The Infamous Dr. Who vs. K9 Game

All Things Chess
1

Dr. Who takes on artificial intelligence in the form of K9, the robotic dog, in this episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSoC1VUdavE

This is the starting position of the game with white to move:

Reviewing the video, what move is made that shows Dr. Who and K9 need to read a chess primer?

And from the starting position, what is your assessment of the game - a win for white or for black?

2

If I can make it out from the graininess of the video (and assuming the board representation above is accurate - it is, when viewed in full-screen mode…) The Doctor moves Qd4, leaving the King in check. And then K-9 moves the Black Queen to c3, overlooking the illegal move.

But, you must understand, that while they were playing “plain old” 1-d chess, they were in fact using Gallifrey Chess Federation (Federation Interuniversal de Gallifrey) rules. In which the King cannot be captured until either two pieces check or a major plot point occurs. :mrgreen:

Aside from that, it seems drawish to me with just maybe a slight edge to White. White trades Queens, then locks in the Black Queenside pawns and may try to snipe them down. Black tries to nail the d-pawn - which I think Black might manage in the time White has to use to address the Queenside. Dunno - maybe I’ll pass it through Fritz later.

But thanks for the video, sayeth a fan of Doctor Who from the Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker episodes broadcast on PBS in the late 70s, and a near fanatic of the new series from Christopher Eccleston onwards.

K-9 is still the best robotic dog in the universe! (Sorry, Aibo owners! :smiley: )

3

Now I wonder if by the 51st century we will have 17-piece tablebases. Witness:

Ironically, K-9 does seem to be right. When K-9 moves 1. …Qc3 this equalizes (2. Qxc3 bxc3.) But The Doctor, distracted, ignores that and moves 2. axb4. Which yields this position:

Now I"ll admit I worked it up into ChessBase and pulled Fritz 12 for analysis. And confirmed with Fritz my earlier post that the original position is virtually a draw…

But when K-9 moves 2. …Bd3+, Frtiz does in fact evaluate it as Mate in 6 from there. :wink: :wink:

  1. Qxd3 cxd3+
  2. Ke3 d2+
  3. Kf4 f6
  4. Ke4 Qe5+
  5. Kd3 d1=Q+ {dxc1=Q also works to mate next move}
  6. Bd2 Qb1#

So, maybe K-9 allowed the illegal move intentionally. Cheating robot dog! Though try filing an ethics complaint with the Gallifrey Chess Federation over that! :wink:

4

Good to see the Dr. Who fans analyze and annotate! :slight_smile:

5

Just wondering - did K9 ever face Deep Ed?!? Now THAT would be a clash for the ages.

6

Deep Ed vs. K9? Looking at those episodes where Deep Ed so easily manipulated humans, I’m putting my money on Deep Ed. :slight_smile:

7

Trying to resist getting into this thread for me would be like asking Garry Kasparov to not be involved with politics of Russia. (Possible… But so extraordinary that the whole world would ask what the TARDIS was up with that?)

I wonder if anyone ever tried to teach Maximillion to play chess? A Max-K9 match would be quite something to behold. They get into a rules dispute and Max tries to bite K-9 while K-9 replies with his nose laser. That poor LV… he was an up-and-coming TD until that event. RIP. :smiling_imp:

I’m out of energy for tonight… but that Mate in 6… makes me seriously wonder if the ending was actually ever played. Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll get into ChessBase and try an online positional lookup. :wink: (Unless someone knows a truthful story about the actual board and position.)