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This is IBM’s Jeopardy playing robot Watson, not Deep Blue

The story of how computers surpassed human chess players, never to be caught again, goes like this: Kasparov beats IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996. In 1997, however, Deep Blue beats Kasparov during the six-game rematch. The 44th move during the first game of the rematch, Deep Blue moved a rook in a way that deeply concerned Kasparov. Kasparov didn’t understand the purpose behind the move, and came to the conclusion that Deep Blue was playing at a higher level than him. Surprisingly, the rook move was due to a software glitch, a IBM programmer relates in Nate Silver’s new book “The Signal and the Noise.” (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: IBM’s Mira computer gears up to create an entire universe, IBM’s Watson is a genius compared to siri ,

How do you make an already-geeky game even geekier? By making it out of electronic components, of course. MAKE magazine is showing off this super-nerdy game of chess, where resistors become pawns, LEDs stand in as bishops and the king and queen are represented by electrolytic capacitors. More »

Although most of us never go past mashing buttons in fighting games, the truth is the genre is all about tactics and strategy, reading your opponent and coming up with the right move at the right time. Or so I’ve heard. I’m still button-mashing. The point is Street Fighter and chess are not that different. Or maybe they are. I don’t know. Admitting I suck confuses me.

As part of its cashing-in celebration of the fabled fighting game’s 25th anniversary, Capcom is offering a limited edition chess set featuring the game’s characters as the pieces. The busts are made from silver and pewter colored resin, while the board is made of smoked and sandblasted glass. The game board also doubles as the storage for the pieces.

Ryu and M. Bison are the kings, Chun-Li and Juri are the queens, Ken, Guile, Balrog and Vega are bishops, E. Honda, Blanka, Rolento & Akuma are the knights, Dhalsim, Zangief, Sagat and Seth are the rooks, and Ryu’s fist and the Shadaloo winged skull are the pawns. I get that Capcom was going for the timeless and classy look here, but I wish they’d also release a variant where the pieces are appropriately colored.

Capcom sold 10 of these at the San Diego Comic Con for $400 (USD), but don’t worry, they have 4,990 more. You can pre-order the Street Fighter chess set at the Capcom store for $300.

[via Capcom Unity & Destructoid via HiConsumption]

Sixty years ago, Alan Turing sat down to write a computer algorithm which could play a human at chess. Sadly, he never got to see it running on a computer, but now it’s been coded up and who better to pit it against than… Garry Kasparov? Gulp. More »