IN February 1996 the world chess champion, Gary Kasparov, from Azerbaijan, successfully held off a challenge from the IBM computer Deep Blue to win a short match by four points to two.
Now Kasparov (34) is facing a renewed challenge in New York from a more sophisticated and updated Deep Blue in another six game match which continues until Sunday.
The Deep Blue machine got off to a bad start in the first game played on Saturday. Kasparov, playing the white pieces, made a quiet start to the game but later unleashed a "sparkling" rook sacrifice to force a win after 45 moves and 33/4 hours of play.
The experts forecast a Kasparov win by 4 1/2-1 1/2 points.
. Deep Blue beat Kasparov in the second game of their six game rematch, evening the score in the series at one game apiece.