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Article: Vignette; Going Head-to-Head With Ziggurat
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 19, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Garry Kasparov had his problems with Deep Blue. I have mine
with Ziggurat.
Ziggurat is the name my computer assigns to the nerd who is my
opponent in our chess games. I don't know what flight of whimsy
urged the computer to so name him (her). My encyclopedia tells me
that ziggurats were pyramidal structures with cosmological
significance in the days (some 300 years B.C.) when Babylonians,
Sumerians and Assyrians gamboled about. That's all I know about
Ziggurat -- except that I don't like him (her).
Sometimes I beat Ziggurat, more often I don't.
Ziggurat refuses to play by my rules. Let me explain. I've
been playing chess with my son, on and off, for about 30 years. It
is a gentle ...