Gary Kasparov chose to draw the deciding game of his match with the computer program Deep Junior on Friday rather than push for a win and risk defeat.
Kasparov was booed by some members of the audience for accepting the draw while having a far stronger position on the board and a better chance of winning.
But the world number one said he feared even the smallest mistake could have lost him the match. 鈥淥f course I wanted to win, but the top priority on my agenda today was not to lose,鈥� Kasparov said at a press conference held in New York after the final game.
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Kasparov went into the match keen to avenge his 1997 loss to IBM鈥檚 supercomputer Deep Blue. He won the first game of the match with apparent ease, after spotting a weakness in Deep Junior鈥檚 opening repertoire of moves. But Deep Junior鈥檚 tight defence and unpredictable style of attack frustrated the former world champion for the rest of the contest. Deep Junior also won one game and the remaining four were drawn. One point is awarded for a win and a half point for a draw.
Unpleasant opponent
Kasparov described as 鈥渦npleasant鈥� the experience of playing against an opponent that does not feel fatigue and emotion. 鈥淚f you make one mistake, you are out of business,鈥� Kasparov said.
When he lost to Deep Blue in 1997, Kasparov accused the computer鈥檚 designers of altering their program鈥檚 style of play before each game, making Deep Blue an entirely different player each time. Kasparov said the latest match was much fairer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a first match that was a purely scientific match, because we had fair conditions for both the human player and for the machine,鈥� he said.
The match was the first between a computer and a human to be recognised by the International Chess Federation.
Kasparov is still the highest ranked chess player in the world despite losing his world title to Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Kramnik only managed to draw against another computer program, Deep Fritz, in an eight game contest played in Bahrain in October 2002.