Deep Thought Wins Fredkin Intermediate Prize

Since May 1988, Deep Thought (DT), the creation of a team of students at Carnegie Mellon University, has been attracting a lot of notice. In the Fredkin Masters Open, May 28-30, DT tied for second in a field of over 20 masters and ahead of three other computers, including Hitech and Chiptest (the winner of the 1987 North American Computer Championships). In August at the U.S. Open, DT scored 8.5, 3.5 to tie for eighteenth place with Arnold Denker among others. Its performance was marred by hardware and software bugs. However, DT astounded everyone by beating International Master (IM) Igor Ivanov, the perennial winner of the U.S. Grand Prix circuit prize, who is generally regarded to be as strong as the average Grandmaster.