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From: toddv@copper.UUCP (Todd Vierheller)
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Chess, Kirk and Spock
Message-ID: <222@copper.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Mar-86 16:26:17 EST
Article-I.D.: copper.222
Posted: Tue Mar 18 16:26:17 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 22-Mar-86 05:00:20 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR
Lines: 38
Keywords: Most human

[DAVE PAGAN   DAVE PAGAN   DAVE PAGAN   DAVE PAGAN   DAVE PAGAN   DAVE PAGAN  ]

When I was in high school I used to play chess.  One fellow who beat me
consistently had a very unusual style of play.  His undoing of my plans
was uncanny.  I (wrongly) made assumptions like, "He won't trade his rook
for that pawn."  Without fail, in the midst of one of my "plans", he would
pull some wacko stunt like that and seriously goof up my whole game.
He had no qualms about giving me the superior pieces in a trade.  And he
had no consistency either.  A blatently irrational move every now and then
can really screw up a chess game.

Of course, his crazy moves didn't catch him by surprise.  He didn't have to
reformulate his plans.  It was a very effective tactic against me.  (It's
incredibly hard to play chess without making some guess about your opponents
expected behavior.)

I can understand how Kirk could beat Spock with such tactics.  Only if the
"rational" chess player is substantially better than his "irrational" opponent, 
could he easily overcome such play.  Maybe Spock only lost once in a while to
these tactics.

The question actually comes down to whether or not Spock was willing or able
to keep every game tree in his head during each move of the game.  I think to
do so would have been impossible even for Spock.  Spock probably used a subset
based on the logical move for Kirk to make.  And Kirk could therefore throw him
a surprise every now and then.


(And don't tell me Star Trek was merely a TV show.  That's what *they* want you
to think . . .)

                                   Todd Vierheller
                                   Software Development Products
                                   Tektronix, Inc.


Me?  Express opinions?  Was I rambling again?  My fingers typed this letter
without my company's or my brain's knowledge.