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Kasparov Dons 3D Glasses To Fight, Draw X3D Fritz
Shalda writes "CNN is reporting that: "Former world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov, 40, pits his genius against 'X3D Fritz,' a combination of Fritz, the most dominant chess software, with X3D Technologies company software that specializes in virtual reality." Kasparov will be looking at a virtual board through 3D VR glasses in what sounds like one of the lamest chess PR stunts ever." ChessBase has some interesting statistics trying to predict the entire match, plumping for an overall Kasparov win, but Reuters reveals today's opening encounter ended in a draw.
If someone could get some 3D VR going with updated graphics for Battlechess, I'd start playing again...
The ESPN2 commentary was really funny too.
According to the description of the Kasparov-Fritz3D match, thousands of hours have been spent to create a floating image of a 3D chessboard. Kasparov will wear those cool glasses to see it and use special controls to adjust his view of the board. He will have to voice his moves since he can't physically move the pieces. He has trained many hours to get used to it. Am I the only one that finds this totally ridiculous? I can't think of anything more worthless for chess except possibly playing the match under water or in anti-gravity!! How about this? Have Kasparov wear special glasses with clear lens, darken the room, put a real chessboard down on a table, and use a desklamp to light up the board. With a little effort, Kasparov could imagine that the board is floating and guess what, he can actually move the pieces! No special training needed.
On a side note, this match will undoubtedly end in a tie. Anytime Kasparov gets a little behind in a game he will ask for a draw and the Fritz staff will be happy to give it to him. There is little chance that Kasparov will be able to get a strong position against the computer except by an opening novelty and with improved opening books of computers, chances of this are slim. Even if GK gets a small advantage he will ask for a draw if time is short or if it requires a long endgame. Expect a lot of draws.
Obviously its strategy is to try giving Kasparov a virtual-boy sized headache and throw off his game.
Ok, I know it's not any more exciting but why not pit the best computers against eachother.
I mean, I'm sure some Chess geeks would love to follow the game of Deep Blue vs. Deep Junior. We should stop ranking chess players in two seperate categories depending on whether they are human or not.
Let's face it, having a person controlling the board doesn't actually make watching a game of chess any more exciting.
You know what's pretty funny? All of the chess commentators are saying that he's putting himself at a disadvantage, or "torturing himself" by doing it with the stupid 3D virtual reality glasses. That's probably not what X3D wanted to hear...
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As a side note to this media stunt. What is the state of wearable computing goggles. Personally, I'm goddamn sick of looking at my CRT but don't want to pay for a 19" LCD. Would buying goggles keep the price down (I figure two tiny LCDs must be cheaper than one big one). Where could I buy such goggles? Google is turning up nothing.
Photos.
Kasparov: My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
Fritz: kekeke ^_^
Grandmasters like Kasparov are commonly known to be able to not only play blindfolded but play on almost the same level that they play with the board in front of them. For some reason this really applies to only the really great ones, though I must admit that I have knowledge of Kasparov playing blindfolded but many grandmasters before him have played absolutely astonishing games like that.
I remember a picture of a former russian grandmaster Aljechin sitting on a chair and behind him were some 20 to 30 other top russian players. He played against them simultaneously and without back against them. Can't remember the exact result, but in overall he won by some margin. Just about the most spectacular event in chess history that I can remember, althoug there are many many others.
So my point being, the vr glasses probably won't do that much good for him and even worse they may disturb his concentration more than they're of use.
I can wholeheartedly recommed borrowing some chess history books. They're filled with amazing true stories about those goons. One really doesn't have to be all that much into chess to enjoy them. Was it Spasski who was so concentrated on his next game in a tournament that he got mixed with the doors of the cafeteria and somehow wound up back inside. Deep thinking poor chap ate again. Might have not been Spasski, but it was one of the greater ones.
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Is it just me or does she look like she should be Miss Long Island? The big hair, chubby arms, goofy look on her face, etc.. I don't know how Miss Massapequa ended up being Miss New York...
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I found x3dFritz for sale, and now I'm really curious. Has anybody found any reviews/hands on for the technology, or even better, reviews of X3d fritz itself? Google has turned up nothing so far.
Dear X3D advertising department:
When you use images like this one that make it look like your celebrity is struggling to squeeze out a huge turd, it doesn't make me very interested in your product.
Manipulating chess pieces that way is just silly.
Who are those X3D guys, anyway? Just to confuse everything, there's an X3D consortium. A few years ago, the angle bracket police decided to convert VRML to XML syntax. Unfortunately, nobody cared about VRML by then.