Karpov vs. DEEP THOUGHT Cambridge, Massachusetts Reported by Darren Bedwell, Compuserve 73510,2300 On February 2, 1990, a crowd gathered in Memorial Hall at Harvard University to witness a game between GM Anatoly Karpov, former world chess champion, and DEEP THOUGHT, the world's top-ranked chess-playing machine. The event was sponsored by the Harvard Chess Club, American Chess Foundation, IBM Corporation, and Metrowest Chess Enterprises. George Mirijanian served as arbiter. The time control was G/61. Before the game, GM Karpov fielded questions from the audience: Question: Have you played many games against computers? Karpov: "I have played several programs, but mostly minicomputers like Mephisto & Fidelity; also some Russian programs. I have played this program before in simuls; I always beat it -- until now..." Q: Do you think a computer will ever be world chess champion? AK: "Only if the machine can calculate chess to the end." Q: Will you discuss this match with Kasparov? AK: "No, we don't talk between our matches." Q: Does the computer have a weakness? AK (laughs): "Sure!" Q: I'll be playing in the simul (February 3) and I was wondering what you'll play against the Modern Defense? AK (laughing): "Depends where you sit!" White Black Karpov DEEP THOUGHT 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 g6 4. c3 Bg7 5. e5 f6 6. f4 Nh6 7. Ngf3 O-O 8. Be2 fxe5 9. fxe5 c5 10. Nb3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Nc6 12. O-O Qb6 13. Kh1 a5 14. a4 Bf5 15. Bg5 Be4 16. Nc5 Qxb2 17. Nxe4 dxe4 18. Rb1 Qa3 19. Bc1 Qc3 20. Bd2 Qa3 21. Bc1 Qc3 22. Rb3 Qa1 23. Bc4+ Kh8 24. Bxh6 Qxd1 25. Bxg7+ Kxg7 26. Rxd1 exf3 27. gxf3 Ra7 28. Bd5 Rd8 29. Rb5 Ra6 30. Bc4 Ra7 31. Bd5 Ra6 32. Rc5 Rd7 33. Kg2 Rb6 34. Bxc6 bxc6 35. Kf2 Rd5 36. Rxd5 cxd5 37. Rc1 Rb4 38. Ke3 Rxa4 39. Rc5 e6 40. Rc7+ Kg8 41. Re7 Ra3+ 42. Kf4 Rd3 43. Rxe6 Rxd4+ 44. Kg5 Kf7 45. Ra6 a4 46. f4 h6+ 47. Kg4 Rc4 48. h4 Rd4 49. Rf6+ Kg7 50. Ra6 Kf7 51. h5 gxh5+ 52. Kf5 Kg7 53. Ra7+ Kf8 54. e6 Re4 55. Rd7 Rc4 56. Rxd5 h4 57. Rd3 Ke7 58. Rd7+ Kf8 59. Rh7 h5 60. Ke5 h3 61. f5 Kg8 62. Rxh5 a3 63. Rxh3 a2 64. Ra3 Rc5+ 65. Kf6 resigns Notes: The crowd gave the finish a standing ovation. Up to move 12, Karpov had used a total of about 5 minutes to DEEP THOUGHT's 9 minutes. By move 17, he had used 28 minutes. DEEP THOUGHT took only a few seconds for those moves. By move 28, Karpov, the current world Action Chess Champion, had only 10 minutes left on his clock. At move 31, he had only 5 minutes left. According to the arbiter, Karpov had "well over half a minute on his clock; in fact, probably over a minute-- plenty of time" (!?!) when the game ended. DEEP THOUGHT had over 30 minutes to spare when it resigned. In the post-game analysis, IM Patrick Wolff described Karpov's move 15 as "throwing down the tactical gauntlet", and that with 15. Bg5 Karpov was challenging DEEP THOUGHT where it was strongest. He then declared the position after 27. .... Ra7? to be a technical win for White. However, by move 38, DEEP THOUGHT had a forced draw available, which it rejected. DEEP THOUGHT reduces positional and material considerations to fractions of a pawn, and according to the design team, has a "contempt factor" of 0.8 of a pawn, meaning that it will accept a draw if it considers itself to be down by that amount or more. According to Dr. Murray Campbell, "The machine has had a problem with connected passed pawns in the past, and we're going to fix it." DEEP THOUGHT takes the same amount of time to calculate every move, even when it has only one move available. However, since it thinks on the opponent's time as well, when the opponent makes the move it expects, it responds immediately. There were two display boards set up in the hall, and I was able to keep a line score up to move 59, when the boardkeeper on my side of the hall lost track of the moves during the time scramble! None of the GMs and IMs present were able to keep track of the moves either, and by the time the post-game analysis got to that point, the DEEP THOUGHT team had shut down the modem link from their terminal! Heartfelt thanks to Ken Ramaley of Providence, Rhode Island, who kept what may have been the only complete score of the game outside of DEEP THOUGHT's memory banks. I believe this is the most remarkable performance by a chess- playing machine to date. To have available, and REJECT, a forced draw against a former world champion, is simply incredible. Congratulations, DEEP THOUGHT.