A fascinating piece on chess computers versus people by Gary Kasparov in The  New York Review of Books.  With the defeat of humans by compiuters – Kasparov claims that these days Grand Masters would be challenged by many $50 programs – chess is now a new game. Broader issues of strategy matter [...]]]>

A fascinating piece on chess computers versus people by Gary Kasparov in The  New York Review of Books.  With the defeat of humans by compiuters – Kasparov claims that these days Grand Masters would be challenged by many $50 programs – chess is now a new game. Broader issues of strategy matter more than tactics and there is the possibility of tandem people+machine competiting among themselves.  Chess as a game of full information is under attack from games with randomness where bluffing and psychology play a role – the current poker boom is an instance – but even here computers are making inroads.  Kasparov is a thoughtful, unaffected guy and positions himself well – as the first of the Grand Masters to lose to a computer – to understand the broader implications of this development.