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Russian Chess Champion Takes On 'Deep Fritz' - 2002-10-04


World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia will soon be facing a formidable challenger, a supercomputer known as Deep Fritz. The competition begins Friday at a tournament in Bahrain.

Twenty-seven-year-old chess champion Kramnik says that, after more than a month of intense preparation he is ready to take on what he says will be a monstrous opponent.

Mr. Kramnik, who will play black in the first of eight games at the Brains of Bahrain chess tournament, is up against a supercomputer called Deep Fritz.

The contest comes five years after former world champion Garry Kasparov lost to a supercomputer known as Deep Blue.

Russia's Kramnik beat two grandmasters by the age of 10 and has been on a winning streak ever since. He defeated Mr. Kasparov two years ago to become the world champion. But he says taking on a machine requires a whole different set of senses.

Each of the eight games will reportedly be played at the rate of 40 moves in two hours, followed by 16 moves in one hour.

At that point, the Russian will then have the option of adjourning the game until the next day.

The adjournment is said to have been allowed because humans tire, and computers do not.

As for Mr. Kasparov, he gets his chance for redemption in a match against an Israeli program, known as Deep Junior, in Jerusalem next May.

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