What is wrong with my chess computer?
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
A WELL KNOWN POSITIONAL DRAW
Following a discussion this past weekend with ICCF Grandmaster Luis Santos (once ranked 3rd in the world) I went home and set up the above position on my chess set and gave it to my strongest chess engines (Firebird, Rybka and Fritz). Sure enough, none of these powerful engines were able to solve it, and —according to Santos– no matter how much time you gave the engines they would never be able to solve it unless you linked them to specialized tablebases (which is equivalent to giving them the answer beforehand!).
The above position is a so-called positional draw. The White Knight can never be forced to move from d7 and so the Black King is forever held prisoner in the corner. Any human, no matter how weak he/she is in chess, would quickly understand that Black can not win the above position.
And this above example is a wonderful demonstration of the present day limitations of chess computers. The tactical aspects of chess can be efficiently worked out , thanks to today’s highly sophisticated algorithims and super-charged advances in computer technology. But computers still don’t have any common sense and they have not yet reached the point where they can learn fast enough to compensate for this lack of common sense…
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS