D avid Levy, one of the world's fore- most chess computer

experts, tells me that a unique chess match will take place on 17 and 18 June in London. One of the players, Dr Jana Miles, is an International Woman Grandmaster and the strongest female chessplayer in the country. She is 38 and has been British women's champion many times.

The other player is not human. It is the world's strongest chess playing computer program and is called HITECH. Written at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, by a team working under Professor Hans Berliner, the program runs on a computer which employs 64 special purpose micro- processors, each of which is designed to perform only one task — play chess. HITECH has already won a tournament in which a number of the other players were US national masters and it currently plays at about the same strength as Dr Miles.

The match has been arranged to raise money for the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, where Dr Miles works. The hospital has a special bed, called the 'Clinitron', which helps speed the recovery of patients with skin wounds and is responsible for saving, on average, at least one life per week. The bed costs around £20,000 per year to hire and run, but because of financial con-

CHESS

Life support

Raymond Keene

straints the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is shortly going to have the bed removed.

Every £400 donated for this match will save one life. It is possible for private and commercial sponsors to donate any amount.

The venue and times are: 17 and 18 June, The National Hospital, Queen Square, London WC1. Start 3 p.m. both days. Spectators are welcome, of course.

Any donation should be made payable to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and sent now to Dr J. S. Levy, 11 Loudoun Road, London NW8.

Here is a sample of HITECH'S play. It is taken from the Fredkin Masters tourna- ment in Pittsburgh:

Charles Nowe — Hitech: 23 November 1985.

1 e4 e5 2 Nt3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 0-0 Nf6 5 d3 d6 6 c3 Bb6 7 Bh5 Bd7 8 Rel a6 9 Ba4 Ba5 10 Nbd2 b5 11 Bb3 0-0 12 Nfl b4 13 Bd2 bxc3 14 bxc3 Bb6 15 Bg5 h6 16 Bh4 Ba5 17 Re! Na7 18 Ne3 Nb5 19 Qd2 Nd4 20 Nxd4 exd4 21 Nd5 g5 22 Bxg5 (Diagram) dxc3 23 Rxc3 Bxc3 24 Qxc3 Nxd5 25 Bxd5 Qxg5 26 Bxa8 Bh3 27 e5 Rxa8 28 Qc6 Rb8

Position after 22 Bxg5

29 ICH Bf5 30 Qxc7 Rc8 31 Qxd6 Qd2 32 Rbi Bxd3 + White resigns.

As I mentioned briefly last week, Ga.rY Kasparov will also soon be active in raising funds for British charities. On 28 N/fY, starting at 1 p.m., he will play 20 celebrities and members of the cast on the stage of the Pnnce Edward Theatre, where Tim Rice s Chess musical is running. The public will naturally be very Wel- come to attend and it is to be hoped that donations from those watching the world champion in action will give a boost to the coffers of the NSPCC and other charities,' A fascinating innovation will be the use a Video Wall to show the games and the. players' reactions. Further inquiries shoulcl be addressed to Kasparov's representative. in London: Andrew Page, 62 Chipstead St., London SW6.