Machine Beats New World Chess Champion

Fresh from his victory over a human opponent, Vesselin Topolov, World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik, lost the sixth and decisive game against computer program Deep Fritz on Tuesday, ceding a hard-fought Man vs. Machine match 4-2. The Russian takes home $500,000, half of what he would have received if he had won against Deep Fritz, a commercially available chess program that runs on a powerful personal computer. Kramnik said he was "a bit disappointed" and expressed hope that a rematch could be arranged in a year or two. "With more time to prepare, I still have a chance." With a computer that calculates millions of positions every second, "there are always certain threats," Kramnik said.

Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, was the first to play a match against a computer several years ago, which ended in a draw. He would lose the re-match to "Deep Blue", and his game never seemed the same. Previously brushes with computers and world champions, also saw Anatoly Karpov nearly lose a simultaneous exhibition to one, when the computer missed a forced checkmate, and Bobby Fischer's demolition of M.I.T.'s weak "Greenblatt" program in 1978. "Fritz" has been available for some time now, and is considered one the leading database programs for computer chess.

Deep Fritz 10 - Kramnik,Vladimir (2750), Man vs Machine Bonn, Germany Game 6

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Bb3 Qc7 9.Re1 Nc6 10.Re3 0-0 11.Rg3 Kh8 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Qe2 a5 14.Bg5 Ba6 15.Qf3 Rab8 16.Re1 c5 17.Bf4 Qb7 18.Bc1 Ng8 19.Nb1 Bf6 20.c3 g6 21.Na3 Qc6 22.Rh3 Bg7 23.Qg3 a4 24.Bc2 Rb6 25.e5 dxe5 26.Rxe5 Nf6 27.Qh4 Qb7 28.Re1 h5 29.Rf3 Nh7 30.Qxa4 Qc6 31.Qxc6 Rxc6 32.Ba4 Rb6 33.b3 Kg8 34.c4 Rd8 35.Nb5 Bb7 36.Rfe3 Bh6 37.Re5 Bxc1 38.Rxc1 Rc6 39.Nc3 Rc7 40.Bb5 Nf8 41.Na4 Rdc8 42.Rd1 Kg7 43.Rd6 f6 44.Re2 e5 45.Red2 g5 46.Nb6 Rb8 47.a4 1-0

E. "Doc" Smith is a former Rhode Island Amateur Champion, and has won divisional titles in the U.S. Amateur Team Championships for Brown University as well as the Rhode Island Chess League Championships.