CHESS Could Never Be Built and Ihat
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JULY 1961 )" , , , r, WORLD CHAM'ION • , , " .8-"S7 19 S8-196O 196 11 _ ,S .. p " .:!_ 196) . ~ .,.. ' 60 CENTS Subscriptfoll lot_ ONE YEAR $6.00 • 1 Wh ite to move and w,n 2 B lack t o move and win In this first example, as With a mate rial advantagc I>ISJUNCTIVE COMBOBULATION indeed in all. your luuk is here, you haven't too seri fil'st dll'ecte(l to findinE; a ous a problem. 13\1t. in a spot EI'ery winning bIoII', be it a great Olle or el'e n a ~ lllall one. d efinite win. And, although Hu ch as this, the whole poInt cont l 'ibnte~ to the disj ullctive l'oll1bobula(ion oj" your oppo you are two Pawns down i~ to l"iIH! what wins most nent, Le., to jli~ loss or morale. So, if the blo'l" il l l('~Il ' t win here, you ought to find - -- in surely, It i~ not enough just you outright, i.e" by foree agl'tin s l the b e~t d t'fcn:< e . it lw lps to faet - - ought to a <: hie l'c to save your Exchange lest the mo~t definite of wins. \\' h ite worl, UI) momentum by psyc hological impact. Stl'ike 10 sne h b l o\\'~ bere amI Need we say more? All right for attack, You have a neat SCOl'e yourself excellent; 8 for good ; six for fair. t hen - how do YOIl do it? w in. Secure it! For solutions, s ee page 223. 3 White to move and win 4 Bli\ck to move and win 5 Whi te to move and win 6 B lack to move and win Here a gain is a pos ition \"our Ulilin ,'Olh;e r n here. We lI"el'e about to mention This somewhat fanciful po· to enjoy - no material edge inas1l1ul"h a~ you a rc already t his as a seeming ly innocu s it ion (' ame about after the to be sure but a healthy de a Pawl! U]l. i~ how to m ini· ous position, But t he nlOI"o White side sc t UJl the threat \"e lopment. The point is t o mize the ti l'a w ing propens i we look. the more we are in· of R- QR6, Afle l' obsel"\" ing convert the pOsit ional ad,'an ties of Bi~hop ;; or OPI)osite c1ined to think that While t he effect of . .. QxR in re· tage into some thing more c o l o r~. And till' trlle point to has ani;' one good rno,'e ply thereto, Ilut on youl" dennite. (And may \\'e men· yom ~ Ol llli () n i~ not th e idea here. Well. that makes i~ t\lilll,ing rai' and see what tlon here that el"l:l ryone or in itself but the I'o llow-u]) OJ" easier [or you ~ oher s! Bnt you "an do to meet that yon, everyone, was I'ight fo]JoW-\l lIS. S till. that a lways still we'll ~t~k: can you ~ ee dire threat while also pro· a bout Quiz 6 in :IIIay?) s hould be, right? h ow to win anything? ceeding to win. 7 W hit e to move and win 8 Black to move and win 9 Whi te t o move and win 10 Black to move and wIn We may IWl'e been r ight This i ~ ;t ('ur iuuslv con· H e l'e is another quile a~ mac1, appear::< 10 have a about W hite llal'inp: but one gested po" i\iun. The re is l"uriou~ly ('ong- e~te d a ]10.+ few problelll ~ liere. E,'eQ' good lIIo,'e in ])os ition 5; but jUst one 1'<1\\' )) off lite board. tion. Dut it is Blal' k \\" 11 0 one o[ hi" Pawn,; , for in ,\"e cannot sa y that here: for and that. unfortunately. is is congested. an d so you stance, is isolated: hi s Dish· "-hite \\'on artel' maldng an '· O U l · ~. You (" all score a ~mall ought positi\"(~ I~' to win. In op is not doi ng much of ac inferior 1l10,'e. Black's two dctory or son s here. It this particular (:a ::<e . YOIl ean coun t ; and Whit e's Bishops pieces fOl' a Hook are not probably does not s uffice to ask Y()(ll'se lf how to pu ~h ale directed flmillOlls ly OIl atiequate ill this posItion. win onrl"ig ht hnt will (li s· lllaU P I '~ to 11 d . , ,.j ~ i,",' "olw IL I' iliad,',; King ;)(l>;i l ioll: "lid flut now s ee if YOil "an find "onlbolJul a l" YOIlI' ojO)J fl nf' lll . sion. Do YOlI ~ . '" 110" 1' 1"0 ))<' 1" the ll t il " qn" " n ~ "pnI S 10 Ill' the be ~ L win. Wha t is it? jJrot ed ure'! l['aPlled. How ean he win '! CH 55 R VIEW 'HI "'CU'.' CHI$$ IIIIAOolZI"' Volume 29 Number 7 July, 1961 EDITED &. PUBLISHED BY I. A. Horowlt>: ROBOT CHESS could never be built and Ihat. a program The apprehension expressed in your for playing the game could hope to be TABLE OF CONTENTS n.'Iarch issue [People and Machines at the successful only if it enabled lhe computer Chessboard by Botvinnik, page 72] thaI to select for analysis merely a few moves, FEATURES YOll llIay have printed too many articles omitting from consideration as many al Case of the M issing Chess Men .... 208 on "robot chess" is quite unfounded, I ternatives as possible which a human World Championship ........ .. .... 216 am su re, judging from the c o rre ~ p on d ence player of fair proficiency would reject at DEPARTMENTS I get nn the ~ubjec t from chess player~ a glance as utterly useless. Thus, what Chess Club Oirectory .............. 202 in many lands. BOlvinnik is quoted as saying about com· Chess Vignettes ................. 199 ( don'l believe that Botvinnik know ~ puler programmers in lending to build Finishing Touch ...... .......... 200 a~ lillie of whal com pUler I)rograms de. "precise robot chess players" is quite in· Games from Recent Events ....... 209 "elolled in our cOllntr), for Illaying ches~ correct, at least so far as Ihe work done On the Cover .. .... ... ... ...... 196 have accomplished as the arlicle which in our counlry is concerned. Postal Chess ...... .. .. ... .. ..... 220 you rcprinted from Komsomoiskaya Prav Problemarl .. ........ .. ... ....... 211 He is allllarelltty also unaware of the da would lead one to think. The transla· Readers' Gam es .................. 203 fact that our chess programmers have, as Solitaire Chess .... ........ .. 205 tion you recei"ed was probably nol ac a matter of course, proceeded in a manner Spotlight on Openi ngs ... -. ... 206 curate, or the man who wrote the article similal' to the one he suggests, gradually Tournament Calendar ..... .. .... 215 did not quite follow what Boll'i nn ik meant changing their instructions, or adding to World of Chess . .... .. .. ... .. 195 10 co nv ey. From the article, one would them, after testing what the machine assume that Botvinnik suffers from the makes of Ihe orders it reeeives. Neither EXECUTIVE EDITOR same misconception in which Barnic does he seem to he familiar with what Jack Straley Battell Winkelman was caught when he wrote has been written here about our gaining CONTRJBUTINQ EDITORS Mall versus Machine for you in 1957, an insight, from such tests, illlo the way A. B. Blsguler, I. CherneY, J. W. Collins, thinking that a computer had to consider T. A. Dunst, Dr. M. Euwe, Hans Kmoeh, a chess player thinks - or does not think W. KOrll. Fred ReinfeJd. cI'ery IlOssible move at every lurn of play Staff Photog raphe r R. Echeverria. - nor ahout our conclusion that, while and calculate the consequences many theoretically possible, Ihe dcveiopmelll of CORRESPONDENTS mov es ahead. In my reply to that article, a program thal would elluhle a com puler Alabama E. 1\1. Cockrell. 1 cil ed a simple end.game posilion which Ala~ka S. H. O'Nelll. to play like a master is not to be ex California Dr. H. Ralston, M. J. Royer. IL co mputer program comprising instruc Colorado J. J. Reid. pected, because it would take much more Connecticut Edmund E. Hand. lions of a very general type would solve time and money than the effort would be District of Columbia R. S. Cantwell. by analyzing JUS! 25 moves, while brutul worth. Once a computer has been shown Florida R. C. Eaatwood. analysis of every possible move six moves Geor"la Braswell Deen. to be able to play chess at aU, no matter Idaho R. S. Vandenberg. ahead would have necessitated testing how badly, and it has been demonstrated Illinois J. G. about 100 billion variations, Indiana D. C. I. E . Rhead. that its play can be improved by refin Iowa J. M. Osness. Dr. Claude Shannon, who firsl outlined ing the instructions, the whole problem Kentucky J. W. Mayer. a computer program for playing chess Kansas K. R. MacDonald. has lost its interest for all scientists who Louisiana A. L. Jl,1cAuley. so me 12 years ago and who already at do not happen to he ardell! chess fans, Maine L. £ldrldge. Ihat time indieated Ihe necessity for prac· because aU the chess program was in Maryland Chllrles Barasch. tically every refinement introduced in this Massachusetts Franklin J. Sanborn. tended to prove in the first place was Michl"an R. Buskager. field since then, pointed out from the that a machine Ilsing exclusively arith MInnesota R.