Garry Kasparov: Success, Deep Blue, After 1997 And The Controversy
Introduction
Welcome to the greatest, and most ginormous mega biography article you have ever read (maybe, maybe not). Today, we will be going through the full biography and success of The Legend (or g.o.a.t whatever you want to say) Garry Kasparov.
We all know him from various sources such as the longest reigning for the World Champion title, his matches against Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997, why he is the G.O.A.T etc.
Today we will go through all of these, mainly on the Deep Blue vs Garry Kasparov theory of 1996 and 1997. Join us as we jump in!
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov is often considered the best chess player ever. He was born in Baku, which was part of the Soviet Union (now in Azerbaijan), in 1963. He learned a lot at Mikhail Botvinnik's school and became the youngest chess champion ever in 1985. Kasparov was always strong-willed and left FIDE in 1993. After retiring from chess in 2005, he became known for his political work. Even though he's not a professional player anymore, he's still involved in the chess world.
Let's go through these phases in detail. Let's go!
Early Phase of Career
Kasparov showed himself with good potential to become a great chess player when he was young, which allowed him to attend Botvinnik's school. With coaches like Vladimir Makogonov and Alexander Shakarov, he improved and won the Soviet Junior Championship in 1976 and 1977. In 1980, he won the World Junior title. In the same following year, he tied for first place in the Soviet Championship. Some chess players are just meant for it!
Even though Kasparov didn't qualify for the 1981 championship to replace Anatoly Karpov -- the Interzonals happened in 1979 -- he was prepared for the 1984 cycle. With a score of +7 -0 =6 in the Moscow Interzonal, Kasparov secured a place in the Candidates matches. He initially beat Alexander Beliavsky 6-3 (+4 -1 =4). Then, he was set to play against Viktor Korchnoi, who had challenged Karpov in 1978 and 1981, in the semifinal.
Kasparov stopped Korchnoi from trying to challenge Karpov for the third time in a row, winning with a score of 4 wins, 1 loss, and 6 draws. The only person left between Kasparov and a match with Karpov was former champion Vassily Smyslov, who was 63 years old at the time, making him three times older than Kasparov.
The final match between the candidates was not a close one. Kasparov didn't lose any games, winning the third, fourth, ninth, and twelfth games. The match ended with a draw in the thirteenth game, giving Kasparov a final score of 8 ½ to 4 ½ in his favor.
The World Championship
Kasparov joined the 1984 championship after playing against Karpov four times earlier, losing once in 1975 (when he was 12) and tying three times in 1981. But things began badly for Kasparov, as he lost four out of the first nine games. The rules were the same as in the Karpov-Korchnoi matches in 1978 and 1981, where the first player to win six games would be the champion, and draws wouldn't count. Really, a young man loosing so quickly? Nope, said Kasparov. I'm about to ruin this man's whole career! (I want that type of confidence)
First of all, Kasparov won his first world championship and his first victory against Karpov in Game 32.
More tie games happened after that. Then, in the 47th game, Kasparov won again. And in the 48th game, he won once more. The score was now 5-3...but the match was finished. The FIDE President, Florencio Campomanes, said it was over because of the players' health. They would begin fresh in 1985, and as expected, the new match used the 24-game format.
Karpov started ahead again, but with a smaller lead of 2-1 after five games, since Kasparov won the first game. Kasparov made the match even in the 11th game. In the next game, he used a strange risky move from the Sicilian defense, which led to a quick tie. The following three games also ended in draws.
Next, in the 16th game, Kasparov played what might be the best chess game anyone has ever played. He used his Sicilian gambit again, and this time Karpov didn't respond as well as he had before. Quickly, Kasparov's pieces took control of the board.
With a 4-3 advantage, Kasparov won Game 19 and then had two draws. But in Game 22, Karpov found a way to win with a Queen's Gambit. This made the score 11 ½ - 10 ½ for Kasparov, including the draws. If Kasparov lost one of the last two games, Karpov would tie the match at 12-12 and keep his title. Kasparov managed a draw in Game 23, needing only one more draw to win the title.
Instead of drawing Game 24, he won it.
Kasparov said he won because he prepared better than Karpov, and Karpov agreed with this. However, Kasparov also praised Karpov for giving a real challenge for the championship.
We don't know how the 1984 match would have ended. Maybe Kasparov would have won, or maybe Karpov would have found a way to win the sixth game. But now Kasparov was the champion, and he still had a chance to become the youngest ever. He was 22 years and seven months old, which was 11 months younger than Mikhail Tal was in 1960.
(The two paragraphs above are credit to Chess.com biography of Garry Kasparov)
For further information about Garry Kasparov's after Winning the World Championship, click over here.
Garry Kasparov vs Deep Blue in 1996 & 1997
We all have seen those AI vs Human comparison videos, and those posts where AI will conquer humans in the future. But is that something we all worry about in day-to-day life?
AI has been well-known in chess as well. Almost everywhere we go today, we will see AI. In chess, AI has been known as the Engine. The engine is the computer we use for analysis, playing against, and so on. Some people even use it for the wrong, which is cheating!
And there are sometimes special moments when the clash between humans and technology meets in the current world of humanity. These clashes fascinate humankind.
One of these moments occurred in 1996 and 1997 when the 15-time World Chess Champion (around that time it was 12th) Garry Kasparov faced off against IBM's supercomputer, Deep Blue! It had impressed in more than millions of people.
So, let's dive into the world of AI and Humankind, and see the winners of the game!
- Tip: You Can Watch the Games Here, As Well.
1996; The Match
In 1996, Garry Kasparov, one of the best chess players ever, was offered to play against Deep Blue in a big match where human skills were against computer power. Deep Blue, made by IBM engineers & led by Feng-Hsiung Hsu, was a computer of course, who could think about a million moves in seconds.
The matches were in Philadelphia and had six games played according to the regular rules of a chess tournament. Let us see the games, with analysis and results. We will look out for all, from Mistakes to Brilliance!
Game 1
The first chess game was a big surprise when Kasparov had to resign after thirty-seven moves against Deep Blue. It was surprising because it was the first time a world champion lost to a computer in a tournament with slow time controls, changing chess history.
Game 2
Everyone was watching Kasparov after the first game to see if he could bounce back from losing to Deep Blue. The pressure of representing human intelligence was tough, but as a world champion, Kasparov stepped up to the challenge!
Game 3
The first two rounds were full of fighting, but everything calmed down and game three ended in a draw. Kasparov chose to play the Sicilian once again, which wasn't successful in game one, but Kasparov managed to keep the game in check, and it ended in a draw after 39 moves.
Game 4
Yet another game where everything was settled as it was. The game lasted for 42 moves and was sacrificed to claim a draw.
Game 5
This game was a sad moment for the Deep Blue rooting team (Aww Mann is probably how they were lol). Kasparov asked for a tie on move 23, but the computer said no, declining the offer. After the tie request, Deep Blue's game got worse as Kasparov gained control and didn't stop until the computer had to give up. This is the reason this was an upset.
Game 6
Kasparov followed his plan and strategy by playing defensively with White against Deep Blue. This game was very one-sided, and Kasparov decisively defeated Deep Blue, showing that humans were still superior in chess.
And that's how Kasparov dominated the 1996 match with the Chess Engine, Deep Blue.
1997; The Rematch
In 1997, Garry was asked once more for a match to play against the computer machine Deep Blue. This time, it was taken place in New York. It probably had the most analyzed matches of the year. Could it be that Deep Blue comes back like a wounded snake, and makes a comeback? Or could it be Garry Kasparov continues his winning streak? Let's move through and join us as we analyze each game, with analytics!
Game 1
Kasparov was really surprised by how Deep Blue played in this game. They say that on move 44, there was a computer "bug" and the machine got confused and just fell apart because it couldn't decide what move to make.
Game 2
In this game, lots of controversy was up. In the game, Garry Kasparov accused the IBM team members of cheating by receiving information outside from a strong Grandmaster who gave the move 36. axb5!. Later in 2016, he admitted in an interview that after he had analyzed the game, he took back his accusations saying he was wrong.
Game 3
Kasparov had been exhausted after the loss in the previous game. It was his real test - Can he regain the advantage? Well, isn't that why we're here? Let's jump in!
Game 4
Kasparov seems to like the strategy of playing weird and funny openings, but this time on move 2!? Well, only Grandmasters can do it. If we do it, we get a blunder from Stockfish, Coach, and everyone you possibly know (don't forget if you're Asian then you're dead).
Game 5
Game 5 was another draw, again!? But listen, it was not a quiet game at all. It was a real battle, and players fought until the end of the match where nothing was possible. I see this game a little more interesting than the past 2 other draws, so this one might be worth looking at.
Game 6
This is the final match of the Rematch in 1997. It was the most shocking experience for both Kasparov and the World, as you might know what? Deep Blue sacrificed a KNIGHT on MOVE 8!? That's not all, Kasparov couldn't recover from it and went down to loose on move 19.
And that's how Deep Blue managed to win the Rematch against Kasparov. It was the first time when a reigning World Chess Champion had lost to an engine, which led to many debates. This match got a lot of people talking and thinking about what artificial intelligence can do and how it might affect things like competitive chess and society in general.
Deep Blue; How was it Programmed?
Deep Blue was a Super-Engine-Computer designed and programmed to play chess, of course. It was created by IBM engineers. Deep Blue was surprisingly the first computer to win a chess game against a reigning World Chess Champion ever in history.
Early producing
The development of Deep Blue began in 1985 at Carnegie Mellon University under the name ChipTest. Then, it was moved to IBM and renamed as Deep Thought. In 1989, it was renamed again as Deep Blue. They surely don't know what name is good XD. Then of course,it was matched up with Garry Kasparov in two years of 1996 and 1997. Even though it lost in 1996, it won in 1997 creating a big subject of dispute. It was even been put in movies, books and films. Let's see how it's software and hardware has been produced by IBM engineers.
So here's the information all in just a few paragraphs — It's prototype in 1995, released in 1996 and it was upgraded in 1997.
For these dates, here's the information provided by IBM (credit: Wikipedia)
1995: IBM RS/6000 Workstation with 14 custom VLSI first-generation "chess chips".
1996: IBM RS/6000 SP Supercomputer with 30 PowerPC 604 "High 1" 120 MHz CPUs and 480 custom VLSI second-generation "chess chips"
1997: IBM RS/6000 SP Supercomputer with 30 PowerPC 604e "High 2" 200 MHz CPUs and 480 custom VLSI second-generation "chess chips
Along with these operations, it includes one more opening system called IBM AIX. Space is plenty, 2 cabinets, speed is 11.38 GFLOPS (1997), and of course purpose is to play chess. I'm pretty sure 99% of you will not understand but neither do I 😂
Design
In the image given above, it is shown inside one of Deep Blue's cabinets. As I mentioned, it is one of its processors.
Software
Deep Blue's way of judging chess positions started with a basic plan, with lots of numbers that needed to be set (like how much a protected king matters compared to having control of the middle of the board, etc.). These numbers were decided by looking at thousands of games played by chess experts. The judging plan was then divided into 8,000 smaller parts, with many made for specific situations. The list of starting moves included over 4,000 setups and looked at 700,000 games by top chess players, while the endgame guide had lots of six-piece endings and all endings with five or fewer pieces. There was also an extra guide called the "extended book" that gives an overview of whole games played by Grandmasters. Deep Blue uses its fast ability to look at 200 million chess setups every second along with the information in the extended book to choose its first moves.
Before the second game, grandmaster Joel Benjamin made some small changes to the program's rules. The list of starting moves was given by grandmasters Miguel Illescas, John_Fedorowicz, and Nick de Firmian. When Kasparov asked to see other games Deep Blue had played to understand it better, IBM said no. So, Kasparov looked at many popular computer chess games to learn how computers play.
(Joel Benjamin, the person who changed the rules and functions of Deep Blue)
(Credit: Wikipedia for the following information above)
Hardware
Deep Blue used special computer chips to speed up a chess-searching method called the alpha-beta algorithm, which is a type of smart computer thinking. It got really good at chess mostly because it was super fast and powerful. It was a big IBM computer with 30 main brain processors and 480 special chess chips that were made to play chess really well. There were also some extra parts called FPGAs that were meant to fix any problems with the chess chips, but they weren't used in the end. All these parts were kept in two big boxes. The chess chip has four main parts: a move maker, a smart move memory, a way to judge how good a move is, and a part that controls the searching. The move maker is like a tiny chess board inside the chip.
(How a VLSI chip looks like, specifically in Deep Blue)
The chess program was made with a computer language called C and worked on a system named AIX. It could look at 200 million possible moves every second, which was twice as quick as the 1996 version.
In 1997, Deep Blue got even better and was ranked 259th on a list of the strongest supercomputers. It reached 11.38 billion calculations per second on a test that measures how well computers work together to solve problems.
(Credit: Wikipedia for the following information above)
Aftermath
Aftermath refers to what happened after these changes in Deep Blue, or before. Through my understanding it could be anything, but over here it's after the 1997 match. So let's go through it!
Chess of Deep Blue
Kasparov first described Deep Blue as an "alien opponent" but later made fun of it, saying it was "as smart as your alarm clock". Martin Amis reported that two top chess players felt playing against Deep Blue was "like facing a wall". Hsu could use the Deep Blue design without IBM's involvement, but he didn't accept Kasparov's offer for a rematch. In 2003, a documentary called Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine looked into Kasparov's accusations that IBM cheated. In the film, some people said IBM invested in Deep Blue to increase its stock value.
Other Games
After Deep Blue won, AI expert Omar Syed created a game called Arimaa. It was easy for people to play but hard for computers to learn. But in 2015, computers got good enough to beat good Arimaa players. Since Deep Blue's win, computer scientists have made programs for other challenging board games with competitive players. AlphaGo beat the best Go players in the 2010s.
Computer scientists, like Campbell who developed Deep Blue, thought that playing chess was a good way to test how well artificial intelligence works. When Deep Blue beat a world champion chess player, IBM proved they had made big advancements. Deep Blue also made it popular to use games to show off artificial intelligence, like how IBM Watson and AlphaGo do.
Deep Blue could look at 200 million chess positions every second and was the first computer to play a world chess champion in a real game. It was a top-of-the-line expert system that used rules and settings made by chess masters and computer scientists. But now, chess programs like Leela Chess Zero usually use machine learning systems that teach a neural network to play chess. This way, the program learns its own strategies instead of just using rules made by humans.
(Credit: Wikipedia, ft. Chess.com for the information above)
After 1997
Regarding the early days of online chess, Kasparov beat "The World" in a 1999 game where moves were chosen by people voting online.
In 1999, there was a chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Kasparov won this tournament, along with several others in his career (he scored 8 wins, 1 loss, and 4 draws, beating Anand by half a point). Although it was his first time winning this specific tournament, he also won it in 2000 and 2001. More importantly, the 1999 Wijk tournament included a game that was as impressive as his famous Game 16 in 1985. This game featured a double rook sacrifice and a king chase against Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov, which was considered one of the best games of his career and possibly of all time.
In the match, he confessed that he trusted his instict that after the sacrifice he would have a good position. Meaning, he never actually calculated until the point he would win. Amazing, isn't it?
In 2000, a championship match was set up between Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik since Kasparov was not part of FIDE. Earlier attempts to arrange matches with Alexei Shirov and a rematch with Anand were unsuccessful. During this time, Karpov stayed within the FIDE system until 1999 when the championship format changed to a big knockout tournament, which he didn't want to participate in. However, Kramnik showed he was a strong contender against Kasparov.
Kasparov's Grunfeld Defense didn't work in Game 2, putting him at an early disadvantage. When Kasparov had the white pieces, Kramnik kept him under control using the Berlin Defense against the Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bb5 Nf6). In Game 10, Kasparov lost quickly in just 25 moves after changing from the Grunfeld to the Nimzo-Indian against Kramnik's 1. d4. After five more drawn games, the match ended with Kramnik winning.
Kasparov would never become world champion again or compete in a championship match, even though he tried many times. Still, he was the top-rated player in the world during the time after he lost his championship.
Kasparov's career ended at the Linares tournament in 2005. He won the tournament again, making it his ninth win at that location in Spain. (No other player won it more than three times before it stopped in 2010.) Kasparov admitted he couldn't focus and lost his last official game to Topalov. But seriously, his career was effectively really, really impressive.
Conclusion
So, what do you think? Is Kasparov theory greatest player of all time (or of course the G.O.A.T)? Well, this is a arguable topic to discuss. But I think anyone can become a great player.
🐐🤝🐐
