A software bug helped Deep Blue psych Kasparov out

 

The story of how computers surpassed human chess players, never to be caught again, goes like this: Kasparov beats IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996. In 1997, however, Deep Blue beats Kasparov during the six-game rematch. The 44th move during the first game of the rematch, Deep Blue moved a rook in a way that deeply concerned Kasparov. Kasparov didn’t understand the purpose behind the move, and came to the conclusion that Deep Blue was playing at a higher level than him. Surprisingly, the rook move was due to a software glitch, a IBM programmer relates in Nate Silver’s new book “The Signal and the Noise.”

The moment when computers surpassed human players at chess will likely be taken as a landmark moment in the history of artificial intelligence. It’s ironic, then, that one of the most important moves during the two series was directly due to a software glitch, again highlighting the differences between human intelligence and artificial intelligence: humans can lose themselves in their heads (Bobby Fischer comes to mind), but computers are always at the mercy of their coded DNA, which almost always includes bugs.

Take a look at the entire game in question below.

Kif Leswing
Categories: Computers
Tags: chess, ibm