The computer software known as Chinook was developed by Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer of the University of Alberta, Canada. The program, created in 1989, has undergone continuous upgrades and is now ranked as the world's number two checkers player. Dr. Tinsley has lost only nine games in his 36 years as world checkers champion, including twice to an earlier version of the Chinook software.
"We hope to make computer history this year and beat a formidable opponent, Dr. Tinsley," said Bob Bishop, president of Silicon Graphics World Trade Corporation, sponsor of this year's event. "Complex mental skill games will continue to test computers for some time to come. Dr. Tinsley today pushes our technology and Dr. Schaeffer's program to the very limits of their combined abilities."In a title match in London in 1992, Chinook lost by only two games with a tournament total of four wins accredited to Dr. Tinsley, two to the computer and 33 drawn games. The software is supported by a high performance Silicon Graphics Challenge XL(tm) server with 16 processors, 1GB of RAM, and five 2GB disk drives. The program has not lost a match in its last 125 games and can now analyze up to 12 million positions per minute. Chinook recognizes every position on the board with less than eight checkers present and can make an instant determination about the eventual conclusion of the game as it considers each move.
"Should the Chinook program win this tournament, it would be the fulfillment of a goal long dreamed of in the world of artificial intelligence," said Marvin Minsky, professor of computer science in the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The contest poses some basic questions about human creativity and the unlimited realm of problem solving which computers can be made to address."The Computer Museum in Boston is the only museum in the world devoted solely to people and computers. It features over 125 easy-to-use interactive exhibits, including the award winning Walk-Through Computer(tm), two theaters, a multimedia robot show and the finest collection of vintage computers and robots in the world. The Museum is located at 300 Congress Street in Boston and is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. is the leading manufacturer of high performance visual computing systems. The company delivers interactive three-dimensional graphics, digital media and multiprocessing supercomputing technologies to technical, scientific and creative professionals. Its subsidiary, MIPS Technologies, Inc., designs and licenses the industry's leading RISC processor technology for the computer systems and embedded control markets. Silicon Graphics has offices worldwide and headquarters in Mountain View, California.
