Augusto Pinto writes: "Goans have stayed away on the grounds that they want a better life for their children. How is it that none of them could produce a single Bhakti or Ivana in the field of chess even though they have access to all the fabulous facilities of the West?
Why is this so? O please tell me, why is this so? In anguish" Comment: Mr. Pinto: No one should loose any sleep over the state of Chess. Chess is now dominated by computers. Ever since 1997 when Gary Kasparov (the World Champion at the time) lost to Deep Blue (the IBM machine capable of analyzing over 200 million positions per second), things have not been the same. See the movie Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. The great Indian Champion Anand lost to the machine Rebel 10 in 1998 by a score of 3-5 . Anand was ranked number 2 in the world at the time. This much is known: the machines are not getting any slower.... To paraphrase The Highwaymen - Mamas, Don't Let Your Babys Grow Up To Be "Chess Players" let them be Doctors and Lawyers and such... In spite of all that, it is still quite impressive to be the best human chess player at any given geographic or age level. And so,congratulations to Bhakti on her unique achievement. Regards , E. Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%E2%80%93computer_chess_matches and for your listening pleasure with apologies to Gabe Menezes (No I am not taking your job) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngbcsxFET68
