The News
Computer wears the crown in checkers (LA Times)
reported in the Denver Post with the headline: Computer checks ancient board game.
By Karen Kaplan, Times Staff WriterJuly 20, 2007
After 13 years of brute-force computer analysis examining all 500 billion billion possible board positions, researchers announced Thursday that they had solved the centuries-old game of checkers. The result?A perfect game cannot be won or lost but will inevitably end in a draw, according to the research published in the journal Science online.The proof demonstrates that even the most skilled player can't count on executing a cunning move designed to win — he or she can only avoid making a mistake that leads to a loss.The complete solution to checkers marks a milestone in computing, achieving a goal that researchers had pondered since the earliest days of computers.It is not a victory of pure machine intelligence, but one based largely on rote calculating ability.

The Research
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.