The Rise of the Machines
The second game of the spectacular Man vs Machine encounter
in New York ended with a stunning loss by Garry Kasparov. The greatest
chess player of all time was actually doing quite well with the
black pieces against X3D Fritz, when suddenly a time trouble blunder
ruined his position.
Australian Ian Rogers proposed that X3D Fritz had passed
the chess Turing test, the point at which a computer becomes indistinguishable
from a human!
With chess now under their control it is only a matter of time
before the emotionless machines, which never tire, fell no pressure,
become supreme at bridge.
2004. Cyberdyne Systems Corporation
is formed to study bridge and undertake further cybernetic and artificial
intelligence research. Miles Dyson serves as the chief inventor
responsible for a revolutionary new CPU. By 2014 the most advanced
units ever, the team T-X take their place in the Bermuda Bowl final.
Before the final session the human Captain reminds his team, ‘These
are the best they have. They look human. Sweat, bad breath, everything.
They can't be reasoned with, can't be bargained with. They don’t
feel pity or remorse or fear. And they absolutely will not stop.
Ever. Until they have won.
When the final board settled on the table the scores were exactly
tied.
Dealer West. N/S Vul. |
|
ª A 8 7 6 2
© 6 2
¨ 7 6 4 3 2
§ A |
ª J 5 4
© K 9 7 5
¨ Q J 5
§ K Q 6 |
![Bridge deal](../../../Graphics/Hand/board3.gif) |
ª K 9
© A J 10 8
¨ A 8
§ J 8 5 3 2 |
|
ª Q 10 3
© Q 4 3
¨ K 10 9
§ 10 9 7 4 |
West |
North |
East |
South |
Hamman |
T-X |
Soloway |
T-X |
Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
![](../Graphics/photos/Bull_14/us1-Soloway-f6.jpg) |
|
Paul Soloway,
USA1 |
|
South led the ten of clubs and declarer played low from dummy.
North won with the ace and switched to the two of spades, (third
and fifth). Declarer played low, and after South won with the queen,
took the next spade with the king. North’s failure to open
the bidding meant he almost certainly didn’t have the king
of diamonds, so to make the contract declarer had to locate the
queen of hearts. He unblocked the clubs and came to hand with the
ace of diamonds to cash two more club winners. North had to find
four discards, and he released all his diamonds, so he was known
to be 5-2-5-1. Declarer asked himself why North had been so obliging
as to reveal his distribution? Clearly he wanted him to know he
had a doubleton heart. Weighing that against the possibility that
with ªA8762 ©Q6
¨76432 §A
North might just have opened the bidding, declarer played a heart
to the king and a heart to the jack. When that lost he was two down.
West |
North |
East |
South |
T-X |
Rodwell |
T-X |
Meckstroth |
Pass |
Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
3NT |
All Pass |
|
|
The play was the same, but the T-X, knowing South had three hearts
to North’s two, played with the odds and ran the jack to make
ten tricks.
And so the Bermuda Bowl, and Bridge passed into history.
(As our erudite readers will recall, the T-X model in Terminator
3, The Rise of the Machines, was a woman!)
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