Chess

Make way for silicon. After the second game of the match in New York between Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue, no one in his right mind can still believe that humans will always be able to defeat computers at chess.

Calculating at 200 million moves a second, Deep Blue created from first principles the sort of strategy that humans can master only after a lifetime of playing the Ruy Lopez. White's entire play was a masterpiece of subtlety, denying Black any counterplay while increasing its own Q-side pressure. Just one example: at move 36, grandmaster spectators predicted 36.Qb6 Rd8 37.axb5 Rab8 38.Qxa6 e4. Instead Deep Blue's 36.axb5 axb5 37.Be4! cut out any such nonsense. At the end, 45...Qxc6 46.dxc6 Rc8 47.Ra7+ Rc7 48.Ra8 leaves Black totally helpless.

White: D.Blue Black: G.Kasparov

1 e4 e5 24 Ra3 Rec8

2 Nf3 Nc6 25 Rca1 Qd8

3 Bb5 a6 26 f4 Nf6

4 Ba4 Nf6 27 fxe5 dxe5

5 0-0 Be7 28 Qf1 Ne8

6 Re1 b5 29 Qf2 Nd6

7 Bb3 d6 30 Bb6 Qe8

8 c3 0-0 31 R3a2 Be7

9 h3 h6 32 Bc5 Bf8

10 d4 Re8 33 Nf5 Bxf5

11 Nbd2 Bf8 34 exf5 f6

12 Nf1 Bd7 35 Bxd6 Bxd6

13 Ng3 Na5 36 axb5 axb5

14 Bc2 c5 37 Be4 Rxa2

15 b3 Nc6 38 Qxa2 Qd7

16 d5 Ne7 39 Qa7 Rc7

17 Be3 Ng6 40 Qb6 Rb7

18 Qd2 Nh7 42 Ra8+ Kf7

19 a4 Nh4 42 Qa6 Qc7

20 Nxh4 Qxh4 43 Qc6 Qb6+

21 Qe2 Qd8 44 Kf1 Rb8

22 b4 Qc7 45 Ra6 resigns

23 Rec1 c4