Poole versus HAL 9000


Poole versus HAL 9000 is a fictional chess game in the movie . Astronaut Dr. Frank Poole is seen playing a recreational game of chess with the HAL 9000 supercomputer. Poole views the board on a computer screen and dictates his moves orally to HAL using descriptive notation. Poole, playing white, is not surprised when the presumed infallible supercomputer soundly defeats him.
In, no particular chess game is depicted, although it is mentioned that the astronauts can play chess and other games with HAL, and that, for the purpose of morale, the computer is programmed to temper its superiority by winning only 50% of games.
The film's director Stanley Kubrick was a passionate chess player, so unlike many chess scenes shown in other films, the position and analysis make sense. The actual game seems to come from a tournament game between A. Roesch and W. Schlage, Hamburg 1910.

The game

The game depicted in the film seems to be based on the moves of the following tournament game played in Hamburg, 1910:
White: A. Roesch Black: W. Schlage Opening: Ruy Lopez
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
9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nf4 11. Qe4 Nxe5 12. Qxa8
12... Qd3 13. Bd1 Bh3!
14. Qxa6?
14... Bxg2 15. Re1 Qf3

Pentomino scene

According to some records and a still photograph taken from a scrapped film reel, a deleted scene depicted the astronauts challenging HAL in a game called "pentomino" similarly to how Poole challenged HAL in chess. The game was meant to be mass-produced as a tie-in to the film by Parker Brothers, but the scene eventually never saw release. The game was released as "Universe" in 1967, with pictures from the film on the box, including the aforementioned still photograph.