Kasparov Dons 3D Glasses To Fight, Draw X3D Fritz

Shalda writes "CNN is reporting that: "Former world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov, 40, pits his genius against 'X3D Fritz,' a combination of Fritz, the most dominant chess software, with X3D Technologies company software that specializes in virtual reality." Kasparov will be looking at a virtual board through 3D VR glasses in what sounds like one of the lamest chess PR stunts ever." ChessBase has some interesting statistics trying to predict the entire match, plumping for an overall Kasparov win, but Reuters reveals today's opening encounter ended in a draw.

3D and Battlechess?

[ghideon]

If someone could get some 3D VR going with updated graphics for Battlechess, I'd start playing again...

Re:3D and Battlechess?

[Dasaan]

Just remember to let the wookie win

Commentary

[Jason_says]

The ESPN2 commentary was really funny too.

Way to go Fritz

[lightspawn]

Obviously its strategy is to try giving Kasparov a virtual-boy sized headache and throw off his game.

Re:Way to go Fritz

[Pyro226]

Obviously its strategy is to try giving Kasparov a virtual-boy sized headache and throw off his game.

A watched a little bit of the match on ESPN today, and that is honestly what it looked like. The only actualy reason to do this (that I could see) was that in the past the computer would need a human player to make the moves for it, wasting a few seconds per move, and the games are timed.

Aside from that it was just a PR stunt. Kasparov did not look like he liked the system, although he probably alwa

Re:Way to go Fritz

[Anonymous Coward]

Kasparov can control the angle of the board with a joystick

Boring!

[Descartes]

Ok, I know it's not any more exciting but why not pit the best computers against eachother.

I mean, I'm sure some Chess geeks would love to follow the game of Deep Blue vs. Deep Junior. We should stop ranking chess players in two seperate categories depending on whether they are human or not.

Let's face it, having a person controlling the board doesn't actually make watching a game of chess any more exciting.

They do

[eamonman]

CSVN [computerschaak.nl] tournament

Re:Boring!

[Parallex]

Sure it does... A human can identify with the thought processes of another human. Or at least can think he can. But with a computer it's a completely alien entity - there's no other way around it. Why do you think the average person usually roots for the human player in human vs computer games? (keep in mind : *average* person, not ur average slashdotter :P)

Re:Boring!

[Kwil]

I'd tend to think that you could only get one game out of the same two computers, unless at least one of them had some sort of learning algorithm going on as well.

Which strikes me as pretty boring.

Re:Boring!

[m0smithslash]

Except Deep Blue was dismantled after the publicity stunt. Quoth Kasparov in The Wall Street Oppinion Journal [opinionjournal.com]

In 1997, when IBM terminated the Deep Blue project, the computer-chess field was left to talented enthusiasts. In the past 5 1/2 years, new programming techniques have combined with superior chess knowledge to create a quality of machine chess that is far superior to that of Deep Blue. In game five of my match with Deep Junior it played an imaginative sacrifice of the type generally considered imp

Commentators say...

[Tom7]

You know what's pretty funny? All of the chess commentators are saying that he's putting himself at a disadvantage, or "torturing himself" by doing it with the stupid 3D virtual reality glasses. That's probably not what X3D wanted to hear...

Re:Commentators say...

[mausmalone]

Gary Kasporov was quoted as saying "Holy crap! It's just like I'm sitting at a table playing chess! Oh wait... I am sitting at a table playing chess."

Re:Commentators say...

[cgenman]

I doubt anyone knew about X3D goggles before this, and the likelihood of commentators mentioning them in a positive light are extremely slim. They cost 60 bucks online, they're cheap, and they use LCD technology that first saw commercial release on the SEGA Mastersystem in '83, possibly earlier. This is not a form of advanced TFT display device, these are little left-right blinking glasses that also blink your display.

In that sense, any kind of publicity is good publicity for them. It certainly won't ca

not to be confused with

[drfrog]

the other x3d

www.web3d.org

State of computer goggles

[metalhed77]

As a side note to this media stunt. What is the state of wearable computing goggles. Personally, I'm goddamn sick of looking at my CRT but don't want to pay for a 19" LCD. Would buying goggles keep the price down (I figure two tiny LCDs must be cheaper than one big one). Where could I buy such goggles? Google is turning up nothing.

Re:State of computer goggles

[Oddly_Drac]

Olympus Iglasses are one, but try this site and scroll down to 'Displays (Commercial)' [eyetap.org]

Someone had to say it...

[QuietYou]

Kasparov: My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
Fritz: kekeke ^_^

blindfolded grandmasters

[Kynde]

Grandmasters like Kasparov are commonly known to be able to not only play blindfolded but play on almost the same level that they play with the board in front of them. For some reason this really applies to only the really great ones, though I must admit that I have knowledge of Kasparov playing blindfolded but many grandmasters before him have played absolutely astonishing games like that.

I remember a picture of a former russian grandmaster Aljechin sitting on a chair and behind him were some 20 to 30 other top russian players. He played against them simultaneously and without back against them. Can't remember the exact result, but in overall he won by some margin. Just about the most spectacular event in chess history that I can remember, althoug there are many many others.

So my point being, the vr glasses probably won't do that much good for him and even worse they may disturb his concentration more than they're of use.

I can wholeheartedly recommed borrowing some chess history books. They're filled with amazing true stories about those goons. One really doesn't have to be all that much into chess to enjoy them. Was it Spasski who was so concentrated on his next game in a tournament that he got mixed with the doors of the cafeteria and somehow wound up back inside. Deep thinking poor chap ate again. Might have not been Spasski, but it was one of the greater ones.

Re:blindfolded grandmasters

[mnemonic_]

You fool, of course it was not Spasski.

That picture of Miss New York

[djdavetrouble]

Is it just me or does she look like she should be Miss Long Island? The big hair, chubby arms, goofy look on her face, etc.. I don't know how Miss Massapequa ended up being Miss New York...

x3d/x3d Fritz reviews?

[TxdoHawk]

I found x3dFritz for sale [x3dshop.com], and now I'm really curious. Has anybody found any reviews/hands on for the technology, or even better, reviews of X3d fritz itself? Google has turned up nothing so far.

Note to marketing:

[crapulent]

Dear X3D advertising department:

When you use images like this one [x3dchess.com] that make it look like your celebrity is struggling to squeeze out a huge turd, it doesn't make me very interested in your product.

Dump the goggles, get a flat panel

[Animats]

Why, for a media event, are those people using CRTs? Not only are they big and bulky, CRTs shown on TV flicker unless you get everything synched.

Manipulating chess pieces that way is just silly.

Who are those X3D guys, anyway? Just to confuse everything, there's an X3D consortium. [web3d.org] A few years ago, the angle bracket police decided to convert VRML to XML syntax. Unfortunately, nobody cared about VRML by then.