» Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion
Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion Details
Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 794.1724357
EAN: 9780691090658
ISBN: 0691090653
Label: Princeton University Press
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2002-09-16
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Studio: Princeton University Press
Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion Reviews
Customer Rating:
Summary: Welcome HAL 900!
Comment: "Behind deep blue" is the great feat of the applied technology (computer chip design, programming chess) over the human mind. This is a statement that should invite us to think and rethink, specially if we recall HAL 900 in 2001 (A space Odyssey). On one hand, one may be tempted to argue the chess is just a variegated set of combinations and nothing else; but besides there's an unsolved question in the air; have we ruined the artistic beauty, the power of the mind and the sophisticated analysis behind every move?
This millenary game has enjoyed millions and millions of people around the world, without lacking age, sex, social condition, ideological beliefs or geographic latitude. But beneath these reflections underlies the expected desire to find out what made possible the apparently impossible.
Go for it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Computers and savant conceit
Comment: Conceit and self-righteousness have become the calling cards of anyone who can outdo someone or something with computers. Big deal. All the self adulation that has gone into this tacky piece of work can't hold a candle to the fact that Gary Kasparov can play chess (and think!) Which is more than I can say about the vanity displayed by the author. Anyone who sets out to humiliate or bring down a champion by using questionable means has zero integrity. However, it's to be expected from this kind of individual.
It is singularly unimpressive; vain and self indulgent.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The soul of a new chess player
Comment: Feng-Hsiung Hsu's story will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine or Steven Levy's Hackers. The book captures the thrills and spills of an intellectual steeplechase. Along the way, it reveals the inner workings of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University. It's a great read. Feng-Hsiung Hsu, if you're reading this and you ever find yourself in Hortonville, Wisconsin, the first cup of coffee is on me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A really good read...
Comment: Behind Deep Blue was written by the man who lead the research and development team which created the chess computer that beat the World Chess Champion, Gary Kasparov. Hsu tells a lot of fascinating stories about his involvement with IBM, academia and the world of computer-vs-computer chess tournaments. It never got too bogged down in computer or chess jargon.
Some interesting things concerning the identity of Deep Blue (or computers in general) emerge from Hsu's story. Hsu speaks of his computers' identities in ways which facilitate his sportsmanship. So for instance, almost every time one of Hsu's computers loses a game it is retrospectively explained by reminding the reader that the computer had been regrettably forced to play when it still needed a few more weeks of software or hardware tweaking. It never lost because it was an inferior machine - it lost because its superiority could not manifest because its update/debugging had been interrupted by the tournament schedule. As the book makes clear, Hsu's computers were continuously undergoing relentless tweaking, providing Hsu with this excuse every single time one lost. This may be par for the course when diagnosing machines - since any sub-desired performance which can be corrected can, therefore, be "explained" as the unfortunate consequence of the machine's present uncorrected state. For humans it's different. When I lose a foot-race I can't say, "Well the only reason I lost is because this race was scheduled a few years before my training made me fast enough to win it."
Another fascinating element of the book is Hsu's recounting of Deep Blue's now-famous rejection of 36. Qb6 in game two against Kasparov in the 1997 match. Kasparov broadly hinted that the computer's decision not to move that way was a human decision - implying that the IBM team had cheated. Hsu's defense of Deep Blue is convincing. But there is raised an interesting point regarding computer intelligence. If Deep Blue did in fact choose to avoid 36. Qb6 without human intervention then Kasparov's heartfelt identification of the move as cheating has Deep Blue passing a simple version of a Turing Test.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Very good book.
Comment: I have prurchased this book to improve my english language.
Yhe same talks about two subjects that I know: computers and chess.
It was a good surprise read this enjoyable work which offers information, stories and knowledge.
The author explains very clear the roots of Deep Blue and reflects the environment of Top chess.
Read it!
More Reviews for Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion
Editorial Review for Behind Deep Blue: Building the Computer that Defeated the World Chess Champion:
On May 11, 1997, as millions worldwide watched a stunning victory unfold on television, a machine shocked the chess world by defeating the defending world champion, Garry Kasparov. Written by the man who started the adventure, Behind Deep Blue reveals the inside story of what happened behind the scenes at the two historic Deep Blue vs. Kasparov matches. This is also the story behind the quest to create the mother of all chess machines. The book unveils how a modest student project eventually produced a multimillion dollar supercomputer, from the development of the scientific ideas through technical setbacks, rivalry in the race to develop the ultimate chess machine, and wild controversies to the final triumph over the world's greatest human player.
In nontechnical, conversational prose, Feng-hsiung Hsu, the system architect of Deep Blue, tells us how he and a small team of fellow researchers forged ahead at IBM with a project they'd begun as students at Carnegie Mellon in the mid-1980s: the search for one of the oldest holy grails in artificial intelligence--a machine that could beat any human chess player in a bona fide match. Back in 1949 science had conceived the foundations of modern chess computers but not until almost fifty years later--until Deep Blue--would the quest be realized.
Hsu refutes Kasparov's controversial claim that only human intervention could have allowed Deep Blue to make its decisive, "uncomputerlike" moves. In riveting detail he describes the heightening tension in this war of brains and nerves, the "smoldering fire" in Kasparov's eyes. Behind Deep Blue is not just another tale of man versus machine. This fascinating book tells us how man as genius was given an ultimate, unforgettable run for his mind, no, not by the genius of a computer, but of man as toolmaker.
