Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Talks and Readings Checkmating
Posted by Edith on Tue, Dec 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM
Where were you when Garry Kasparov was beaten by Deep Blue in 1997? I was preparing for my elementary school graduation, getting excited about my birthday. Speaking of which, happy half-birthday to me today. But—Gary Kasparov, the youngest-ever grandmaster world chess champion (at 22 in 1985), will be at the Borders on Wall Street tonight at 10am. Quickly! He's reading from How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom [to the Bedroom to the Bathroom to the Hotel Lobby], which certainly sounds like a classy and fun read.
If for some reason you can't make the event, here's an excerpt from Amazon's interview with Kasparov for the book.
Amazon.com: If you could choose five people, living or dead, to play you in chess, who would they be?
Kasparov: Don't you know I have retired as a chess player? Well, I will go with you to the middle with two and a half opponents.
4th world chess champion Alexander Alekhine (d. 1946) was my childhood chess idol. The book of his collected games was my constant companion. ...
My next player requires a change of date as well, since I am now retired. In the period of 2001-2002 I felt I deserved a rematch against Vladimir Kramnik, who took my title in 2000. I was still the top-rated player in the world, the obvious top challenger. So I would choose a 16-game match against Kramnik--in 2002.
Last on my list is a chessplayer who is most definitely dead. Even if chess has by now passed it by, I would take a tiebreaker match against Deep Blue. I won our first match; the machine won the second. Then IBM made sure there would be no chance for a rematch. This time everything would be out in the open, no black boxes. Of course chess machines are considerably stronger today. It would still be pleasant to gain revenge and set the record straight.
He sounds like a lot of fun!
It's too heavy for me to castle :(
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