Computers outsmart humans in chess battle

Computers outsmart humans in chess battle

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It was touted as a battle of "man vs machine", with some of
the country's best chess players pitting their mental smarts
against hi-tech computer programs.

And as expected, the computers came out on top on Monday.

The matches, also to be held on Tuesday, pitted the quartet
against computerized chess programs -- Shredder8, Junior8, Fritz8
and Chessmaster9000.

The latter proved far too strong, with a combined 7.5-0.5
drubbing of the men.

GM Utut Adianto, GM Susanto Megaranto and FM Tirta Chandra
Purnama were all beaten in their two games. Only FM Taufik Halay
saved face with a half point in his second game against
Chessmaster9000.

Utut, who is also the interim chairman of the Indonesian Chess
Association (Percasi) after the resignation of Jeffry Geovanie in
December, took the widely expected defeat in stride.

"Of course, we battled hard for an edge against the computers.
But the fact that we lost doesn't bother us ... because the most
important thing is that we have taken a big step in a bid to
improve our chess performance in international tournaments," he
said.

"The world of chess, just like other sports, is indispensable
with (use of) high technology. Utilizing computers in our chess
training is a must if we are to catch up with the world."

The matches are being staged at the Wisma Karsa Pemuda
building outside Bung Karno sports compound in South Jakarta.

Four big screens have been placed around the stage for the
audience's viewing.

For the first set of matches, all the players were allotted a
thinking period of 60 minutes, but the humans seemed pressed for
time.

Against Fritz8 in the first game, Utut had a chance to force a
draw but with time ticking away, he made a tactical mistake to
hand victory to his opponent.

Utut only had about two minutes left, compared to a
comfortable 15 minutes for Fritz8.

"They moved accurately throughout," young players Susanto, 17,
and Tirta, 18, concurred of their opponents.

Taufik received applause for his feat against Chessmaster 9000
in the second game, but the 17 year old also found himself
running out of time.

Taufik gained an advantage after he forced his opponent to
liquidate its queen for a rook, bishop and pawn in the middle of
the game. But in the end, Chessmaster found a repetition that
Taufik could not stave off to force a draw after 55 moves.

Again, time was on the side of the computer; Taufik had three
minutes left on the clock compared to Chessmaster's 30 minutes.