Hans Berliner American scientist, information technology specialist, chess player. Date of Birth: 27.01.1929 Country: USA

Biography of Hans Berliner

Hans Berliner was an American scientist, IT specialist, and chess player. He was born in Berlin, Germany, but his family moved to the United States when he was 8 years old to escape the Nazi regime. At the age of 13, Berliner started playing chess and quickly became passionate about the game. He was known for his exceptional talent and mathematical mind, as noted by his acquaintance Carlos Fuentes.

In 1949, Berliner achieved the title of Master of Sport and won the District of Columbia Championship and the Southern States Championship. He also secured second place in the New York State Championship. In 1953, he became the first non-New Yorker to win the New York Championship. In 1956, Berliner emerged victorious in the Eastern States Open, defeating notable players such as William Lombardy, Nicolas Rossolimo, Arthur Feuerstein, and a 13-year-old Bobby Fischer. He also won the Champion of Champions tournament in 1957.

Berliner represented the United States internationally, participating in the 1952 Chess Olympiad. Although he only played one game, which ended in a draw, his skills were recognized. He excelled in all forms of chess, including blindfold chess, where he defeated top players at the Washington Chess Divan by winning all six games. However, Berliner became best known for his expertise in correspondence chess.

In 1965, Berliner won the 5th World Correspondence Chess Championship with an outstanding performance, scoring 14 out of 16 points. He won 12 games and drew 4, surpassing the other participants by a wide margin. In 1969, Berliner returned to academia and pursued a doctorate degree. In 1974, he successfully defended his dissertation, which focused on developing a tactical analyzer for chess.

One of Berliner's notable contributions in the field of information technology was the development of the chess computer 'HiTech.' He faced the challenge of finding an optimal algorithm to evaluate the complex positions on the chessboard. Berliner believed that solving this problem would be easier if he first found a similar algorithm for a simpler game like backgammon. His program 'BKG 9.8,' developed in the late 1970s for the DEC PDP-10, played poorly initially. However, Berliner discovered that the program's categorical judgments were too rigid and successfully incorporated fuzzy logic to improve its performance. In July 1979, his program competed against world champion Luigi Villa, resulting in a historic victory for a computer over a reigning world champion.

Despite this achievement, Berliner modestly attributed the success to the computer's luck during the dice rolling process. He also made important contributions to the field of artificial intelligence, including the B* algorithm for tree traversal. Currently residing in Florida, Berliner serves as a consultant for chess program developers.