Sofia (Bulgaria): Computers may have got better and better at chess, but human players can still find chinks in the computer armour, world chess champion Gary Kasparov says.
Ever since IBM's Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov, humans have failed to regain dominance over increasingly powerful computers.
But according to Veselin Topalov, a 30-year-old Bulgarian who dominated the world chess organization championship in October, people still have a small chance to hold their own.
"I find it fun playing computer games. The only problem is that the psychological duel does not exist. You cannot bluff. You cannot count on unforced errors," Topalov said.
"You have to find a special strategy completely different from what you would do against humans."
Computers dominate humans in stamina and "concentration" ? they don't get tired or buckle under pressure ? and are tactically far superior in measuring the power of a position or calculating whether an offence will succeed.
Just last week, three machines, including an Abu Dhabi-based computer named Hydra, made short work of three previous champions in an exhibition match in Spain, winning five games, drawing six and losing only one to the humans.
But Topalov, who tied Hydra in a match in Bilbao last year, said computers still make strategic mistakes and people could still win if given enough time.
"A human, a world champion or a top grandmaster at his best, should still be better, but you achieve this condition only a few days a year," he said.
"In a long game, people still have a chance, even if it's not much of one," he added.
Experts say machines outdo people by a rate of around 200 million moves per second to one, but Topalov says it isn't only raw calculating power that put them ahead.
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