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CHESS: MAN - MACHINE By Sharang Sharang (student of Nagesh J.) is 11 years old studying in National Public School. He is one of the best players in the state in his age category. He will be getting
his FIDE rating this year. |
Is chess a game or an
algorithm? Previously, for geniuses like Capablanca and Alekhine chess was a
game. There were no theories, games and books in their time except one Endgame
book by Rabinovich which Alekhine mentions in some of his books. Here is an
incident about how Alekhine’s defence was started:
In Alekhine s match against Bogojujilibov
he was always playing 1….Nf6 in his black games immediately after he entered the
match site as Bogojujilibov was a d4 player and Alekhine knew that he never
would play any other starting move. Bogojujilibov observed this for several
games and in one game played 1. e4! Shocking! But Alekhine managed to find the
right moves (without the help of any book, theories and mainly computers which
is the most important factor now days.
So in their times chess was seen or treated as a game.
It is well known that any system/entity which can be expressed as an algorithm can be computerized. Computerization gives us the ability to be precisely repetitive, minimum failures to known conditions and speed of execution. We have seen success of computerization to innumerable types of applications which can be deterministic, of predictable response types and hence algorithmic.
Man has always been challenged to mimic human thinking in Computers. Advent of computers, its technological advances in terms of Speed, Memory, Operating systems, etc have found their way to the game of Chess which was long considered intuitive, played more by intellectuals and was traditionally called ‘Mind Game’. As a result, more guidelines/refinements have come into the game. Some of the very powerful Engines Fritz10 , Junior10 , Rybka etc have defeated super GMs with incredible authority and consistency.
This article makes an attempt to take a step back into the realms of computers in Chess, assess the reality and tries to comment upon if this trend enhances the humans’ interest in the game or cause it to recede.
It is worthwhile to note the underlined key words ‘Repetitive’ and ‘Known Conditions’. Efficiency of computerization of any system is defined by how well it is defined including the system and error conditions. The game of Chess poses exactly these challenges which are universal for any computerization activities. It is NOT completely defined and not deterministic. There is no list of predetermined steps or moves which in absolute terms can be considered the ‘best move’. Any system which is computerized follows a predetermined, (deterministic) and predictable path.
Considering the above challenges in the game, due credits must be accorded to computer professionals who have created powerful engines to bring in some sort of determinism into the game. However, chess engines have struggled after experts started playing with it. Top of line GMs in the world might lose to these engines mainly out of tiredness and exhaustion rather than inability to play better.
Delving slightly
deeper into the game, the game of chess can be defined in three phases thus..
With reference to the different characteristics of computers like Memory, disk space, internet technologies, speed of processors etc, let us see how chess communities are taking advantage of these in order to create better players, increase the popularity of the game and challenging the players everyday.
Now in our times we have many aids: books, theories and mainly computers and CDs which makes chess seem a foolproof algorithm to people who do not play chess and it has become more of a memory game. People learn opening moves by rote without understanding them. Many old players also think that computers have taken away the charm of the game. However, looking at some of the above listed advantages, we need not feel threatened, instead we should learn to use this as a tool to foster improvement and increasing the popularity of the game and hence the standard of living for players.