Garry Kasparove

The third game in the chess match between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue ended in a draw Tuesday in New York City. The score in the six-game match remains tied, 1.5 to 1.5. The winner of the match will receive $700,000 of the $1.1-million purse. Kasparov will get $400,000 if he loses and $550,000 if the match ends in a tie. Tuesday's game began while the chess world was still buzzing over Deep Blue's win in the second game Sunday.

For beleaguered but feisty anti-Kremlin activists of various political stripes, Saturday was a day of drama and high tension, as young radicals and fed-up pensioners alike used a protest march and rally to taunt authorities. The demonstrators succeeded in provoking the government to bare its teeth, with police officers arresting hundreds and trying to intimidate journalists. The day was not without humor, however.

It is a bold, if unintentional, stroke of counter-programming. In one corner, with a crowd of 70,000 in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium and a U.S. broadcast audience of 80 million, is pro football's Super Bowl. In the other corner, in a function room at the New York Athletic Club that seats 250 and with a mouse-clicking Internet audience that promoters hope will reach 100,000, is chess giant Garry Kasparov and a computer nicknamed Deep Junior.

As a 7-year-old chess prodigy, Garry Kasparov was already beating opponents several times his age. When he was 22, he became the youngest world chess champion in history, and went on to become an undefeated champion for nearly 10 years. Even two matches against an IBM supercomputer, capable of analyzing 50 billion potential moves in three minutes, ended in a 1-1 tie. In the end it can be said that Kasparov he has defeated all of his intellectual adversaries but one: Vladimir V. Putin.

Poor Garry Kasparov. He's an egomaniac, rude and too smart for his own good. Still, you had to feel downright sorry for him the other day when a computer kicked his butt. Pre-match speculation was that a machine (in this case, the IBM computer Deep Blue) couldn't outsmart a human at chess. So when the high-strung Kasparov suddenly cracked in a match Sunday that most observers thought he could still survive, it was a truly humiliating moment for him--and enlightening for us.

An IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue made chess history by beating Garry Kasparov, the world's best chess player, in the first game of an exhibition match Saturday in Philadelphia. The confusing battle, in which Kasparov appeared to mishandle a promising position, marked the first time a machine has beaten a world champion under classic tournament conditions.

For beleaguered but feisty anti-Kremlin activists of various political stripes, Saturday was a day of drama and high tension, as young radicals and fed-up pensioners alike used a protest march and rally to taunt authorities. The demonstrators succeeded in provoking the government to bare its teeth, with police officers arresting hundreds and trying to intimidate journalists. The day was not without humor, however.

The American teenager nervously pumped his legs under the table and the small Israeli boy was afraid, but the young Norwegian stayed cool as they sat toe-to-toe with world No. 1 chess player Garry Kasparov. They were among an all-star cast of boys and girls whose teams won the first World School Chess Championship played over the Internet, ending in Manhattan this week in traditional "over-the-board" contests and a bonus simultaneous exhibition game against the Russian grandmaster.

As a 7-year-old chess prodigy, Garry Kasparov was already beating opponents several times his age. When he was 22, he became the youngest world chess champion in history, and went on to become an undefeated champion for nearly 10 years. Even two matches against an IBM supercomputer, capable of analyzing 50 billion potential moves in three minutes, ended in a 1-1 tie. In the end it can be said that Kasparov he has defeated all of his intellectual adversaries but one: Vladimir V. Putin.

It is a bold, if unintentional, stroke of counter-programming. In one corner, with a crowd of 70,000 in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium and a U.S. broadcast audience of 80 million, is pro football's Super Bowl. In the other corner, in a function room at the New York Athletic Club that seats 250 and with a mouse-clicking Internet audience that promoters hope will reach 100,000, is chess giant Garry Kasparov and a computer nicknamed Deep Junior.

The American teenager nervously pumped his legs under the table and the small Israeli boy was afraid, but the young Norwegian stayed cool as they sat toe-to-toe with world No. 1 chess player Garry Kasparov. They were among an all-star cast of boys and girls whose teams won the first World School Chess Championship played over the Internet, ending in Manhattan this week in traditional "over-the-board" contests and a bonus simultaneous exhibition game against the Russian grandmaster.

Poor Garry Kasparov. He's an egomaniac, rude and too smart for his own good. Still, you had to feel downright sorry for him the other day when a computer kicked his butt. Pre-match speculation was that a machine (in this case, the IBM computer Deep Blue) couldn't outsmart a human at chess. So when the high-strung Kasparov suddenly cracked in a match Sunday that most observers thought he could still survive, it was a truly humiliating moment for him--and enlightening for us.

The third game in the chess match between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue ended in a draw Tuesday in New York City. The score in the six-game match remains tied, 1.5 to 1.5. The winner of the match will receive $700,000 of the $1.1-million purse. Kasparov will get $400,000 if he loses and $550,000 if the match ends in a tie. Tuesday's game began while the chess world was still buzzing over Deep Blue's win in the second game Sunday.

An IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue made chess history by beating Garry Kasparov, the world's best chess player, in the first game of an exhibition match Saturday in Philadelphia. The confusing battle, in which Kasparov appeared to mishandle a promising position, marked the first time a machine has beaten a world champion under classic tournament conditions.