Garry Kasparov, often hailed as the greatest chess player ever, shares insights from his extraordinary career and activism. He discusses the psychological pressures of competitive chess and the evolution of the game in light of technology. Kasparov reflects on his historic match with Deep Blue, highlighting the potential of AI while advocating for collaboration with machines. He also delves into the risks of opposing tyranny, specifically the Putin regime, and explores Russia's interference in global democracies. His thoughts on personal growth and meaningful choices wrap up this compelling conversation.
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insights INSIGHT
Making a Difference
Kasparov's driving force wasn't just winning, but making a difference through creative play.
He found satisfaction in creating new opening ideas or unique middlegame plans.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Fighting Time
Kasparov recently played and lost to Fabiano Caruana in Fischer Random Chess, despite having winning positions.
He attributes the loss to his age, saying he can fight any opponent but not time.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Brilliant Games
Kasparov discusses two brilliant games from his 1985 match against Karpov, games 16 and 24.
Game 24 was the decider, but Game 16 featured a new maneuver that's now standard.
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The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an epic high fantasy novel set in Middle-earth. The story follows Frodo Baggins, a hobbit who inherits the One Ring from his uncle Bilbo. The Ring, forged by Sauron, holds the power to control all other Rings of Power and must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom to prevent Sauron's return. Frodo is joined by a fellowship of other characters, including Gandalf the Grey, Samwise Gamgee, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Boromir, as they embark on a dangerous quest across Middle-earth. The novel explores themes of good vs. evil, the corrupting influence of power, and the struggle between fate and free will[3][4][5].
Deep Thinking
Mig Greengard
Garry Kasparov
In 'Deep Thinking', Garry Kasparov recounts his historic 1997 chess match against IBM's Deep Blue, reflecting on the implications of artificial intelligence and its potential for enhancing human capabilities. The book explores the history of machine intelligence and argues for a future where humans and machines collaborate effectively.
Winter is coming
G. K. Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
In 'Winter Is Coming', Garry Kasparov examines the rise of Vladimir Putin and how his regime poses a significant threat to global political liberty. Kasparov argues that Putin's aggressive policies are a result of Russia's economic struggles and the need to maintain power through nationalist propaganda. The book urges the free world to take a strong stance against Putin's authoritarianism.
How Life Imitates Chess
Garry Kasparov
In *How Life Imitates Chess*, Garry Kasparov distills the strategic insights he gained from his chess career into a guide for making effective decisions in various aspects of life. The book explores how to evaluate opportunities, anticipate the future, and devise winning strategies, using examples from chess, politics, literature, sports, and military history. Kasparov shares his experiences, both successes and failures, to illustrate the importance of personal style, memory, intuition, and imagination in decision-making.
Garry Kasparov is considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, he dominated the chess world, ranking world number 1 for most of those 19 years. While he has many historic matches against human chess players, in the long arc of history he may be remembered for his match again a machine, IBM’s Deep Blue. His initial victories and eventual loss to Deep Blue captivated the imagination of the world of what role Artificial Intelligence systems may play in our civilization’s future. That excitement inspired an entire generation of AI researchers, including myself, to get into the field. Garry is also a pro-democracy political thinker and leader, a fearless human-rights activist, and author of several books including How Life Imitates Chess which is a book on strategy and decision-making, Winter Is Coming which is a book articulating his opposition to the Putin regime, and Deep Thinking which is a book the role of both artificial intelligence and human intelligence in defining our future. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts or support it on Patreon. Here’s the outline with timestamps for this episode (on some players you can click on the timestamp to jump to that point in the episode):
00:00 – Introduction
01:33 – Love of winning and hatred of losing
04:54 – Psychological elements
09:03 – Favorite games
16:48 – Magnus Carlsen
23:06 – IBM Deep Blue
37:39 – Morality
38:59 – Autonomous vehicles
42:03 – Fall of the Soviet Union
45:50 – Putin
52:25 – Life
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