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

by Bruce Pandolfini (Author) "The first game of IBM's Kasparov vs. Deep Blue rematch started, and finished, with surprise..." (more)
Key Phrases: home rank, doubled pawns, passed pawn, Deep Blue, Garry Kasparov, Ruy Lopez (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the first comprehensive book about the highly publicized chess match between world champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM chess program Deep Blue, renowned chess teacher and author Bruce Pandolfini offers a play-by-play of each game--as well as his own unique analysis and historical perspective. 80 diagrams.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (October 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068484852X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684848525
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,098,358 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good report of match, but nothing spectacular, May 15, 2001

By A Customer

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A commentary on championship chess accessible to beginners!, December 29, 1999

By	Herbert M. Bryant Jr. (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars truly awful, January 28, 2008

By	Matt H "Matt" (UK) - See all my reviews

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.