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Man vs. Machine

Chad Lieberman

Ever since Kasparov's infamous match against Deep Blue in 1996, the battle between humans and computers has been fought on the chessboard. This time, however, there was no board involved.

X3D is a hardware and software company which is currently revolutionizing how we play games using the technology of virtual reality. During the match last week against X3D Fritz, Gary Kasparov never touched a chess piece. He played the entire match (four games) looking through virtual reality goggles.

There was a lot of controversy at the beginning of this year about the results in the Kasparov-Deep Junior match. The fans were disappointed in the rather anticlimactic draw that occurred, especially because computer analysis shows that Kasparov had an edge in the final game.

You can imagine the anticipation for this event. After drawing the first game, fans were experiencing déjà vu. When Kasparov lost a crucial point in the second game, a drawn match suddenly seemed more like a victory. Kasparov showed the tiger inside in the third game, tying the score at 1.5-1.5.

It all came down to the final game. Kasparov wasn't too fond of his chances with the black pieces, but when X3D Fritz came out with a surprise opening, it all seemed possible again. Instead of entering an extremely tactical line with a queen sacrifice on move 13 (a line with which he defeated GM Kramnik in 2001), Kasparov chose a more solid line and decided then that a draw would be the result.

The game ended after 27 moves. So the match was tied and the battle for chess dominance is still unresolved.