" A few months after all the work I did on the Deep Blue project, at the US Championship, I thought <miserable Earthlings, you have no chance against me!> "

In his book, I like the chapter where he mentions his first experience with Kasparov. He said that the teenage Kaspy was playing blitz for money at the Junior World Championships, I think at odds of 5 minutes to 3, and winning. Benjamin mentions a Wijk an Zee (CORUS) tournament, when Kasparov won every single game with white (except a game against Benjamin) and won the tournament. JB says he has the scoresheet framed, hanging on his living room wall.

I don't think it would have mattered. The best player will win. Rybka and Hydra's games are all overthe place, and they are mostly unbeatable.

I thought it was interesting that Feng Sui, the chief developer of the project, is a very strong player himself. When these software programs were around 2400, he was still "competitive" with them, but was run off the board against the version that Kasparov played.

I've never understood why IBM didn't allow a rematch, even for less money, or whatever. They would have been favored, perhaps even more so than in the first match. And another round against Kaspy, who gives instant star wattage, would have just brought more free publicity to IBM.

The issue wasn't the ethical question of whether or not IBM would hand over the logs, it was IBM AGREED to hand over the logs since Kasparov already booked a ticket out of New York forfeiting the match.

Good sportsmanship? It was Kasparov who accused IBM of cheating. He thought they had an IM/GM level player hiding in some side room, combining human insight with the software's recommended moves, to avoid a 'computer error'. How embarrassingly childish. IBM? They have been the preeminent mainframe builders since WWII. IBM is the very definition of 'blue chip' company, they could buy and sell Baku.

Kaspy might have shown a little good cheer himself, at the final press conference. I believe Gary still got his $one million dollars for a 6 game match, a little gratitude never hurts. It was a significant achievement by Feng Sui and his programmers, working with chess people like Benjamin and Nick DeFirmian. I don't think Kasparov congratulated the IBM team at all. I think his mother, Clara may have been in the front row, which is a little bit creepy, if you think about it, Kasparov being about 40 years old at the time.

The accusation about a 'hidden player' is made very explicit in the documentary film on the match. Its worth a buck, if you get Netflix.

BTW, these 'logs' that Kasparov spoke of are part of the internal workings of the Deep Blue configuraton. I think it falls under the category of 'intellectual property', they certainly don't have to display it to anyone.