Man vs. Machine Chess Match:

Grandmaster Gennady Sagalchik
vs.
1800-node Intel Paragon(tm) Supercomputer
Running *Socrates

at the 12th Maryland Theory Day (at UMBC)
Friday, March 24, 1995
9:30am-5pm

*Socrates won the game in 56 moves--see story.

LIVE view of match from UMBC brought to you by Intel.
Moves displayed LIVE over Internet Chess Club (ICC).

Sponsored by the Computer Science Department
at the University of Maryland Baltimore County
in cooperation with the UMBC Chess Club.

Support for the Man vs. Machine Match was provided in part by The Intel Corporation. Support for the 12th Maryland Theory Day was provided by the National Security Agency under a grant from the Mathematical Sciences Program.

Program

• 9:30-10:00am, Morning Reception in Atrium

• 10am-4pm, Chess Match in Room 022

  *Socrates lead programmer Christopher Joerg (MIT Laboratory for Computer Science) will be present. Also present will be Don Dailey, author of Socrates (on which *Socrates is based).

• 4:00-5:00pm, Lecture: `` The *Socrates Massively Parallel Chess Program'' in Lecture Hall V

  Bradley C. Kuszmaul, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.

• 5:00pm, Adjourn

Note: ``*Socrates'' is pronounced ``Star-Socrates.''

What?

This competition represents an ongoing struggle for machines to surpass humans in the intellectual challenge of chess. As shown in games from the 1994 Harvard Cup, the best machines now play at the grandmaster level.

Where?

At age ten, Sagalchik was invited to Botvinnik's Chess School, where he began his serious study of the game. A few years later, he trained at Polugaevsky's School where he meet the world's best players and coaches. At age sixteen, Sagalchik accepted an invitation to Michael Sherehevsky's School, training twice a day, five times every week. At this time, Sagalchik began winning some international tournaments. He also started teaching and coaching chess---for example, he coached the National Blind Team of Byelorussia. In Byelorussia, Sagalchik also trained under Igor Epshteyn, who now coaches the UMBC Chess Team.

After emigrating to the United States in October 1991, Sagalchik's games continued to improve, attaining a USCF rating of 2633 and an FIDE rating of 2545. Finally, in 1994, at the Linares Tournament in Mexico, he earned his final Grandmaster norm, qualifying him for the title of International Grandmaster, which title will be awarded at the next FIDE Congress (see article in April 1995 issue of Chess Life).

While a student at BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College), Sagalchik trained the chess team and played first board. This team won first place at the 1993 and 1994 Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championships in DeLand, Florida, and Providence, Rhode Island. (UMBC's top team tied this BMCC team when they met in DeLand.)

In January 1995, Sagalchik entered the computer science program at Brooklyn College. His goal is to popularize chess in the United States and to help introduce chess into the schools curriculum at all levels.

According to the December 1994 USCF rating list, Sagalchik ranks thirty-fifth in the United States, with a USCF rating of 2568. His wife Olga also plays chess: rated 2217, she is a master and the tenth best woman chess player in the country.

On February 18, in a simultaneous chess exhibition at UMBC, Sagalchik simultaneously played 33 chess enthusiasts, winning 25, losing 3, and drawing 5.

Selected tournament successes.

(Previously, the *Socrates team had planned to use the relatively less powerful 512 processor CM-5 supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with 16 gigabytes of main memory.)

The *Socrates Chess Program

Using the 1800-node Intel Paragon, *Socrates will search well over one million chess positions per second. In typical middle game positions, *Socrates will perform a complete search for at least 12 ply (a ply is one half-move); in endings, *Socrates will search at least 15 or 16 ply.

At 4pm in Lecture Hall V, Bradley Kuszmaul will deliver a talk on *Socrates. Sample *Socrates games. Other games from the 94 Computer Chess Championship.

Match Details

• Time controls: 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour. The physical chess clock at the playing site will indicate the official time.

• Color assignment: Colors will be chosen at random immediately before game.

• Rules: Rules of the USCF (United States Chess Federation) apply. The *Socrates team will be responsible for making the *Socrates moves on a physical chess board.

• Arbiter: USCF National Tournament Director Robert H. Erkes will arbitrate the match. A resident of Baltimore, Mr. Erkes is an active chess organizer in Maryland, a lifetime USCF chess master, and mid-atlantic regional representative of the USCF.

Organizer

Other Chess Activities at UMBC

• UMBC Open Tournament, Sat-Sun April 15-16, 1995.
  Grand Prix 5-round Swiss sytem in three sections (Open, Under 2000, Under 1500). University Center Ballroom, UMBC. Registration 8:30-9:30am. Rounds Sat 10, 3, 8 and Sun 10, 3. Entrance fee: $25 by 4/7; $30 at site. Time controls 30/90, SD/30. See Chess Life. Over $1,000 in cash prizes (based on 60 entries). Open: $250, $150, $100. Under 2000: $150, $100, $50. Under 1500: $150, $100, $50. USCF membership required (may be purchased at site for $30). Unrateds may play in any section, but no unrated may win more than $100 in the Under 1500 section. Spectators free and welcome.

• Chess-Player Scholars Wanted.
  UMBC seeks outstanding chess-player scholars for possible undergraduate merit scholarships. High school students in top 10% of class with SAT > 1400 and USCF rating > 2000 are are invited to contact Alan T. Sherman. Among these scholarships are the University Scholars Program (full four-year tuition + room and board), and the Meyerhoff Program for gifted African-Americans who wish to study science, mathematics, or engineering (full four-year tuition + room and board + computer + stipend + much more).