Customer Reviews

Kasparov and Deep Blue: The Historic Chess Match Between Man and Machine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pandolfini annotates practically every move of the six games of Kasparov's match loss to Deep Blue (I thought it was called "Deeper Blue"). This is book is written at a fairly basic level. He explains a lot of basic chess terms, such as open files and pinned pieces. All told, the book is interesting for those who want a record of the event, but it's not really instructive. It's also not a great value with only 6 games, though it does provide the game scores (no annotation) of the first match which K. won.

Pandolfini makes some questionable comments - such as calling K. the "last human world champion" - and isn't afraid to express his opinion. He thinks that Kasparov would have won if he'd only played his own game instead of trying to get cute with anti-computer moves.

There's no behind-the-scenes repoortage, nor much here about the technology behind Deep Blue. I think Panda might have written it on his couch from reading the games scores in the newspaper.

As a beginning chess player who's returned to the game after a thirty-nine year lapse since high school, I found this book an good introduction to the thinking involved in tournament level play. It made chess commentaries seem exciting, whereas they'd never seemed so before.

The author's clear exposition of the problems facing the players on each move, and the book's well organized format, made this the first collection of chess games to lead me to take up a board and follow along. :-)

Chess diagrams are inserted at critical points in each of the six games of the match, and informative mini essays appear in highlighted boxes throughout the text. The game records are written in easily interpreted short algebraic notation. Only the knowledge which can be gained from any brief introduction to chess is presumed, and even that's not mandatory.

Over the years, I sometimes glanced through chess books on bookstore and library shelves, but most appeared somewhat tedious, certainly not suitable for leisure study. Bruce Pandolfini's description of Garry Kasparov's performance as John Henry against IBM's Deep Blue steam hammer is an exception to that pattern.

This book contains the complete games of both Kasparov-Deep Blue matches in a compact and affordable volume, which makes it a good value for its price for anybody interested in these matches. Pandolfini does a reasonable job picking positions to diagram. However, at least to me as a reasonably experienced, if mediocre, chess player, the author's analysis was entirely worthless.

Clearly, Pandolfiini's intention was to use this high profile match to teach some general principles of chess to an inexperienced public. I'm not sure this is a viable strategy, given at what high level the games were played, but there is nothing wrong with the principles the author teaches. However, In his attempt to cater to the chess novice, Pandolfini goes overboard in avoiding the discussion of any but the most obvious lines. As a result, the somewhat more experienced reader is left without help to the somewhat less obvious questions.

As a glaring example of this, it would have been well worth a discussion, giving specific lines, why the black position at the end of game 6 is indeed lost. Instead, Pandolfiini just states some generalities ("Time to buy IBM stock").

Furthermore, the book is utterly disappointing in its failure to provide any substantial information at all about the technology behind Deep Blue, instead of the clichés that the author seems to find amusing.

This book seems like the work of a couple of afternoons in front of a word processor by someone keen to cash in on the popularity of the match. There is no background information to speak of the games are given with only shallow and in many cases inaccurate notes. Try ANY of the other books on this match, they are better.

At first I planned to buy this book and Keene's book on the first match. Somehow I could not get myself to buy them. Then after reading all the reviews for this book, I agreed with most of the comments.
1) For a book of six annotated games, the full retail price is too high.
2) Some reviewers said the book is too shallow. When I read this book the fourth time at a library, I liked and enjoyed it. Lots of explaination. Now after reading the reviews here I agree that Pando's analyses are one-dimensional and not deep enough, like Nunn's or Yermo's. (Thank you, other reviewers, for pointing out that my chess experience is shallow as well; and help me to save $$$. Lots of chess to learn for me.)
This book is good as a teaching tool for 1400's, the price is not reasonable. Used book's price is a better investment. $9.99 is a reasonable price for a new one. Used ones, get the best price as you can here...

Bruce wrote this book to capitalize on the publicity surrounding the Man vs. Machine match. I have no problem with that. It was certainly front-page news in the late 90s. But apparently he (or the publisher) was uncertain about the book's possible audience. On one hand, it's clearly for non chess players (witness the three-page-long How to Read Chess Moves, not to mention the boxed comments found throughout; e.g., a pinned piece can't run away; even the following gem which appears as late as page 153: "The tricky but timely castling move, where you get to move two pieces on the same turn, and it's not considered cheating."). On the other hand, I'm not sure that even beginner chess players would want the move-by-move analysis which is provided for the six games. I don't think it's a bad book, but trying to appeal to multiple crowds may not be a winnable scenario.

Also missing was some historical background on chess-playing computers, or even on GM Kasparov for that matter. And while I imagine most people know the outcome, the review blurb at the top of the front cover constitutes a blatant spoiler.

Bruce Pandolfini does an excellent job taking you step-by-step through the games between Kasparov and Deep Blue. He has a good comment explaining just about every move.

This is a great book for the beginner or intermediate player. It shows what goes on in a Grandmaster's mind when playing.

I wish he wrote more about Deep Blue itself, but he actually said very little about it.

Kasparov and Deep Blue, by Bruce Pandolfini, is an excellent account of the historic rematch between the world's highest rated chess player Garry Kasparov and IBM's new and improved chess supercomputer--Deep Blue. Pandolfini does an excellent job of analyzing the individual games move by move while simultaneously teaching the reader about the fundamentals of chess strategy. The book is well organized. Pandolfini begins each chapter with a complete move list for the game under review, followed by clear and concise analysis of each move. In addition, the author includes several mini-essays that discuss general points of chess strategy. These mini-essays provide the reader with a refreshing break from action and are highly instructive. The best part about this chess book is that Pandolfini is cognizant of his audience. Anybody who reads chess books is familiar with the sometimes overwhelming inclusion of detailed hypothetical move variations that necessarily acompany a good analysis of a particular move. However, Pandolfini wrote this book for the beginer to intermediate level chess player, and as such, limits the frequency of confusing hypothetical move variations to instances where they are both necessary and instructive. In all, a highly enjoyable read for anybody interested in chess or computers--or both!

This is one of my favorite chess books. Pandolfini gives a move by move account of all six games of the match. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates overly-annotated chess games. Pandolfini gives explanation to nearly every move, even the first few moves of openings, which I admit may be too elementary for advanced players, but could be appreciated the novice for the detail. The notation is good, typesetting is pleasing to the eye, and pictures are used at critical junctures. Pandolfini also does a nice job at inserting extra tid-bits of interesting information now and then relative to the topic at hand.

This is a very good book, but I think Bruce a mistake. I am not gonna really tell you inside this book.