From: Wijnand Engelkes <engelkes <at> XS4ALL <dot> NL>
Date: 8 feb 1996
Subject: Re: Is human wiser than computer in games?

>Are shogi and go only the games in which human is stronger than computers?
>Of course, we cannot examine all games in the world, but let's think only
>major games.  (Stil shogi may remain as a minor game in the world.  ;-))  I
>heard a former world champion of chess lost a game against Pentium machine.
> Can he win against super computer?  And I heard computer is stronger than
>humnan in Back-gammon (spelling?).  I am just curious of these topics.

In checkers, the program Chinook has proved to be of equal strenghth as the
world champion. Chinook has its own web page.
In draughts, the programs are not yet of Grandmaster strength.
In  "standard" chess programs occasionally win against grandmasters, but mostly
in quick games. World Champion Kasparov will play a 6-game match against
Deep Blue from IBM at normal time setiings. There is also a web page on that
match.
I recently beated the official computer chess champion, Fritz 3, with me giving
odds of rook. This was only to prove computers cannot think, only calculate.
The only thing I did was: keeping the position closed until he run out of
time. In
closed positions, most computer programs are helpless. Anyone can repeat what
I did, as I am a mediocre club player of about 1800 ELO.


Wijnand Engelkes.