HorsePerson and the ShoeMan

I remember watching (live on the internet of course) part of the matches between Kramnik and Deep Fritz that were held in Bahrain in 2002. I remember having ambivalent feelings about this. On the one hand, as a person with science fiction tendencies, I wanted technology and computers to advance beyond human capabilities. On the other, I wanted human beings to prove their superiority over machines, especially after Kasparov's loss to Deep Blue in 1997.

Now, after Kasparov played Deep Junior in Israel in 2003, a new chess program is challenging the masters - Hydra.

It is a behemoth of a machine that pits 32 linked processors against its flesh-and-blood opponents. Hydra's backers claim it can analyze 200 million chess moves in a second and project the game up to 40 moves ahead.

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