X3D Fritz
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X3D Fritz is the version of the chess playing program Fritz which in November 2003 played a four game match against world number one Grandmaster Garry Kasparov. The match was drawn 2-2, with X3D Fritz winning game 2, Kasparov winning game 3 and drawing games 1 and 4. Fritz ran on four Intel Pentium 4 Xeon CPUs at 2.8GHz.
The match was unique in how Kasparov related his moves to the computer. In most human-computer matches, the human makes their moves on a normal board, as in a normal game. These moves are fed into the computer by an intermediary seated where a normal human opponent would be, and its replies played on the board by the same person. In this match, however, no normal board and no intermediary was used. Instead, Kasparov, wearing special goggles, saw a three-dimensional projection of the board floating in the air in front of him. He spoke his moves out loud, thus conveying them to the computer which had a speech recognition system. The computer's replies were shown on the projected board.
The time controls for each game were as follows:
- Start with 120 minutes.
- After move 40, add 60 minutes.
- After move 60, add 15 minutes and 30 seconds per move.
The match was held at the New York Athletic Club in New York City, USA. Kasparov got $150,000 USD for playing and an extra $25,000 for the drawn match. Kasparov would have earned an extra $50,000 instead if he had won.
The moves of the games are given below in algebraic notation.
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Game 1: November 11, 2003
Opening: QGD semi-Slav: Stoltz variation
ECO: D45
The first game, with Kasparov as white, ended in a draw after Kasparov sacrificed a pawn in the Semi-Slav for a better position. He eventually won a rook for a bishop and pawn, but was unable to convert the advantage into a win. Fritz managed to open lines against Kasparov's king, and drew with perpetual check.
| Missing image Kasparov_X3DFritz_G1_Final.png Final Position |
½-½ |
Game 2: November 13, 2003
Opening: Ruy Lopez: Berlin defense
ECO: C65
The second game, with Fritz as white, was a Ruy Lopez. Kasparov played the Berlin Defence (3...Nf6 in algebraic notation), with which Vladimir Kramnik had drawn against Deep Fritz in the 2002 Brains in Bahrain match (and which Kramnik had also successfully employed as a drawing variation against Kasparov himself in their 2000 World Championship match). Fritz, however, avoided the simplifying main line (4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8), instead keeping pieces on the board with 4.d3. Kasparov seemed to have at least equal chances until he blundered on move 32 when short of time and lost.
| Missing image X3DFritz_Kasparov_G2_final.png Final Position |
1-0 |
Game 3: November 16, 2003
Opening: QGD semi-Slav: accelerated Meran (Alekhine variation)
ECO: D45
Game three was another Semi-Slav, but Fritz varied from game one early with 5...a6. Kasparov replied with 6.c5 which took the game into the sort of closed position which it is generally believed computers do not play well. The game followed one between Samuel Reshevsky and Paul Keres from the 1948 World Championship Tournament until move 12 when Kasparov varied (Black eventually won that game, though White seemed to be better out of the opening). Kasparov won a pawn while keeping the position closed, and Fritz did not appear to understand the closed position well, moving its pieces back and forth with no obvious plan. In the meantime, Kasparov pushed his extra a-pawn and broke through on the queen-side. With the computer having absolutely no counterplay and Kasparov about to force through his b-pawn to promote, winning more material, the Fritz operators resigned on move 45, making the match tied at 1.5-1.5.
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1-0 |
Game 4: November 18, 2003
Opening: QGA: classical, 6...a6
ECO: D27
Fritz, with the white pieces again, varied from game two immediately with 1.d4. A Queen's Gambit Accepted followed, and Kasparov followed a rapid game he had won with black against Kramnik in 2001 for a while. Whereas in that game he exchanged his queen for a rook, bishop and pawn (with 13...Nxd5 14.Rad1 Nxf4 15.Rxd8 Rxd8), here he played more soberly, rapidly exchanging pieces, and quickly drawing. The match ended tied, 2-2.
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½-½ |