Product Description

On May 11, 1997, as millions worldwide watched a stunning victory unfold on television, a machine shocked the chess world by defeating the defending world champion, Garry Kasparov. Written by the man who started the adventure, Behind Deep Blue reveals the inside story of what happened behind the scenes at the two historic Deep Blue vs. Kasparov matches. This is also the story behind the quest to create the mother of all chess machines. The book unveils how a modest student project eventually produced a multimillion dollar supercomputer, from the development of the scientific ideas through technical setbacks, rivalry in the race to develop the ultimate chess machine, and wild controversies to the final triumph over the world's greatest human player.

In nontechnical, conversational prose, Feng-hsiung Hsu, the system architect of Deep Blue, tells us how he and a small team of fellow researchers forged ahead at IBM with a project they'd begun as students at Carnegie Mellon in the mid-1980s: the search for one of the oldest holy grails in artificial intelligence--a machine that could beat any human chess player in a bona fide match. Back in 1949 science had conceived the foundations of modern chess computers but not until almost fifty years later--until Deep Blue--would the quest be realized.

Hsu refutes Kasparov's controversial claim that only human intervention could have allowed Deep Blue to make its decisive, "uncomputerlike" moves. In riveting detail he describes the heightening tension in this war of brains and nerves, the "smoldering fire" in Kasparov's eyes. Behind Deep Blue is not just another tale of man versus machine. This fascinating book tells us how man as genius was given an ultimate, unforgettable run for his mind, no, not by the genius of a computer, but of man as toolmaker.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264884 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
In 1997, a computer developed by a team of researchers at IBM shocked the world by defeating world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a six-game match. Hsu began developing Deep Blue, the first computer to achieve such a feat, as a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. Here he focuses on the events in his career that led to his involvement with the project. He tells the story of how the basic technical ideas took shape in the computer science department and describes the further evolution and culmination of the project at IBM. Not merely a rehashing of the engineering that was poured into creating the "mother of all chess machines," Hsu's account goes beyond the typical man vs. machine angle and attempts to capture the true essence of the contest between men in two distinct roles: Kasparov as performer and Hsu's team as toolmaker. The result is an intelligent, well-written account of a milestone in the history of computer science that stands out from the other books on Deep Blue. Recommended for general readers attracted to the history of chess and computing.
Joe J. Accardi, William Rainey Harper Coll. Lib., Palatine, IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American
It was l949 when the eminent mathematician Claude E. Shannon suggested how to program a computer to play chess. "At that time, many renowned computer scientists believed that the Computer Chess Problem-- creating a chess computer that could beat the World Champion-- would be solved within a few years." It was, in fact, 48 years before the IBM computer Deep Blue-- capable of searching 200 million possible chess positions per second-- defeated world champion Garry Kasparov. Hsu, now a research scientist at the Western Research Lab of Compaq Computer, was the system architect for Deep Blue. He makes an exciting tale of computer chess evolution and the Kasparov match. Is Deep Blue intelligent? No, Hsu says: "It is only a finely-crafted tool that exhibits intelligent behavior in a limited domain."

Editors of Scientific American

From Booklist
Because the two matches that chess champ Garry Kasparov played six years ago against the author's supercomputer were so widely publicized, there's probably going to be a large audience for Hsu's behind-the-scenes account of the epic man-against-machine showdowns. Despite the arcane technical nature of both top-echelon chess and computer programming, Hsu's narrative does not suffer from indecipherable jargon, because he hews to human-interest-oriented storytelling. He starts with his student days at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he had to choose whether his future lay in designing chips for copiers or chess-playing computers. Taking the flashier option, he and his colleagues' first chess products caught IBM's publicity-seeking eye, and Hsu's group decamped for Big Blue. Hsu admits to his competitive desire to defeat Kasparov, who styled his rout of Hsu's first version of Deep Blue in 1996 as a defense of humanity. Stung, Hsu and his mates re-jiggered Deep Blue for the following year's grudge match, a battle regaled with drama and ripostes to Kasparov's disparagement of the electronic victor. A fascinating story. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Welcome HAL 900!
"Behind deep blue" is the great feat of the applied technology (computer chip design, programming chess) over the human mind. This is a statement that should invite us to think and rethink, specially if we recall HAL 900 in 2001 (A space Odyssey). On one hand, one may be tempted to argue the chess is just a variegated set of combinations and nothing else; but besides there's an unsolved question in the air; have we ruined the artistic beauty, the power of the mind and the sophisticated analysis behind every move?

This millenary game has enjoyed millions and millions of people around the world, without lacking age, sex, social condition, ideological beliefs or geographic latitude. But beneath these reflections underlies the expected desire to find out what made possible the apparently impossible.

Go for it.

Computers and savant conceit
Conceit and self-righteousness have become the calling cards of anyone who can outdo someone or something with computers. Big deal. All the self adulation that has gone into this tacky piece of work can't hold a candle to the fact that Gary Kasparov can play chess (and think!) Which is more than I can say about the vanity displayed by the author. Anyone who sets out to humiliate or bring down a champion by using questionable means has zero integrity. However, it's to be expected from this kind of individual.
It is singularly unimpressive; vain and self indulgent.

The soul of a new chess player
Feng-Hsiung Hsu's story will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Tracy Kidder's Soul of a New Machine or Steven Levy's Hackers. The book captures the thrills and spills of an intellectual steeplechase. Along the way, it reveals the inner workings of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon University. It's a great read. Feng-Hsiung Hsu, if you're reading this and you ever find yourself in Hortonville, Wisconsin, the first cup of coffee is on me.