So what is at stake? First of all, the prospects of protein chess players in a match with a program that does not get tired, does not need hints, does not know how to think creatively, but is able to very quickly choose the best option. In order for Kramnik to have a serious incentive not to lose shape after the victory match with Topalov, the organizers of the match with the support of the largest energy company RAG AG guaranteed the Russians 500 thousand euros only for participating in the match. In case of victory, the world champion will receive a double fee.
For Kramnik, confrontation with a computer program is not new. In 2002, in Bahrain, he already played with Fritz (an earlier version, of course). In the first half of the match, offering the car to consider, as he put it, "closed positions", the champion had a significant advantage and led with a score of 3: 1. However, then Kramnik was simply tired and allowed the electronic opponent to equalize. As a result, a draw was recorded - 4: 4. In 2003, Garry Kasparov played with a modernized version of Fritz on a three-dimensional virtual whiteboard, who also could not achieve victory by playing a draw. True, it was said that the thirteenth world champion, before giving his consent to the fight, agreed that he should not lose. Kramnik and Kasparov have their strength with Fritz tried the German Robert Hubner - and again a draw! This chess program was also played in the "People Against Machines" tournament, taking part in the total defeat of Veselin Topalov, Ruslan Ponomarev and Sergey Karjakin.
Naturally Fritz It was constantly modernized by a group of programmers led by Frans Morsch and Matthias Feist. As for Kramnik, his rating has significantly decreased compared to 2002. Despite two victories in the championship matches against Leko and Topalov, the Russian grandmaster performed very unsuccessfully in 2005, having rolled outside the top five of the world ranking list. If in 2002 Kramnik was opposed by a monster who could calculate “only” 2.7 positions per second, now a monster will play against him, capable of counting at a speed of 8 million positions per second. Simply put, the computer will see a position 8–9 moves ahead in the middle game, when there can still be a complete set of pieces on the board. It is about the moves of each of the rivals, i.e. in aggregate, foresight is obtained for 17-18 moves.
Fritz Development Program Manager Matthias Fullenweber emphasized that the match with the world champion will help him and his team find out what stage computer chess players are currently at. What can help Kramnik? It is possible that he received the Fritz version to prepare for the match back in May. True, the final version of the program was provided to him only in mid-October, after the victory over Topalov. In order to better understand the "thought" of his rival, Vladimir Kramnik attracted a strong programmer to his team, who must understand the essence of the program. The name of this programmer is kept secret. However, the Fritz team includes a grandmaster who played against Kramnik many times - he is called upon to teach the machine how to play openings exactly in those versions that are used by the world champion. It is possible, however, that Kramnik managed to work out some new things before the match with the computer. For example, in 2002, he found out that his electronic opponent is not playing very well in those cases when he has to play against double pawns. This is thoroughly used by the Russian.
Now everything has been done to balance the chances of man and machine, but in fact the match turns into a scientific experiment, in which, while the living grandmaster makes the next move, his soulless opponent will have time to evaluate six billion positions. Vladimir Kramnik may be the last chess player to play with a computer. If he loses, counting on revenge is simply useless.
Alexey SHISHKIN
Match Schedule
Party 1. 11/25/2006
Party 2.11.11.2006
Party 3.9.29.2006
Party 4.01.12.2006
Party 5. December 3, 2006
Party 6. December 05, 2006
All parties begin at 17:00 Moscow time. Party rules - two hours for 40 moves, another hour - for the next 16 moves.