Poole versus HAL 9000 (chess)
Poole versus HAL 9000 is a fictional chess game in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. In the movie, the astronaut Frank Poole is seen playing chess with the HAL 9000 supercomputer. As HAL is supposed to be infallible, no one is surprised when HAL soundly defeats Poole (though the novel mentions that HAL is programmed only to win 50% of the time in order for there to be some point in the astronauts ever playing).
The director Stanley Kubrick was a passionate chess player, so unlike many chess scenes shown in other films, the position and analysis make sense. The actual game seems to come from the tournament game between A. Roesch and W. Schlage, played in Hamburg in 1910.[1]
The game
Roesch (
Poole)
vs. Schlage (
HAL 9000)
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Position before 14.Qxa6, where the movie picks up the game
White: Roesch (Dr. Frank Poole)
Black: Schlage (HAL 9000)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2
- The opening is the Ruy Lopez, Worrall Attack.
5... b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. c3 0-0 8. 0-0 d5
- This move is a pawn sacrifice (ECO code C86). If White accepts it, Black's pieces can occupy active positions.
9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nf4 11. Qe4 Nxe5 12. Qxa8?
- This move deflects the queen, allowing Black to mount a kingside attack. White is also worse if the queen takes one of the knights, which could be answered by Nd3 or Bd6. The correct move is 12.d4, to which Black should reply 12...Bb7.
12... Qd3!
- Threatening 13...Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Ng3+ with checkmate to follow.
13. Bd1 Bh3!
- Black also has 13...Bg4, winning a piece after 14.Qb7 Bxd1 15.Rxd1 Ne2+ 16.Kh1 Ng4 17.Qf3 Qxf3 18.gxf3 Nxf2+; or 13...Nh3+, winning the queen after 14.gxh3 Bxh3 with the dual threat of checkmate and Rxa8. The movie picks up the game here (see diagram).
14. Qxa6?
- White abandons the long diagonal and moves into a forced checkmate. Even after 14.Qb7 c6 15.Qxe7 Bxg2 16.Re1 Nf3+ 17.Bxf3 Qxf3, mate is not far off.
14... Bxg2 15. Re1 Qf3
- Here HAL, using the descriptive chess notation, says: "I'm sorry Frank, I think you missed it. Queen to bishop three, bishop takes queen, knight takes bishop, mate."
- This is inaccurate in two ways. First, the queen move is correctly described in descriptive notation as "queen to bishop six", not "queen to bishop three". Second, HAL's variation 15...Qf3 16.Bxf3 Nxf3# does not mention that White could prolong the resistance for a couple moves, for example by playing 16.Qh6. There is some conjecture that these inaccuracies are a very subtle foreshadowing of either HAL's breakdown or of his deception of the crew.[2]
0–1
- Poole resigns without questioning HAL's analysis.
See also
References
- ^ Roesch vs Willi Schlage (1910) in chessgames.com
- ^ Clay Waldrop: The Case For HAL's Sanity
External links
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