NEW YORK, May 10: As he prepares for two of the most closely watched games of his career, the demonstrative Garry Kasparov is locked in a struggle with an opponent that simply does not care.

Kasparov's foe is IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, the silicon nemesis with which the world champion finds himself tied, at two points each, going into this weekend's final two games of their six-game match. Game five is scheduled for today, with game six to be played tomorrow.

While Kasparov is known for his emotional, aggressive play, Deep Blue's poker face would be the envy of any Las Vegas gambler.

``When you play against an opponent, you can see his face, his eyes, his emotions. You can see his hands. It's very important,'' said Michael Khodarkovsky, a member of Kasparov's team. ``Here, the psychology belongs to one person. If (Deep Blue) wins, it's not happy. It just plugs on and off.'' When Kasparov plays chess, he visibly agonises over his moves, frequently rising from his chair to pace.

``He's a very emotional person and doesn't hide his feelings,'' said a friend, Frederic Friedel. ``If he makes a bad move, he can't hold back. He's an expressive player.''

Kasparov is at a disadvantage because Deep Blue does not ``show the same frustrations and signs of fatigue that Garry himself shows,'' said Joseph Tecce, a professor of neuropsychology at Boston College. ``He's not looking at a situation where he can see the visual imperfections of another human being.''

Joseph Traub, a Columbia University computer science professor, captained the Bronx High School of Science chess team as a teenager and has followed the Kasparov-Deep Blue match with interest.

``I sort of compare (Kasparov) to the song about John Henry,'' the legendary 19th-century railroad worker who outworks a steam drill only to die of the strain.

``He may be the John Henry of the information age,'' Traub said.

The fact that Deep Blue is simply a super-advanced version of the humble pocket calculator, one that can calculate an average of 200 million chess positions each second, has not stopped Kasparov and others from ascribing human qualities to the machine.

Kasparov, 34, said he believed Deep Blue showed signs of intelligence during its game two win last Sunday.

Miguel Illescas, a Spanish chess Grandmaster, who has consulted to the IBM team, seemed to hint at the computer getting a ``second wind'' in describing how the machine salvaged a draw from a difficult position in Wednesday's game four.

And what were the computer's breakdowns during game four -- when the IBM team had to repeatedly reboot the machine -- if not a sign of Deep Blue cracking under the stress of the five-hour contest?

Kasparov has departed from his normally aggressive playing style and has moved with extreme caution during the match. In some ways, that has been a tactical decision -- Kasparov worries that playing his usual game will let the computer take advantage of its superior calculating skills.

But Mike Valvo, an international chess master and match official, also sees Kasparov's tentativeness as a sign of uneasiness.

``It bothers Garry because his game is very emotional and that works for him,'' Valvo said. ``I think he's reacting instead of being proactive. Deep Blue's taking the game to him instead of Garry taking the game to the computer.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.