NEW YORK - Deep Blue the sophisticated IBM chess computer, defeated world champion Garry Kasparov in the second game of the six game challenge on Sunday night, writes J.J. Walsh, Chess Correspondent. It took 45 moves to negate the champion's win, also in 45 moves, in the opening game.
If Kasparov's comparatively easy win in the first round instilled a sense of complacency, the manner of the computer's reply in the second must surely have dispelled any feelings of overconfidence. Hitherto it was generally accepted that quiet strategical manoeuvring was the weakness in the computer's programme, but Deep Blue's outstanding positional achievement in the second game will cause a reassessment of this theory.
The champion discarded his favourite Sicilian defence in favour of the solid Ruy Lopez, which offers little scope for tactics against an experienced opponent.