Man vs. machine Man vs. machine (August 19, 2005)

Computer History Museum looks back on digital chess

By Jenny Baer

Even before computers were built, mathematicians were dreaming of a program that could play chess, a game considered by many to be the ultimate test of human intelligence.

The Computer History Museum's new exhibit, "Mastering the Game: A History of Computer Chess," is not simply a showcase of a game, but shines a light on the origins and developments of artificial intelligence.

The museum will host a presentation of the exhibit on Sept. 8 (reservation required), and a public open house from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 10.

"Software is rarely brought out to the public eye," said Edward Feigenbaum, an artificial-intelligence researcher at Stanford University. "This is the history of ideas, and the ideas embedded in software."

The exhibit, stationed on a 1,000-square-foot black-and-white checkerboard floor near the museum's entrance, consists of chronologically organized collections ranging from 1940 to the present. The earlier years are mostly represented through photographs, reading material and two video screens, while actual computers, chess games and a cyber exhibit are brought in to represent the more recent years.

Displays range in media from a banner portraying an early mechanical chess game called "The Turk," in which the player would appear to be competing against a giant puppet, to IBM's supercomputer that has competed against modern-day chess champions.

Attempting to make a complicated subject available to a wide audience, the display provides explanations of logarithms and other complex subjects that are essential to computer chess.

The museum showcases historic chess programs such as "Sargon," as well as self-operating chess sets including one sold at Neiman Marcus in 1982. The exhibit also houses an IBM "Deep Blue" supercomputer of the model that defeated chess champion Gary Kasparov in 1994, and an autographed game board from a 1996 match between Deep Blue and Kasparov.

"The holy grail of this whole story is to be the best chess player in the world. And if a computer can do that, it's a milestone," said Dag Spicer, senior curator for the museum.

E-mail Jenny Baer at jbaer@mv-voice.com

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