Kasparov, meanwhile, put on a display of dismayed bad sportsmanship and moved off stage to salve his wounds with the $400,000 loser's purse. He intimated that the computer had had some kind of human assistance and talked darkly about "mysteries."

We doubt that. But more impressive is Kasparov's constant complaint that the match was imbalanced: While the Deep Blue team could study all of Kasparov's matches, he saw none of his opponent's games. (If that sounds trivial, know that grandmasters routinely train by examining opponent's games.)