The day Kasparov lost against the computer Close the Open the Plume panel Le Figaro App -icon - 512px V1 1 - Style/Logotypes/Le Figaro/Apps/Games

Was he too confident?"At the best of my form, the computer capable of fighting is not yet built," said Kasparov in Le Figaro on May 3, 1997 before facing the computer of IBM, Deeper Blue.Whoever, the previous year had beaten Deep Blue, will finally bow after an eight -day duel.A bitter humiliation for the former world chess champion, now a political activist exiled in the United States.

Article published in Le Figaro of May 13, 1997

Deeper Blue wins 3.5 to 2.5: the chess champion is a machine

Kasparov never got up from his defeat of the second part.

Nervously exhausted, Kasparov "committed suicide" as soon as the opening is opening a pawn in H6, an archical fault which provides the opponent with a winning attack.Deeper Blue had only to draw on his "memory" and, in 19 shots, the case was settled.

Already, the day before the last part, you could feel that the New York meeting would end badly for Kasparov.After the fifth part, he talked about it in the past and even mentioned the modalities of a future confrontation.

Unable to win only one of the third, fourth and fifth parts, in which he had a real advantage, Kasparov was terribly shocked by the loss of the second part and his unjustified abandonment when he could force the draw.In this part, Deeper Blue played several amazing shots from a machine. Dès lors, Kasparov, oubliant que sa tâche était «seulement» de gagner, a dépensé toute son énergie à vouloir percer le mystère.Moreover, in all his subsequent declarations, Kasparov will refer to the game of Deeper Blue in this second part that he does not manage to explain himself.This obsession will be the cause of his mediocre game to the final ko.

Another explanation for the defeat of Kasparov is his frankly defective preparation.Surrounded by computer specialists, Kasparov has obviously trained on the basis of already existing programs.And, on this side, the game of Deeper Blue represents a huge leap forward, both in strategy and in the finals, traditionally weak points of all known programs.

From a sporting point of view, Deeper Blue's victory is impeccable.In six games, he managed to defeat the best chess player on the planet. Il n’empêche que sur le plan échiquéen on a surtout assisté à un effondrement de Kasparov et les qualités de l’ordinateur sont encore à démontrer.For this, these six parts are insufficient and we can hope that Ibm submit it to other tests, faced with various opponents.

By Aldo Haik*

*Aldo Haik is a French chess player, editor of the Figaro "chess" section for many years.