I'm so upset I forgot that the 3rd game was on today pitting the X3D chess engine against Garry Kasparov. I would have loved to watch this to see how Garry was able to masterfully control the white pieces, featuring a strong pawn advance to force the confused computer at one point to move the bishop one space forward and then the next turn, move the same bishop one step back. Completely confused by Kasparov's advances, there was nothing X3D Fritz could do - and now, with the match tied at 1.5 a piece (X3D won game 2, and Game 1 was a draw), it all comes down to game 4 on Tuesday. I got my shifts covered at work (I need some time off anyways) and will be able to watch, thanks to ESPN2 and ESPNEWS - should be an interesting game. I caught Game 2 in which Kasparov blundered while playing the black pieces, and hopefully in Game 4, history won't repeat itself.

It's odd - I never really thought I'd be watching chess on television. I've played occasionally and can beat my friends, but none of us are very advanced and I don't consider myself very good at the game of chess, but watching it on television is mesmerizing (though the ESPN announcers are quite unpolished and obviously not meant for television). The sheer intricacy of the game, with the myriad of different choices on each move, and the added intrigue of watching man versus machine makes it that much more interesting on TV. I just wish I had the time to play more often - one of these days I'm going to treat myself to a nice glass board and pieces...I always have to take a look at them whenever I visit the Gamekeeper.

URL: Kasparov vs. X3D Fritz