Deep Blue in Check
By ai-depot | June 30, 2002
Looking into the triumph of a chess machine over a grand champion, this essay starts by introducing the ideas behind logic game A.I. It then goes on to shatter the many misconceptions about Deep Blue’s intelligence, and tries to compare the benefits of combining human and machine abilities.
Written by Alex J. Champandard.
Introduction
In May 1997, in the rematch between IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue and chess grand champion Garry Kasparov, the machine controversially ended up winning 3.5 to 2.5. There’s a fascinating article describing the events in detail right over here, which is a good read even if you don’t know much about chess at all. The outcome of the match has become a milestone in the field of A.I., but sadly assaulted by select members of the community as an excuse to bring back to life their dubious theories of machine intelligence. This has attracted a lot of media attention and, as you may expect, many different opinions have arrised from this - most of which are simply stereotypes.
My personal interests in A.I. were still dormant back in 1997, and all I perceived from this ordeal was a cloud of confusion emitted by the press and general opinion. In fact, it turns out my expectations of Deep Blue were much too high… until one day. I was fortunate enough to assist a brilliant guest lecture given by David Pitcher (IBM UK) at the University of York Computer Science Department, discussing this very issue. My illusions were shattered by the raw brutality of the facts that lay beneeth the mist, and prompted me to look further into the topic.
There is much quality information out there for you to base your opinion of Deep Blue, it’s just a matter of finding the relevant parts. This essay will try to reveal them to you, thereby shattering the your myths about Deep Blue - just like mine were.
First, we will start by taking a quick look at chess, and why it has such an appeal for humans as well as scientist looking into Artificial Intelligence. We will then compare both these approaches to chess, pointing out the key differences and advantages. We will then go to show that Deep Blue is in fact not intelligent, but not for the reasons comonly put forth. In this case, it is mearly an extremely well engineered tool used to assist human intelligence. There are also few good essays on the topic of machine intelligence for chess, which we will analyse in more depth. Finally, we’ll wrap up by looking at what lies ahead for A.I. in chess, and where potential challenges will arrise from.
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