August 27, 2007

10 years later …

Dial back to 1997. In an instant, chess master Kasparov was defeated by Deep Blue a super cranking machine developed by IBM. Now, 10 years later, no game is safe….

“Shortly after Deep Blue defeated world champ Garry Kasparov in 1997, IBM integrated the research into corporate and government hardware…. In June, IBM beat its own record with a prototype Blue Gene machine capable of 3 quadrillion calculations per second.”**

“Polaris, a rising star in the poker world, has professional card players fretting…. This crafty computer program is one in a long line of codes designed to compete with humans…. On July 24, Polaris lost a close match against two top poker players. After two days and 4,000 hands of limit Texas hold em, the computer was behind by only about 30 bets.”**

What does this mean for mere mortals? Well, we may lose an instant chess match to a machine, but the machines have been programed like machines. They are not yet capable of thinking like humans. We still have a few legs up on artificial intelligence. Now is no time to get lazy - the further science pushes, the more we must know to stay in front of the machines.

**Chris Gaylord, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2007
August 25, 2007

Instant Chess is the coolest!

I’ve just taken up chess and found Instant Chess which is an online chess playing service. It is wild. Check this out, make a move here and watch the community play.

I got started by picking up a couple of books. If you are looking for really clever chess strategies from a fellow who can even teach beginners, Click Here! Super helpful.

If you are more advanced, just getting back into playing seriously, feel rusty or really want to bring your game to a whole new level, this fellow put together an amazing collection of chess strategies and videos.

August 24, 2007

Trevor's Gambit: Bainbridge Youngster Takes Chess Skills to New Level - Kitsap Sun (Subscription)


Trevor’s Gambit: Bainbridge Youngster Takes Chess Skills to New Level
Kitsap Sun (Subscription),  United States - Aug 24, 2007
minutes per side format” that many chess clubs now use, and the other who had an intriguing move published in a popular chess strategies handbook.
(via chess strategies - Google News )