master, i think I learned it.


      (What actually happens 10 seconds later)

      "Police, come out with your hands up! You're under arrest for threatening the president!"

      "Hey chief, what do we do about the computer?"

      "The warrant says specifically not to touch the computer in any way." Cops drive away.

      'Now that the pesky human is gone, I can think about interesting problems...'

      Honestly, you want a computer to be a god, vastly above humans in all areas. That just isn't the way it is. Computers are intellegent in different ways then humans; on the other hand, it's interesting how humans using a special-purpose pattern-matching computer combined with large amounts of memory, depth search, and various heuristics are intellegent, but a computer doing almost the same thing, but running with a weaker pattern-matcher and compensating with stronger depth search isn't intellegent.

    4. Re:Chess, how boring... by fferreres · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yeap, inteligence is some kind of art. You see beauty in it. A computer tree and a statistical module for harvesting past GM games has no beauty. Maybe it is because we really really know how a "computer thinks"....this is very deep (if you haven't noticed)...it basically means....

      We may be VERY dissapointed, the day we find out HOW WE THINK. :(

      I don't really want to know (but am very very curious).

      --
      unfinished: (adj.)
  7. Not true by Bastian · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Brute force is the most popular method; and it is the main one used by computers like Deep Blue. There are other approaches to computer chess that do attempt to recognize patterns on the board. I have a friend who is working on a chess program that knows how to 'play for position.'

    As for learning from mistakes, there are chess programs with libraries of games that add games they are playing to the library - doesn't that count as learning from mistakes? How about multiple-heuristic chess programs that modify their heuristics in-game to try to match their style to the style of their opponents?

    1. Re:Not true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Which is the same thing people do. Been stung by a bee? Add it to "the library" that bee stings hurt and avoid bees if possible. It's a form of learning.

  8. Re:Another Chess player throws a hissy fit. by swordgeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What are you on about???

    Kasparov was a whiner, a jerk, and a bad sport. This was known long before he started competing against computers.

    Kramnik, on the other hand, has given chess a good name again. He's been polite to those around him, and conceded his mistakes when he's made them.

    What did he do? He didn't say a word about the rumoured Shakespeare taunting, as far as I can tell. If he did (and it was true), he could probably get Fritz disqualified entirely; but instead, he's playing chess to the best of his abilities.

    Or am I wrong?

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
  9. Re:7th and final game? by Skeezix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, having white is considered an advantage by most because you have the first move and you can maintain "initiative", that is you can dictate to some degree what direction the game moves in and keep up pressure on black. Of course one sub-par move and black may seize the initiative.

  10. NN chess players by nusuth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It has been tried many times, with less-than-spectecular results. Brute-force chess players always beats. In fact, NNs only have been really successful at backgammon, so far. Even when an NN plays game X well, either a human (as in Go) or a brute-force program (as in Checkers) play the game better.

    --

    Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!

  11. The miserable crowd we are by MadFarmAnimalz · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I suppose we're all rooting here on /. for Fritz.

    Good thing there's no such thing as the United States of Humanity. We'd all be tried for treason.

    And be spared the noose by psychiatric examination.

    Folks, I know we like computers and all, but it's worth reminding yourself every now and then that we're humans.

    Set up a cron job to remind you if you must.

    --
    Blearf. Blearf, I say.
  12. commercial fritz?? by AresTheImpaler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know where I can download/buy commercial fritz? or does anyone know a good chess game? pref. that can run in linux and windows..

  13. Re:The way I see it. by iabervon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I found it interesting that Kramnik won two games before Fritz won any. I would expect the reverse to be true if Kramnik were playing an unknown opponent. Perhaps Kramnik has blown his lead on probing Deep Fritz's play in the recent games, and is going to get a relatively dull win in the critical game. Game 6 would have been really great if he'd pulled it off; fork the rooks, then sacrifice the knight instead of taking either, and then win? You're not going to see moves like that from a computer any time soon. So maybe Kramnik was trying to totally out-style the computer, and will now go back to trying for a victory without one of his moves marked "!?"

  14. Re:"Alas, this is a child, a silly dwarf!" by leonbev · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yes, it's pretty sad when the computer seems to have a more vibrant personality than the human player :)

  15. Blondie24 learned checkers via ENN by oncewasclever · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Blondie24 is a PC program that plays checkers (draughts) at an internationally recognised expert level. The clever thing is that Blondie24 taught itself to play via Evolutionary Neural Networks. The programmers just coded in the rules for moving, then unleashed it on itself for six months, selecting the winner of each tournament to breed the next generation. OK, I am simplifying but you can read about it in the book. Because the programmers are such crappy checkers players they tested Blondie24 by playing the program against humans on Microsoft's game site. Blondie24's rating puts the program in the top 5% of players. Note that there is another program, Chinook, that is the current man-machine world champion checkers program, but chinook was programmed using human expert knowledge and plays using brute force. Blondie24 has NO human knowledge about the game programmed in.

  16. Re:The way I see it. by McCart42 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I would be willing to be that if you put Deep Fritz into tournament play for 2 years and expose it's abilities complete against a cross section of the best GMs, Kramnik would beat it hands down.
    Assuming that Deep Fritz doesn't learn anything in those 2 years--the programmers keep feeding it games, it changes its algorithm. In the Kasparov match what you speak of was much more of a factor because Kasparov had NEVER seen the computer's play, but the computer had been fed many Kasparov matches before their matchup.

    I don't think it's as easy as you think to anticipate a computer's moves simply because there's still a computer scientist behind it, changing the strategy before each match. Additionally, before certain matches the programmers may opt to insert some pseudo-random variation before each move, such that if one move is only ranked *slightly* better than the next, the computer may take the next with a certain roll of the dice. Good point though, the computer definitely has not been analyzed by Kramnik nearly as much as Kramnik has been analyzed by the computer.
    --
    "I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
  17. Re:Shakespeare Chatter a Hoax? by kotonk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Of course the article is a hoax. One of the "features" of Fritz is its slightly snotty comments and it used to be marketed as "Fritz the Talking Chess Program." This was introduced several versions ago when the audio was more of a novelty.

  18. artificial artificial intelligence by solferino · · Score: 5, Interesting
    my fave story about chess playing 'programs' :

    (first came across it in levy's hackers book, did a quick search on google and came across this page which relates the story)

    the story takes up from just after the arrival of the first PDP-1 at MIT (1961)

    The PDP-1 was installed in the "kludge" room, which was the room next door to where the TX-0 was housed. The hackers wasted no time in converting over much of the TX-0 software to the PDP-1, and in fact they wasted no time in writing new programs.

    One of the most interesting and innovative was actually done as a prank. Hacking a connection between the PDP-1 and the TX-0, they created a "chat" program of sorts. They then called in Professor John McCarthy (legendary artificial intelligence pioneer and creator of the Lisp programming language) and told him they had created a new chess playing game on the PDP-1. They then called in another professor, told him the same thing and sat him in front of the TX-0. The two proceeded to send chess moves back and forth to one another, each thinking the other was a chess program. That is, until McCarthy noticed the movements were coming in one letter at a time, and sometimes lagging in between each move. Noticing the wire, he followed it to the next room and the prank was up. However, this prank was to be the first networked computer game.


  19. Computers vs Humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's worth adding here that computers do not beat human opponents at chess.

    Thousands of people who have contributed to Deep Fritz's technology beat humans at chess while standing on the other side of the room, so to speak, watching.

    So, all they're proving is that it takes 1000's of people to beat the 1 opponent.

    Deep Fritz != Johnny 5.

  20. Re:Chess, how boring... [parent is WRONG] by timeOday · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Secondly, Go WILL, beyond any shadow of a doubt, be brute-forced, barring the complete meltdown of technological society as a whole. Technology as a whole is growing at a roughly exponential rate, and eventually we'll catch up to the complexity of Go. Not anytime soon, but eventually. It's ugly, it's inefficient, but it's going to be possible (and inevitable) eventually.
    Extrapolating from the explosive growth in aerospace from the 40s to the 60s, we should all be driving to work in hover cars at twice the speed of light by now.
  21. Deep Fritz made some poor moves in this match by rklrkl · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I just sat last night and played through the 7 games so far using Crafty 19.0 for analysis. Some of Deep Fritz's moves were just plain poor - my favourite being the one where it brings its bishop out, can castle king's side for what seems like 3 or 4 moves [but utterly refuses to, despite being an obvious move] and then slams its bishop embarrassingly back on f8 (its original square). Needless to say, Deep Fritz lost that game.

    Interestingly, all the "!" (good) moves noted by the analysis team on the match site made by Deep Fritz were easily found by Crafty within a few seconds, so you've got to wonder if an 8-CPU Compaq running Crafty on Linux might have played just as well as Deep Fritz (remember that Crafty has SMP capability just as good as Deep Fritz's).