Poole versus HAL 9000
Poole versus HAL 9000
- Poole vs. HAL 9000** is a [[chess]] game depicted in the 1968 science fiction film *2001: A Space Odyssey*. Astronaut Frank Poole (White) plays the supercomputer HAL 9000 (Black) using a video screen as a chessboard. Each player takes turns during a game in progress, making their moves orally using descriptive notation and natural language. Poole resigns the game once HAL indicates a certain path to [[checkmate]]; however, the move which HAL suggests Frank might make is not . Stanley Kubrick, director of *2001*, was an avid chess player.
The game is shown continuously and legibly for several seconds in a single shot. The board positions and moves made are identical with the conclusion of a real game: Roesch–Schlage, Hamburg 1910, which was reported in a 1955 collection of short games by Irving Chernev. Chess writers have therefore attributed the fictional game fragment to the real one, equating the two and suggesting that the former derived from the latter.
The game According to chess writers, the game depicted in the film is based on a tournament game played between Roesch and Willi Schlage in Hamburg, 1910.
White: A. Roesch Black: W. Schlage Opening: Ruy Lopez, Wormald Variation (ECO C77)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. c3 0-0 8. 0-0 d5 :The opening is a variation of the Ruy Lopez, followed by a pawn sacrifice by Black.
9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nf4 11. Qe4 Nxe5 12. Qxa8 :At 12.Qxa8?, White commits a blunder by capturing Black's rook using an undefended queen, simultaneously abandoning the defense of his own king. There is widespread agreement among commentators that White's best move at this point is 12.d4, a move which, if played, would have solidified control of the , attacked both black knights, and opened up the development of White's . Black responded with 12...Qd3!, however, halting the latter.
12... Qd3 13. Bd1 Bh3! (diagram) :Black capitalizes on White's mistake on move 12. The film shows the game from the position illustrated, with Poole (White) contemplating his 14th move.
14. Qxa6? :Spoken by Poole as "queen takes pawn", White abandons the and slips into a . Even after 14.Qb7 c6 15.Qxe7 Bxg2 16.Re1 Nf3+ 17.Bxf3 Qxf3, mate is not far off.
14... Bxg2 15. Re1 Qf3 :Threatening 16...Nh3. After Poole's "rook to king one", HAL says: "I'm sorry Frank, I think you missed it: queen to bishop three, bishop takes queen, knight takes bishop, mate." HAL gave Black's queen move from White's perspective, although in descriptive notation it should be given from Black's perspective as "queen to bishop six". While HAL describes a checkmate in two moves, Poole could forestall mate two extra moves; for example: 16.Qc8 Rxc8 17.h3 Nxh3+ 18.Kh2 Ng4#.
'' :Poole resigns without questioning HAL's analysis: "Yeah, looks like you're right. I resign."
Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of 2001 also indicated that the astronauts could pass the time by playing various board games with HAL, though no specific game (whether chess or otherwise) was depicted. Unlike the film, Clarke's treatment stated that HAL won only half of games played.
Unlike Kubrick, Clarke had no particular interest in chess and said that if he did, 2001 would not have been made as the two "would have just played chess". Consonant with Clarke's passing mention of polyominoes, a game involving pentominoes was shot and considered for use in the film, but ultimately passed over in favor of the chess game, which Kubrick felt would be more familiar to audiences. Parker Brothers had planned a corresponding board game as a tie-in to the film, which was released as Universe in 1967; the cover art on the box included a still from the unused cut.