Chess
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.What a disaster! Objectively, Deep Blue had not played well enough overall in the first five games of its match with Garry Kasparov to pose a real threat to the world champion, but it had certainly served up a sufficiently weird cocktail of mindlessness and brilliancy to make him very uncomfortable indeed. His display in the final game bore all the signs of a man whose equanimity had been shattered.
White: D.Blue Black: G.Kasparov
1 e4 c6 11 Bf4 b5
2 d4 d5 12 a4 Bb7
3 Nc3 dxe4 13 Re1 Nd5
4 Nxe4 Nd7 14 Bg3 Kc8
5 Ng5 Ngf6 15 axb5 cxb5
6 Bd3 e6 16 Qd3 Bc6
7 N1f3 h6 17 Bf5 exf5
8 Nxe6 Qe7 18 Rxe7 Bxe7
9 0-0 fxe6 19 c4 resigns
10 Bg6+ Kd8
At the end, after 19...Nb4 20.Qe2, followed by d5 or cxb5, or 19...bxc4 20.Qxc4 Nb4 (20...Kb7 21.Qa6 is mate) 21.Re1 Black cannot long withstand the White attack. The real blunder, however, was 7...h6? which is a known trap in this position. Kasparov simply forgot to play 7...Bd6 first.
It was the fifth game of the match, however, that really stifled Kasparov's spirit. Deep Blue was Black in the diagram position, (after White's 39th move) and saw that its g-pawn was doomed. Play continued 39...Ne4 40.Nxg7 Rd1+ (Nxg3 loses to Ne6+) 41.Kc2 Rd2+ 42.Kc1 Rxa2! 43.Nxh5 Nd2! 44.Nf4 Nxb3+ 45.Kb1 Rd2 46.Re6 c4! 47.Re3 Kb6!! 48.g6 Kxb5 49.g7 Kb4! and after 50.g8=Q Black has a draw by perpetual check with the rook. And if White had played 47.Re4 instead of Re3, we see another remarkable draw after 47...Kb6 48.Rxc4 Kxb5 49.Rc7 Kb4! 50.Rxb7+ Ka3 51.Rxa7+ Kb4 when White again cannot prevent a perpetual check.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments