2007: Deep Junior Deep Sixes Deep Fritz in Elista, 4–2

Abstract

Deep Fritz’s defeat of Kramnik in 2006 marked the end of human attempts to outplay their electronic rivals – at least prior to the publication of this book. More than a decade had passed since Garry Kasparov downed Deep Blue in Philadelphia. During that time, computers became much faster and were given far greater storage capacity. Opening books were improved. Debugging produced more solid engines. Scoring functions were more sophisticated with knowledge more cleverly encoded. Search heuristics were more refined. Parallel processing systems were proliferating. One might argue that humans also improved with the top players more knowledgeable about opening theory and more aware of how to play chess engines. But the human improvement was far less than that of the computer hardware and software.