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Kasparov v. the Machine, Again

Aired November 11, 2003 - 14:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, 3D glasses and a monitor are not the normal tools of a chess master, especially Gary Kasparov. But they're what he's using when he takes on X3D Fritz. Sounds like something out of "Star Wars," doesn't it?
The computer software can consider 3 million moves a second. Actually, we haven't tallied how much Kasparov can compute. But the question is can man beat the machine in this showdown or have machines usurped the great Kasparov?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: The eternal quest. Man versus machine question.

O'BRIEN: This is it. And he has had a checkered past, shall we say. A chess past with Deep Blue and then Deep Junior. Why don't you give us some backstory we get into what he's up to now?

SIEBERG: Absolutely. Gary Kasparov considered to be the No. 1 chess player grand master in the world. Currently, right now as we're telling you this story, he is facing the latest incarnation of the machine called the X3D Fritz.

Now as Miles pointed out, it's able to think about 3 million or more moves per second. The average human player can't get anywhere near that. I mean I'm a chess player myself, admittedly. We're talking a dozen or more moves. Kasparov, being a champion, maybe several dozen or more. He can think of all the different possibilities ahead of him.

What's different about this match than the previous matches when he's faced the machines, is that he's missing a board.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: What we're seeing right now is images from the Web site where you can see the match live, X3D.com. It's also broadcast live on ESPN2.

He wears these 3-dementional glasses so he can see the virtual image of the board essentially floating in space.

O'BRIEN: And, by the way, we should folks that the match is not going as quickly as it seemed there.

SIEBERG: That's a recap.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... you can see every move up to that point.

SIEBERG: Right, you can see the moves. It's been going on for the last hour and a half. It can go any where from about four to six hours.

Kasparov is able to manipulate the board...

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: So he's got a joystick to move the board around, get a different perspective on it. Because you just don't have the tangible board in front of you anymore which is a disadvantage to Kasparov, chess analysts will tell you, because he no longer has the physical presence in front of him.

He uses the glasses to see the board in this 3D format. To make a move, because he obviously can't touch the board it's actually voice recognition technology in the computer. So he speaks the move. It's not just move my knight here. He uses the chess terms to move a piece, which for someone like him is easy because he's a master at it. He's used to that.

O'BRIEN: He could play it on the phone if he wants.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: But the difference of course with every machine is that the machine, it doesn't have a bad day. It's not affected by the weather. It didn't step in a puddle on the way to the match. Kasparov, of course, has to deal with all of the stress and tension. Everything that goes along with the average human player playing any match between a machine with no emotion or feeling.

O'BRIEN: Why the virtual reality aspect? You've got a powerful computer. You could still have the computer spit out a move and have the person move the pawn accordingly and thus he'd have that tactile, tactical advantage that he likes.

SIEBERG: Exactly. In the past, you would have been the human player representing the computer. The computer would spit out the move.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: The dummy, in a positive sense, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: And you would actually make the move on behalf of the computer. In this case with the technology there is no human involved except to make sure voices are recorded properly.

Why do this at all? Part of the reason is it adds a bit of a cool factor to it. It makes it more interesting. It's something different. It's something new. At least a couple of chess federations said this is the first virtual reality match.

Kasparov is reportedly a technology freak, shall we say. Very interested in this type of thing. He enjoys the challenge. He is someone who really went after this idea.

O'BRIEN: Well, he got some credit for throwing himself into the geek stand there.

SIEBERG: There's prize money, too. We should point out.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: There is about $200,000 on the line if he wins, $175,000 if there's a draw. And $150,000 if he loses. There are four matches. Today is the first, three more, one on Thursday, Sunday and then Tuesday.

O'BRIEN: If the computer wins it gets a ram upgrade?

SIEBERG: The computer can't feel happy or sad but maybe the programmer also feel some sense of satisfaction.

O'BRIEN: Watch every move for us. A chess officionato?

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Daniel Sieberg, as always.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired November 11, 2003 - 14:23   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, 3D glasses and a monitor are not the normal tools of a chess master, especially Gary Kasparov. But they're what he's using when he takes on X3D Fritz. Sounds like something out of "Star Wars," doesn't it?
The computer software can consider 3 million moves a second. Actually, we haven't tallied how much Kasparov can compute. But the question is can man beat the machine in this showdown or have machines usurped the great Kasparov?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: The eternal quest. Man versus machine question.

O'BRIEN: This is it. And he has had a checkered past, shall we say. A chess past with Deep Blue and then Deep Junior. Why don't you give us some backstory we get into what he's up to now?

SIEBERG: Absolutely. Gary Kasparov considered to be the No. 1 chess player grand master in the world. Currently, right now as we're telling you this story, he is facing the latest incarnation of the machine called the X3D Fritz.

Now as Miles pointed out, it's able to think about 3 million or more moves per second. The average human player can't get anywhere near that. I mean I'm a chess player myself, admittedly. We're talking a dozen or more moves. Kasparov, being a champion, maybe several dozen or more. He can think of all the different possibilities ahead of him.

What's different about this match than the previous matches when he's faced the machines, is that he's missing a board.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: What we're seeing right now is images from the Web site where you can see the match live, X3D.com. It's also broadcast live on ESPN2.

He wears these 3-dementional glasses so he can see the virtual image of the board essentially floating in space.

O'BRIEN: And, by the way, we should folks that the match is not going as quickly as it seemed there.

SIEBERG: That's a recap.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: ... you can see every move up to that point.

SIEBERG: Right, you can see the moves. It's been going on for the last hour and a half. It can go any where from about four to six hours.

Kasparov is able to manipulate the board...

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: So he's got a joystick to move the board around, get a different perspective on it. Because you just don't have the tangible board in front of you anymore which is a disadvantage to Kasparov, chess analysts will tell you, because he no longer has the physical presence in front of him.

He uses the glasses to see the board in this 3D format. To make a move, because he obviously can't touch the board it's actually voice recognition technology in the computer. So he speaks the move. It's not just move my knight here. He uses the chess terms to move a piece, which for someone like him is easy because he's a master at it. He's used to that.

O'BRIEN: He could play it on the phone if he wants.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: But the difference of course with every machine is that the machine, it doesn't have a bad day. It's not affected by the weather. It didn't step in a puddle on the way to the match. Kasparov, of course, has to deal with all of the stress and tension. Everything that goes along with the average human player playing any match between a machine with no emotion or feeling.

O'BRIEN: Why the virtual reality aspect? You've got a powerful computer. You could still have the computer spit out a move and have the person move the pawn accordingly and thus he'd have that tactile, tactical advantage that he likes.

SIEBERG: Exactly. In the past, you would have been the human player representing the computer. The computer would spit out the move.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: The dummy, in a positive sense, Miles.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: And you would actually make the move on behalf of the computer. In this case with the technology there is no human involved except to make sure voices are recorded properly.

Why do this at all? Part of the reason is it adds a bit of a cool factor to it. It makes it more interesting. It's something different. It's something new. At least a couple of chess federations said this is the first virtual reality match.

Kasparov is reportedly a technology freak, shall we say. Very interested in this type of thing. He enjoys the challenge. He is someone who really went after this idea.

O'BRIEN: Well, he got some credit for throwing himself into the geek stand there.

SIEBERG: There's prize money, too. We should point out.

(CROSSTALK)

SIEBERG: There is about $200,000 on the line if he wins, $175,000 if there's a draw. And $150,000 if he loses. There are four matches. Today is the first, three more, one on Thursday, Sunday and then Tuesday.

O'BRIEN: If the computer wins it gets a ram upgrade?

SIEBERG: The computer can't feel happy or sad but maybe the programmer also feel some sense of satisfaction.

O'BRIEN: Watch every move for us. A chess officionato?

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Thanks very much, Daniel Sieberg, as always.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com