MACHINE beat man yesterday as world chess champion Garry Kasparov conceded defeat to IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer in the decisive game of their epic six game match.
Kasparov (34) resigned after finding himself in an indefensible position after only 19 moves in just over an hour of play against the computer, whose opening moves trapped the Russian.
Deep Blue - eight years in the making - accomplished what none of Kasparov's human opponents could win an official match against the brilliant Russian, world chess champion since 1985.
But "the computer hasn't proved anything yet," a tired Kasparov told a post match press conference. "The computer is beatable, it has too many weak points.
If we were playing a real competitive match I assure you that I would tear down Deep Blue into pieces," he said, adding he was sorry about resigning and storming off at the end of the game.
"I apologise. I am ashamed of what I did at the end of the game, but this had nothing to do with chess," he said. "The match was over yesterday: I had no strength left. I'm human, when I see something beyond my understanding, I'm afraid," Kasparov said. The match could be seen as "one man, the best player in the world, [who] has cracked under pressure".
Kasparov complained again of not having been given access to previous games played by Deep Blue. Chess tradition calls for opponents to be able to study each other's previous matches. "My biggest mistake was not to demand certain conditions that would have made it a fair game."
But Kasparov's critics called the Russian's tactics into question. saying he had failed to play his usual aggressive game against his unfamiliar opponent.
"Kasparov played unusually, trying to adapt his game to the computer's style," French champion and grandmaster Joel Lautier said.
Grandmaster John Fedorowicz said the game "didn't seem lost ... We've all played this position before."
The victory brought the IBM team, 8700,000 while Kasparov will take home 8400,000.
Man and machine had been tied at 2 1/2 points apiece going into Sunday's game after splitting the first two games and then playing to three consecutive draws.
Kasparov coach Frederic Friedel had said yesterday that the Russian would have a tough time in the final game.
He said Deep Blue's performance had been "very surprising". It was the first time a computer had shown such forethought.
IBM computer scientists enhanced the computer and programmed it with all the moves played by chess grandmasters in tournaments over the past 100 years.