Why is it so difficult for Deep Blue to beat Kasparov when computers can calculate the moves so blindingly fast?
Chess is a simple game, but not as easy as it looks. Most chess devotees think of it as an art or a sport, with certain unquantifiable attributes. The majority of grandmasters believe that Kasparov will not be beaten this year by Deep Blue, and many believe that he will never be beaten by a computer. Although chess has a finite number of possible outcomes that the computer must analyze, there are subtleties that do not easily subject themselves to objective analysis. Material is easy to evaluate, but what happens when a human player offers a gambit? In evaluating whether material gain makes up for a possible loss of positional strength, the computer is no longer comparing apples to apples. Sophisticated programs like Deep Blue must have ways of evaluating gambits, and declining them if necessary. In the past, offering gambits, directing the game into positions with maximum subtlety, and the other such strategies have allowed top players like Kasparov to beat computers. We’ll have to pl
