View source for Poole versus HAL 9000

{{short description|Fictional chess game from Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey}}
[[File:Roesch vs Schlage, 1910.gif|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Animation of the Roesch–Schlage game]]
'''Poole vs. HAL 9000''' is a [[chess]] game depicted in the 1968 science fiction film ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''.  Astronaut [[Frank Poole]] (White) plays the supercomputer [[HAL 9000]] (Black) using a video screen as a [[chessboard]].  Each player takes turns during a game in progress, making their moves orally using [[descriptive notation]] and [[natural language]].  Poole resigns the game once HAL indicates a certain path to [[checkmate]]; however, the move which HAL suggests Frank might make is not {{chessgloss|forced move|forced}}.  [[Stanley Kubrick]], director of ''2001'', was an avid chess player.
The game is shown continuously and legibly for several seconds in a single [[Shot (filmmaking)|shot]].  The board positions and moves made are identical with the conclusion of a real game: Roesch–[[Willi Schlage|Schlage]], Hamburg 1910, which was reported in a 1955 collection of short games by [[Irving Chernev]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Chernev |first=Irving |title=The 1000 Best Short Games of Chess |year=1955 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9710851330 |pages=148–149, game No. 322}}</ref>  Chess writers have therefore attributed the fictional game fragment to the real one, equating the two and suggesting that the former derived from the latter.{{AN chess|pos=toc}}
==The game==
According to chess writers, the game depicted in the film is based on a tournament game played between Roesch and Willi Schlage in Hamburg, 1910.<ref name="Soltis">{{cite book |last=Soltis |first=Andrew |title=365 Chess Master Lessons: Take One a Day to be a Better Chess Player |year=2017 |publisher=Batsford |isbn=9781849944342 |page=170}}</ref><ref name="Evans">{{cite web |last=Evans |first=Larry |title=Smart "2001" Computer Didn't Talk the Talk |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1996-03-24-9603200330-story.html |date=March 24, 1996 |publisher=South Florida Sun-Sentinel}}</ref>
[[White and Black in chess|White]]: A. Roesch {{pad|2}} Black: W. Schlage {{pad|2}} [[Chess opening|Opening]]: [[Ruy Lopez]], [[Ruy Lopez#Wormald Variation|Wormald Variation]] (''[[Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings|ECO]]'' C77)<ref name="game">{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1254321 |title=Roesch vs. Willi Schlage, Hamburg 1910 |website=[[Chessgames.com]]}}</ref><ref name="C77">{{cite web |url=https://chessopenings.com/eco/C77/ |title=C77 |website=chessopenings.com}}</ref>
'''1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. c3 0-0 8. 0-0 d5'''
:The opening is a variation of the Ruy Lopez, followed by a [[pawn (chess)|pawn]] [[sacrifice (chess)|sacrifice]] by Black.
'''9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nf4 11. Qe4 Nxe5 12. Qxa8{{chesspunc|?}}'''
:At 12.Qxa8?, White commits a [[Blunder (chess)|blunder]] by capturing Black's rook using an undefended queen, simultaneously abandoning the defense of his own king.  There is widespread agreement among commentators that White's best move at this point is 12.d4{{chesspunc|!}},<ref name="Soltis" /><ref name="Evans" /><ref name="Campbell">{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Murray |editor-last=Stork |editor-first=David G. |title=HAL's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality |chapter="An Enjoyable Game": How HAL Plays Chess |date=1996 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=9780262193788 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/sts145/Library/campbell.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Matanović">{{citation |editor-last=Matanović |editor-first=Aleksandar |editor-link=Aleksandar Matanović |title=[[Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings]] |publisher=[[Chess Informant]] |location=Yugoslavia |volume=C |edition=2nd |date=1981 |page=412, n. 81 |quote=12.d4 Bb7 13.Qxf4 (13.Qxb7 Ne2+ 14.Kh1 Nxc1 15.Rxc1 Nd3 16.Rf1 c5 {{chesspunc|{{=}}/∞}}) 13...Nd3 14.Qf5 Nxc1 15.Rxc1 g6 16.Qg4 Bg5 17.Rd1 {{chesspunc|+/{{=}}}} |isbn= }}</ref> a move which, if played, would have solidified control of the {{chessgloss|center}}, attacked both black knights, and opened up the development of White's {{chessgloss|queenside}} {{chessgloss|flank}}.  Black responded with 12...Qd3!, however, halting the latter.
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|
|ql|  |  |  |  |rd|kd|
|  |  |pd|  |bd|pd|pd|pd
|pd|  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |pd|  |  |nd|  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |nd|  |
|  |  |pl|qd|  |  |  |bd
|pl|pl|  |pl|  |pl|pl|pl
|rl|nl|bl|bl|  |rl|kl|
|Position before 14.Qxa6
}}
'''12... Qd3{{chesspunc|!}} 13. Bd1 Bh3!''' (diagram)
:Black capitalizes on White's mistake on move 12. The film shows the game from the position illustrated, with Poole (White) contemplating his 14th move.
'''14. Qxa6?'''
:Spoken by Poole as "queen takes pawn", White abandons the {{chessgloss|long diagonal}} and slips into a {{chessgloss|forced mate|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'''
:Threatening 16...Nh3{{chessAN|#}}. After Poole's "rook to king one", HAL says: "I'm sorry Frank, I think you missed it: queen to bishop three, bishop takes queen, knight takes bishop, mate." HAL gave Black's queen move from White's perspective, although in [[Descriptive chess notation|descriptive notation]] it should be given from Black's perspective as "queen to bishop six". While HAL describes a checkmate in two moves, Poole could forestall mate two extra moves; for example: 16.Qc8 Rxc8 17.h3 Nxh3+ 18.Kh2 Ng4#.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wall |first=Bill |title=2001: A Chess Space Odyssey |url=http://www.chess.com/article/view/2001-a-chess-space-odyssey |website=[[Chess.com]] |access-date=14 January 2014 |date=22 June 2007 }}</ref>
'''{{chessAN|0–1}}'''
:Poole [[resign (chess)|resigns]] without questioning HAL's analysis: "Yeah, looks like you're right. I resign."
{|
|{{Chess diagram
|tleft
|
|  |  |  |  |  |rd|kd|
|  |  |pd|  |bd|pd|pd|pd
|ql|  |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |pd|  |  |nd|  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |nd|  |
|  |  |pl|  |  |qd|  |
|pl|pl|  |pl|  |pl|bd|pl
|rl|nl|bl|bl|rl|  |kl|
|Final position after 15...Qf3
}}
|[[File:HAL9000.svg|thumb|left|230px|[[HAL 9000|HAL]], after Poole's [[Rules of chess#Resigning|resignation]]: <br />"Thank you for a very enjoyable game."]]
|}
{{clear left}}
[[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [[2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)|novelization of ''2001'']] also indicated that the astronauts could pass the time by playing various board games with HAL, though no specific game (whether chess or otherwise) was depicted.  Unlike the film, Clarke's treatment stated that HAL won only half of games played.
{{quote|text=For relaxation he (Dave Bowman) could always engage Hal in a large number of semimathematical games, including checkers, chess, and [[polyomino]]es.  If Hal went all out, he could win any one of them; but that would be bad for morale.  So he had been programmed to win only fifty percent of the time, and his human partners pretended not to know this. |title=''2001'', p. 100.<ref name="Clarke">{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=Arthur C. |title=2001: a Space Odyssey |year=1968 |publisher=ROC (Penguin) |isbn=9780451452733 |page=100}}</ref> }}
Unlike Kubrick, Clarke had no particular interest in chess and said that if he did, ''2001'' would not have been made as the two "would have just played chess".<ref name="Wall">{{cite web |last=Wall |first=Bill |title=Stanley Kubrick and Chess |url=http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/Kubrick.htm |website=Bill Wall's Chess Page}}</ref>  Consonant with Clarke's passing mention of polyominoes, a game involving [[pentomino]]es was shot and considered for use in the film, but ultimately passed over<ref name="Tyler">{{cite web |title=How Kubrick Made 2001: A Space Odyssey - Part 4: Jupiter Mission [A] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxDA_PL-XzA  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/nxDA_PL-XzA |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|website=youtube| date=12 February 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> in favor of the chess game, which Kubrick felt would be more familiar to audiences.<ref>Campbell, .pdf p. 4.</ref>  [[Parker Brothers]] had planned a corresponding board game as a [[tie-in]] to the film, which was released as ''Universe'' in 1967; the cover art on the box included a still from the unused cut.<ref>{{cite web |title=Universe |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6547/universe |website=BoardGameGeek |access-date=16 December 2020}}</ref>
==Interpretation==
[[Murray Campbell]], a member of the team that developed the chess computer [[Deep Blue (chess computer)|Deep Blue]], contributed an article to a book exploring the scientific and cultural implications of the HAL character.<ref name="Campbell" />  Campbell argued that HAL's style of play was more "human" than that of Deep Blue's, in the sense that HAL (Schlage) chose a "nonoptimal" move at 9...Nxd5, which nevertheless stymied his human opponent.  In contrast, the real computer Deep Blue used "inhuman" [[brute-force search]]ing and [[minimax]] optimization to always seek the best available move.  The book's publication was concurrent with Deep Blue's [[Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov|two matches]] against the Russian [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]] [[Garry Kasparov]] in 1996 and 1997; the human player won the first match, while the computer won the latter.
[[Tim Krabbé]] criticized the choice of Roesch–Schlage by way of its [[Chess aesthetics|aesthetics]], calling it "a plain game"; he likewise suggested that the choice of the game implicated Kubrick's own acumen as a player, as well as that of its fictional characters.  According to Krabbé, the aesthetic consideration and the simple endgame variation announced by HAL (but not actually played) might explain the character's misuse of descriptive notation when announcing the queen's movement: "A player who would be impressed by that [[Queen sacrifice|Queen's sacrifice]], might be weak enough to make a mistake in its descriptive notation."<ref name="Krabbé">{{cite web |first= Tim |last= Krabbé |author-link= Tim Krabbé |url= http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/schlage.htm |title= Willi Schlage |quote= The only unknown to become immortal twice. |date= 1999 }}</ref>
==See also==
* ''[[Blade Runner]]''
* [[Computer chess]]
* [[List of chess games]]
* ''[[The Seventh Seal]]''
* [[The Thing (1982 film)|''The Thing'' (1982 film)]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Space Odyssey|state=expanded}}
{{Chess|state=collapsed}}
[[Category:Chess games]]
[[Category:Space Odyssey]]
[[Category:1968 in chess]]
[[Category:Film scenes]]