G arry Kasparov, ranked as the top chess player in the world, has won the first round of a six round tournament against a computer known as Deep Junior, according to an article in Australiais news.com.au. In 1997, Kasparov lost a series of matches to IBMis Deep Blue supercomputer. He has alleged that humans helped Deep Blue emerge victorious, and asked for a rematch. Deep Blue, however, was dismantled before a rematch could be scheduled, and any questions regarding the way the match was handled were never able to be addressed.
Kasparov was allowed to practice with Deep Junior prior to the match, where he called the program "dangerous, unpleasant and unpredictable, with near-human qualities." From news.com.au:
Kasparov, tournament organizers and computer programmers say this is the first time that a chess grandmaster faced off against a computer under the supervision and rules of the International Chess Federation - the body that oversees world chess tournaments - the International Computer Game Association, and the US Chess Federation.
According to the new rules any questions can be appealed. The setup lays down a framework for future human-computer matches.
"The raw power of a computer is not everything," said Amir Ban, one of the Deep Junior programmers, speaking ahead of the match. "But itis important to use that power efficiently. The quality of chess knowledge is important too."
Kasparov was respectful of his rival ahead of the matchup, describing the program as dangerous, unpleasant and unpredictable, with near-human qualities.
"If you take the six Deep Blue games, Deep Junior would do better than me in every moment except two, when Deep Blue made genius moves," said Kasparov.
You can read the full article at news.com.auis Web site.