Human Intuition

[AdminX]

"When my second for the occasion, scientist Bob English, executed this move on the board, I asked him to check with New York if there had been a mistake. But seconds later I changed my mind. 'No, don't call,' I said, 'I now see that I am playing against a genius!' I realised that Deep Thought was proposing an exchange of pieces after 17. Rxc7 Bd6 18. Rcc1 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qxe3 20. fxe3 in order to get itself into a favorable endgame.

I looked on the screen with great admiration! 'How interesting it would be,' I thought 'to see what computers can achieve in, let's not go too far ahead, 100 years from now!'

Then I realised that I also had to make a move. To take the pawn did not seem to me the thing to do but what if I could find 'something'? For instance, to play 17. Nxf7 first. No, I could not see anything.

Then suddenly it dawned on me: I had to attack and my memory gave me a large list of moves known from chess history to choose from. First of all the rook sacrifice of Dr Tartakower against Geza Maroczy, Teplitz Schonau in 1922. If I was successful I might even be awarded a brilliancy prize. Dr Tartakower only recieved the third brilliancy prize as the jury concluded that no human mind could calculate such a deep combination.

Then the brilliant book of Rudolf Spielmann about intuitive sacrifices came to my mind. I personally think that people should trust their own intuition more and that is exactly what I did!"


"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
by David Bronstein & Tom Furstenberg
Page 193 - 194

[d]r2r2k1/qbp1bppp/p3pn2/n3N3/Pp1PP3/4Q3/1B1NBPPP/2RR2K1 w - - 0 0
Brostein vs Deep Thought II

[AdminX]

So Much for Human Intuition !!

[Event "?"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1992.07.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "David Brostein"]
[Black "Deep Thought II"]
[Result "0-1"]
[PlyCount "104"]
[TimeControl "240+2"]

{2048MB, Fritz11.ctg, Intel Quad Core (Q6700)} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 a6 4.
e4 b5 5. b3 cxb3 6. Qxb3 e6 7. a4 b4 8. Bc4 Nc6 9. Qe3 Nf6 10. Bb2 Na5 11. Be2
Be7 12. Nbd2 O-O 13. O-O Bb7 14. Rfd1 Qb8 15. Ne5 Rd8 16. Rac1 Qa7 17. Rxc7 Bd6
18. Rxf7 Bxe5 19. Rxg7+ Kxg7 20. Qg5+ Kf7 21. dxe5 Ng8 22. Re1 Kf8 23. Nf3 Bc6
24. Bc1 Nb3 25. Be3 Qf7 26. Bc4 Bxa4 27. Qg4 h5 28. Qh3 Qg6 29. Ng5 Nd4 30. f4
Rdc8 31. f5 exf5 32. exf5 Qe8 33. Bd5 Qxe5 34. Ne6+ Nxe6 35. Bh6+ Nxh6 36. Rxe5
Rc1+ 37. Kf2 Ng4+ 38. Kg3 Rc3+ 39. Bf3 Nxe5 40. fxe6 Nxf3 41. Qf5+ Ke7 42. Qf7+
Kd6 43. gxf3 Bc6 44. Qf4+ Kxe6 45. Qxb4 Rxf3+ 46. Kh4 Bd5 47. h3 Rc8 48. Qb6+
Ke5 49. Qxa6 Rf4+ 50. Kxh5 Bf7+ 51. Kg5 Rg8+ 52. Kh6 Rh4# 0-1

[Terry McCracken]

Brostein was well past his prime.

[AdminX]

Brostein was well past his prime.

So true Terry,

But it is a wonderful and still very entertaining book! You must agree that at least Brostein had a sense of humor when talking about this game!

[smirobth]

So Much for Human Intuition !!

It was not his intuition that failed him, the sac was sound. The subsequent calculations, made in a rapid game against a computing monster, are what failed Bronstein.

[AdminX]

So Much for Human Intuition !!

It was not his intuition that failed him, the sac was sound. The subsequent calculations, made in a rapid game against a computing monster, are what failed Bronstein.

Yes, you are right about that, 34 & 35 let it slip away ...