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Anand versus machine -- the showdown begins

It is man versus machine again, as Vishwanathan Anand, the world number two, takes on Rebel, the top-ranked chess playing programme with an estimated ELO rating of 2580 (Anand currently is 2795).

Vishy Anand takes on Rebel, which last year comprehensively defeated Artur Yusupov the German grandmaster, in a three-day, eight game encounter that seeks to take the man versus machine contest one step further.

The version Anand will face is an upgraded, improved version labelled Rebel 10, which supposedly betters the ELO rating of the version 9 that Yusupov faced over 17 games last year.

Earlier this year, Anand had comprehensively beaten Fritz, the computer world champion, in an exhibition encounter. Experts believe that Rebel 10 is ahead of both Fritz, and Deep Blue, the computer programme that defeated Garri Kasparov last year. Of the three computer programmes, Rebel is believed to have the best 'positional sense'.

The tournament will be staged at the Swiss Thermal Village hotel, Ichia, Netherlands. As per the schedule, the match-up is set up thus: the first four games will be blitz chess, each game lasting 5 minutes. The next two games will be of the semi-blitz variety, with 15 minute time controls. And the final two games of the tie will feature classical games, of the tournament variety with regular time controls.

Interestingly, the programmers have, in version 10, incorporated an 'anti-Anand' repertoire, which comprises Anand's games with both black and white, blitz as well as classical, with special emphasis on the kind of sacrifices and surprise plays that Anand is prone to making.

REBEL 10 will run on a 333 MHz AMD K6 CPU, thermally accelerated to 450 MHz. The computer chip will use the Kryo Tech -40 C cooling system.

Anand arrived in Ichia with his second, Georgian grandmaster Elizbar Upilava, in tow. In a recent tournament, Anand, who began the year in fine style, had the most miserable run of his career, failing to win a single game and looking out of sorts, one reason being the absence of a second who could help him with his preparations.

Despite the touted superiority of Rebel 10 over other computer programmes, both analysts and even software experts of the Rebel camp indicate that the edge is clearly with Anand who, perhaps along among today's grandmasters, is absolutely at home in the blitz chess format.