It was announced early August: For the first time since playing the Deep Blue rematch in 1997, Garry Kasparov will play publicly against a computer. No, it's not DB, which was dismantled by IBM after the match. This time it will be Deep Junior, the current computer world champion and will take place in the famous King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the Israeli capital. The six games will be played at the classical time control, and the prize fund will be a million dollars. Kasparov gets half a million up front and the other half is split 60/40 winner/loser.

Only the dates remained unclear. Originally it was scheduled for early October, then it was moved to December 1st. Now the date had to be moved again – to a January 5th start. The venue and the technical rules remain the same.

One of the reasons given for the postponement is that more time was required to ensure an adaquate world-wide media coverage. Apparently a giant player in the sports coverage and marketing business has appeared on the scene. Another reason is that the main sponsor, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has other things to do. After being reelected as president of the Republic of Kalmykia Ilyumzhinov must travel to China with Russian president Vladimir Putin – exactly on the 1st of December, when the Jerusalem match was to begin.