Precise game four draw and a drawn match
Game four ended in a draw and with it the X3D Man-Machine World Chess Championship
match also ended in draw. X3D Fritz won game two, Kasparov won game three, and
games one and four were drawn. Kasparov receives $175,000 for the result and
also takes home the golden trophy. (Although since it drew the match X3D Fritz
said it was going to store a virtual reality copy of the trophy for itself.)
Before today's critical final game Garry Kasparov said he just wanted to play
good chess and that he didn't consider it a must-win. "Of course I'll play
for a win if I get chances, but with black it is very risky to push too hard.
I'll play the best moves." Today the best moves led to the shortest game
of the match, a 27-move draw that ended in a completely simplified position
without chances for either side.
In game four X3D Fritz offered to go into a queen sacrifice line Kasparov had
used to beat Kramnik in a blitz game in 2001. Kasparov decided to keep his queen
and made it through the complications with precise play and exchanges. The game
arrived at a totally dead endgame and was agreed drawn on move 27.
Replay
the annotated game online and download PGN
ChessBase's Frederic Friedel tries to steal the trophy at the closing ceremony.
The drawn match is both satisfying and unsatisfying for both players. Team
Fritz and Kasparov all seemed to take the "glass half-full" perspective
afterwards. X3D Fritz creator Frans Morsch said he had hoped for more with the
white pieces in the final game, but that he was happy that all the games had
been interesting and a drawn match with the world's greatest player was an honor.
Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him
a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall in the match
and played well. "I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake
lost the game."
A full report with photos, comments from Kasparov and the Fritz team and full
analysis coming soon.
Preparing for virtual reality battle
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