Man vs Machine game 2 : Draw

NEW YORK: Chess grandmaster Garry

Kasparov broke a spell in his contests against computers when he drew the second game of his 6-game match in New

York against world champion program Deep Junior.

In Kasparov's epic struggles against the IBM supercomputer

Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997, the winner of the second game went

on to win the overall match. Kasparov faded after losing at

this stage six years ago, troubled psychologically by analysis

that showed he missed an opportunity to draw the game.

"The whole plan worked, but because of this spell on game

two, this pressure on me, I spent probably an extra half an

hour to decide if I should save a draw or provoke more

complications," Kasparov said.

Kasparov and programmers Shay Bushinksy and Amir Ban

of the Israeli-built software program agreed to a draw after 30

moves and just over three hours of play after a tense tactical

battle. Deep Junior won the world computer championship last

year and is considered better than most systems at evaluating

chess positions.

In the contest pitting human intuition and experience

against the calculating power of the machine, Kasparov

convincingly won the first game on Sunday. He leads the $1

million match, which is sanctioned by the International Chess

Federation, by 1-1/2 points to a 1/2 point with the third game

scheduled for Thursday. One point is awarded for a win and a

1/2 point for a draw.

The games are being shown as they are played on the website.  

© Reuters