|
Translated by Ljiljana Radisic The first chess automatic device intended for the chess game, the forerunner of today's chess computers, was constructed in Spain, at the end of the previous century. Its designer was engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852 -1936), one of the best programers and designers of electrotechnical devices of that time. The automatic device was able to play the final game of the king + rook, against king from any desired position. The author showed and demonstrated the possibilities of the automat in the high scientific societies in Bilbau, Sevilla and Valladolidu.In 1914 the automat was accepted with enthusiasm on Sorbona and caused great interest in France. The automat in working order is still in the Polytechnical museum in Madrid, from time to time crossing the borders on the request of the organizers from abroad. So in 1951 it was the object of admiration in Paris, at the Cybernetic congress, while a year later it was the "honorary" guest of the Chess Olimpiad in Leipzig, where it managed to defeat even the world champion, Mikhail Tal! The creation of the machine which would be able to receive a great number of information, capable to edit them and then to do a great number of operations with the help of these information, represents the enormous progress which was possible thanks to a new scientific discipline - cybernetics, beginning in 1942 and the scientific works of N.Wiener from 1948. Two years later Claude E. Shannon, a famous mathematician, writes fully about the principles for the progaming of the electronic machine, which would be able to play chess. Almost half of the century has passed since then, and I and my generation are the living witnesses of everything that happened in this field. The work, which has lasted for several decades, done by the chess-players and experts of other professions gathered in teams with the guiding idea - creation of the machine - computer capable of playing chess at the level of the world grand masters and which would defeat even the world champion! At the beginnig, the first machines - computers played normally, at the level of the lower category player. They were based on the programs loaded in the huge static computers located at some scientific institutions, while the moves are transmitted by phone. In 1967 the first international meeting between the American and Soviet computers was organized, and it ended with the victory of the "Soviets" and the result 3:1. The relatively low level of played games caused scepticism with most professional chess - players considering the future of the computer chess. In the year of 1968, the former world champion and the representative of FIDE, a doctor of mathematical sciences, Max Euwe during his stay in the Soviet Union, declared among other things "...my opinion is that only after 100 - 150 years the machine will play at the same level as the master candidate." Much more optimism was shown by the other world champion, also a doctor of electrotechnical sciences, Mihail Botvinik, who has worked on improving the algorithm for many years, convinced that the machine-computer will soon defeat even the grand masters. "The machine should surpass a grand master and in that case we shall have two world championships: one for the grand masters, and the other for the computers" said Botvinik. Botvinik's statements very soon became true; in 1974 the first World computer championships was organized in Stockholm. 13 programs from 8 countries participated, and after 4 rounds according to the suisse system the winner was "Kaissa" from The Soviet Union with 4 points. After three years, in 1977, the second world computer championships with 16 programs participating from 6 countries was organized in the Canadian city, Toronto. 4 rounds were also played according to the swiss system and the tytle of the world champion was gained by the program "Chess 4.6" from the USA with 4 points. Finally, in 1980 the last world championships of such enormous computers was organized and the moves were transmitted by phone from 6 countries. 18 programs participated and 4 rounds were also played. The competition ended in dead race between the program "Belle" and "Chaos" with 3.5 points.In the additional game the program "Belle" won and in that way got the title of the third world champion. To see the illustration of the chess power of the computers of that time view the following game.
In the whole of this, and in the forthcoming period, the fierce battle was led between men to create the machine and program which would defeat human grandmaster on one side, and the battle of the chess masters, and even grandmasters who defended the human priority from the increasing threat - computers.In 1968 English international master David Levy, informatician by profession, offered a great bet that in the following 10 years he would not lose a match against any computer. After a few played games, in the meantime, in 1977, he was challenged to the match against the program "Chess" in the USA. Although Levy won the match out of 6 games, he was eventually defeated in the 4th game which was at that time considered as the significant success of the computers. A new bet was not offered, but David Levy was defeated in the next match in 1989, against the computer "Deep Thought", played also in the USA. This is one of the games:
In the same year, in 1977, then already the ex-world champion, the ingenious Robert Bobby Fischer played his match against the program "Chess Newsletter" in the USA. Fischer won the match with the result 3:0, without playing the 4th, last game.Here you can see one of the games in which Fischer won.
In the same year, in 1977, the first victory of the computer against one grandmaster was noted down! M. Stean, Enlish grandmaster lost the game against "Chess 4.6" played in the USA in the blitz (5 minutes per player). After the defeat Stean said: "This computer is the chess genius". That game was as follows:
After playing one simultaneous game, American grandmaster Wolter Braun also lost a game against his opponent - computer. At that time, a reverse case was recorded: the computer playing a simultaneous game! In 1977 in Paris, program "Chess" played a simultaneous against 10 eminent cultural workers of France and had 7 won, 2 lost and 1 draw. This was the time of the rapid development of the microcomputers and they appeared more often at the official tournaments in the human competition. Since 1981 the world championships of microcomputers have been organized. The chess power of the computers has increased constantly, day after day. Over the years the computers have been losing in the direct competition with a man, but the situation has slowly changed. In the 80's some grandmasters, then world champions played successfully simultaneous games against various computers. During the international tournament in 1980, in Bad-Kisingen the organisers of the tournament organized simultaneous games of the grandmasters Robert Hubner, Volfgang Unziker and the former and actual world champion Boris Spasky and Anatolj Karpov against 25 various computers each, for commercial purposes. In the end each grandmaster had maximum winnings, but all of them were in lost position in a certain game! In 1984 in Hamburg, grandmaster Helmut Pfleger played simultaneous game on 26 boards. He had 22 winnings, 2 draw and 2 lost.During the simultaneous, without letting the grandmaster know, three opponents were in the direct phone connection with the computers which were out of the hall and which, in fact, played against the grandmaster. After the second simultaneous the grandmaster was very surpraised when he was told that three of his opponents were - computers and that one of them even defeated him! At the beginning of 1985 Garri Kasparov won all 32 games against the computers of four greatest manufacturers, but he also surmounted successfully some very difficult positions. Here is how he defeated one of the computers
Computers have improved more, so that at the end of 1988 the ex-champion of the USA Arnold Denker, was the first grandmaster who lost in the first real chess game against the computer "Hitech". Here is the game:
In the same year the computer "Deep Thought" defeated the grandmaster Bent Larsen and a year later grandmasters Antony Miles, Robert Byrne, Maxim Dlugy also lost against this program. It is interesting that the computer lost against the world champion Garri Kasparov. In the same year at the world computer championships in Edmonton in Canada, this program won first place and the title of the world champion among computers. Here is how the world champion for computers played at that time:
Finally, in the last decade of this century, the biggest steps in the development of hardware and software have been recorded. Computers have become unimaginable powerful and fast machines capable to calculate millions of combinations in only a second, so fast and powerful to a man that it is no wonder that the total change has happened. In the 90's of this century and millenium chess programs have also developed and become almost perfect. Since they have been made on such powerful hardware resources, we have eventually got artificial chess grandmasters! These have been the years of the complete return game, when almost all the world grandmasters have dared to play against the computers and have experiences the first defeats. Out of a great number of grandmasters who have left the whole "prize" to the computer I will mention only the most sensational. In 1994, in London a great tounament GRAND PRIX was organized by PCA, under the managment of the world champion Garri Kasparov and sponsorship of the computer company INTEL. Among the participants was also the chess program Genius on PC computer Pentium. Two games were played, eliminating system. According to the will of the lot, Garri Kasparov met Genius and was sensationally defeated -1,5 :0,5 ! Here is the game when Kasparov lost:
At the same tournament Genius defeated the grandmaster Predrag Nikolia with 2:0, and was defeated only in the final game by 2:0 by the grandmaster Viswanathan Anand. The former world vice-champion, grandmaster David Bronstein, is one of rare players from the old generation, who, during all these years until 1997 with the enthusiasm of a "test driver" had successfully played with many chess programs - computers. In 1994 for the first time he felt the bitterness of losing playing against the computer "Tasc R30". Here is what it was like:
In that same 1994 the great blitz tournament was organized in Munich, with the participation of modern world grandmaster elite, led by the world champion. Among the participants was also the program - computer "Fritz 3", at that time perhaps the most powerful chess program in the world. Then in front of animated "Fritz" grandmasters Alexandar Chernin, Vishy Anand, Ognjen Cvitan, Boris Gellfand, Aleksandar Wojtkievicz, Johann Hjartarson, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Nigel Short signed the defeat. Here is how it defeated Kramnik:
Only in the continuation of the tournament, in the play off, the world champion Garry Kasparov managed to defeat "Fritz-a 3" in the match with the result 4:1. In 1995 Slovak grandmaster Lubomir Ftachnik played the match in Brno against "Fritz-a 3" and was defeated with 3:1.
Garry Kasparov won the computers "Chess Genius X" and "Fritz 4" with the result 1,5 : 0,5, while Najgel Short won the computer "MChess Pro 5.0" with 2:0. In this year, as well as in the several following years, on the world scene there were many powerful chess programs, but the future "artificial grandmasters" will only be coming.. David Bronstein lost in the match against the computers "Zarkov" and "Virtual chess", Larry Chrisiansen lost against the computer "MChess Pro 5.0", Yasser Seirawan against the computer "Hiares", John Nunn against the computer "Quest" etc ... In 1996 the program "Junior" had the world promotion and it was not defeated in the match with the phenomenal Judit Polgar, David Bronstein was still active but began to play to a draw, Anatoly Karpov won in the match against "Fritz-a", Jan Timman made draw both games against the computer "MChes Pro". The computer "Crafty" showed up and defeated several grandmasters, victories against grandmasters were also recorded by Fritz 4" and "Fritz 5". The match of 6 games between the computer "Deep Blue" and Garry Kasparov was organized in the USA. The match caused great interest in the world and it ended with the Kasparov's victory and the result 2:1, with 3 draws!. Here is one of the victories of Deep Blue:
In 1997 there was a noticeable diferentiation among the computer programs at the world top."Fritz 5" had significant results in very strong competition in Frankfurt, Anatoly Karpov made draw both games with the computer "Mephisto Chess Challenger", David Bronstein lost against the computers "Nimzo" and "Saitek Sparc Brute Force" in Hague and he slowly left the scene. Vishy Anand successfully played simultaneous against several computers, while Jan Timman did not manage to have such a result. A great match of 16 games between grandmaster Artur Jusupow and the computer "Rebel" was organized for the first time in Italy and the final result was the victory of the machine over the man! Here is one of the games:
In this year the return match of 6 games between the computer "Deep Blue" and Garry Kasparov was organized in the USA. The match caused again great interest in the world, and the computer won with the result 2:1 and with 3 draws! View the last game of the match:
In 1998 even greater progress was recorded in the chess programs as well as in the computer technology. The speed of the processor achieved incredible performances so that the power of the programs became even bigger. In the world top "Fritz 5" is still leading and it glowed again in Frankfurt, "Junior 5", "Genius5"; in Italy, also, the great match between the grandmaster Anand and the computer "Rebel 10.0" was organized. In the first two classical games, the grandmaster won with the result 1.5:0.5. In the next two rapid games the computer won with the result 1.5:0.5, while in the next 4 games of blitz "Rebel 10.0" won with the result 3:1. here is one of the victories:
In 1999 there was a complete breaktrough of chess programs of the firm ChessBase, "Fritz-a 6", "Junior-a 6", which from time to time have changed places at the top of the world rating list for computers. Considering the power and the achieved results they are ranked among the real "artificial grandmasters of extra-class". "Fritz 6" gained victory in a phenomenal and really sensational way at the super tournament in Frankfurt. Here is how he won against Adams:
In 2000, at the end of the century and millenium, we can say that the long-term, we can even say century-old dream of the scientists successfully came true and they directed their intelectual and spiritual strength to create the machine which would play chess with the power of human grandmaster. Without talking about the merits of the scientists meritorious for the development of hardware, in other words, for the computer itself as a machine, I am going to give the names of the most meritorious leaders of the numerous teams who have during all these years worked hard on the creation of the "artificial grandmaster": -Richard Lang - "Genius" "Mephisto" Certainly, besides unquestionable contribution of the computer experts, great and indebted contribution in creating the "artificial grandmaster" over all these years has also been given by the army of chess players, beginning with Mikhail Botvinik and other grandmasters on one side, as well as a great number of grandmasters ending with Judit Polgar, Vishy Anand and Garry Kasparov, who agreed to measure out their chess power with the computers, in the centuries long persuit of the truth: who is better - a man or a machine?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOME|NEWS|RATINGS
DATABASE|GAMES|COMPUTER
CHESS|PROBLEMS|LINKS
Send us your comments! 
Last change: 8/11/2006 at 10:57.
© Design,Copyright 2000-2007
Hit Team
Optimized for Internet Explorer 6 and above, res. 800x600, 64k colours.
Java viewer
Download