You know you're a geek when you're riveted to ESPN2's coverage of Kasparov vs. Deep Junior. 'Been playing since I was five and anytime I can see the world's all time best I'm there. When he decides to retire from competition, it will be a sad day for the chess community. Kasparov is a magician.

 

I was watching during lunch too but sadly had to go back to work.
Good intro by the commentator.

 

Do either of you have a recommendation for a good chess book for an amateur?

 

Sorry I don't have a recommendation.
I guess you can go on google and do a chess club search to ask that question.

 

too bad it was a draw. Only reason I didn't like it.

 

I've been playing chess since I was 8. Jeremy Silman puts out some good books if you want to learn how to play really good: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

Playing a draw is a pretty huge feat considering computers process millions of moves a second versus only 2 moves a second for an average human. It's also unfair because chess computers have hundreds of books in it's database.

 

yea it's a huge feat, but it's boring.

 

Not boring if you understand the game.

I can say the same about baseball and hockey or figure skating.

 

A draw doesn't tell me that the human, in this case Kasparov, couldn't beat the computer, rather the computer's positioning gave its handlers enough reason to accept Kasparov's draw.
Quite the accomplishment against an opponent that can see 50 moves ahead with 1,000,000 possible scenarios.

 

maybe so grandmaster, but I think the point of playing a game is to win.

But I agree Kasparov is an absolute genius and to draw with deep junior is another huge accomplishment for him.