Did IBM play fair? It is a question that Garry Kasparov, the world's greatest chess player, raised after his defeat by IBM's Deep Blue chess computer five years ago. "I have my doubts it was a machine," says Kasparov. "Some of the machine's decisions cannot be reproduced in pure conditions."
The point is that humans can and do make unpredictable moves, but a computer's can be precisely accounted for, and should be repeatable, as in a scientific experiment.
"To prove the success of your experiment you have to be able to repeat it in pure conditions," he continues. "The event was organised by IBM, run by IBM, paid for by IBM, and no information required by professional players and computer specialists was released.
"Their refusal to release print-outs, their refusal to continue with the program, their decision to dismantle Deep Blue - the only impartial witness - just puts this single experiment out of the scientific rank.
"IBM benefited immensely; I suffered humiliating defeat. But at the end of the day, it has no significance, either for man versus machine [as a] sporting contest or for scientific investigation. I think the experiment will have to be renewed but differently. The machine has to be supervised as thoroughly as the human player and every single datum has to be revealed.
"So I think that IBM didn't behave properly, but it's a big big corporation, and it's virtually impossible to challenge them in the media. They buy too much advertising - that's what I was told by certain press organisations."
Kasparov, now 37, had been world chess champion from the age of 22, and had never lost a match to a human opponent, so he might have been forgiven for holding a grudge against computers. But that is not the case. Like many travelling players he uses the ChessBase program to prepare himself for games, and he plays "speed chess" against computer programs before competitions. "It's useful for professional players because it sharpens your tactics. So I'll play a few blitz games against the computer because it's the ultimate test."
His visit to London last month to play a charity match, coincided with the launch of Virtual Kasparov, which he says is the first significant chess program for the Sony PlayStation. I went to talk to him in his suite at London's Savoy where, unlike the hairier, geekier chess masters, he does not look out of place.
Kasparov is well dressed and looks fitter, tougher and, unnervingly, no older than when we last met some 15 years ago. His CV lists weight-training as one of his interests, and I'd rather face him over a chessboard than in a boxing ring.
Neither is likely to happen, but perhaps I can beat the Virtual Kasparov instead. Does it play like him?
"It caters for everyone from total beginners, but at its highest level, it does imitate Garry Kasparov's playing style," he says. "First, it prefers Kasparov's openings over Karpov's or Kramnik's [the world chess champions before and after him]. Every chess program is quite different in evaluating positions, because the priority systems are designed with different values. This one obviously will prefer a more aggressive approach. It tends to value initiative, and that's pretty much Garry Kasparov's style: aggressive, adamant."
What's important, he says, is taking chess to home game players rather than PC users. "That's quite new for chess," he says. "Its success could symbolise the sweeping change in the perception of the game in a non-chess orientated audience."
Of course, most serious chess players have portable PCs because they need to run ChessBase, a huge database of chess games that first appeared for the Atari ST in Germany in the 80s. Kasparov runs it on a subnotebook PC, a Toshiba Libretto.
He has also been involved with a number of websites over the past six years, and the current focus is KCO, Kasparov Chess Online.
"As you know, it's a very harsh time in the market," he says, "it's more about survival. The site is expanding, and we've developed a product of very reasonable quality. If we sail through these stormy waters, then by the end of the year we will have a very strong site and commercially it will be a success.
"Chess is suffering from a lack of visible support in the mainstream," says Kasparov, meaning TV and national newspapers. The internet "allows us to expand the boundaries dramatically. We know that millions of people are playing chess, but without TV coverage, you can hardly expect to get any serious advertising revenues. With the internet we can compensate for the lack of TV coverage, and sooner or later that will raise awareness of the value of chess competitions on the professional level. It's the only way to go.
"Also we're doing a lot with schools and the response is always positive: parents and educational authorities are happy with kids playing chess, not wasting time running round the streets, and it creates good communications between different countries and continents."
Kasparov has founded a chess academy in Tel Aviv, and the programme is awaiting approval by the Israeli ministry of education. He then wants to extend the idea through the rest of the world.
The aim is not just to raise awareness, but to get it on the curriculum in the US and other countries. "The academy in Israel plays a vital role in realising my greatest dream: to see Garry Kasparov's legacy as having chess in every classroom worldwide. Things like Virtual Kasparov are small steps on a long road with a very noble goal at the end."
