Kramnik Given Last Chance of Humanity
One of the world most powerful chess masters, world champion Vladimir Kramnik will play against the Deep Fritz computer in Bonn November 25 to December 5. The match will yield $500,000 to Kramnik anyway, but the amount will go up to $1 million, if Kramnik overwhelms the computer that can evaluate a few million moves a second.
The tournament of Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz is arranged by German Universal Event Promotions (UEP). The championships of this kind usually steal the show. ESPN, for instance, broadcast in live air all four matches that Garry Kasparov played under the X3D Man vs. Machine program in New York in late 2003.
The financial terms of the tournament also stand out. The Bonn matches are funded by RAG, and Kramnik will get $500,000 just for participation and earn $1 million for victory. By comparison, the whole prize fund of his meeting with Topalov that is slated for September to October amounts to $1.2 million.
If ever attained, the victory won’t be easy for Kramnik. Last time, a man knocked out a supercomputer ten years ago, when Garry Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in New York. The computer returned the match in a year in Philadelphia, but the circumstances of that revenge were dubious. Many experts thought Deep Blue was backed up by top-notch chess experts during the matches.
Since then, grand masters have played three more tournaments of significance vs. computers. Kasparov faced Deep Junior and X3D Fritz in the fall of 2003, Kramnik played in the fall of 2002. The final result was always a draw.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 10, 2006
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