By the way, Big Brother IS watching you! The government uses facial recognition tools for activities like streamlining entry at security checkpoints and identifying suspects during criminal investigations.
It's not all bad though. When rioting thugs who supported Donald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol building in 2021 many were tracked down and charged when the government used such technology.
Even Ford Motor Company has a GPS tracking system that allows them to know where your car is located, how many miles are on it and even when and where drivers speed.
In 1984, a Hollywood actor turned politician named Ronald Reagan was the President. He seemed like a pretty nice fellow. At one point his approval rating was 73% and it remained above 50% until the U.S. experienced a recession and high unemployment in 1982 and his rating plummeted to 35% in early 1983.
What we were really doing in 1984 was watching movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Karate Kid, Ghostbusters and Terminator. And, we were watching television shows like Dukes of Hazzard, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues and A-Team.
It was the year Apple Computer launched the Macintosh computer line and Sony and Philips introduce the first CD players. Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik to win his first World Wrestling Federation championship.
It was also the year of what was probably the greatest show business sensation of all time...Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. Read more ...
In 1984, many players were lost. Jacobo Bolbochan (1906-1984) the champion of Argentina in 1932 and 1933. 1933 died. The very strong American Master Albert Pinkus (1903-1984) died in New York. Reginald Bonham (1906-1984) the 1958 World Blind Champion died in Worcester, England.
Comins Mansfield (1896-1984) GM of Chess Composition died in England. Albert Becker (1896-1984), the Austrian champion in 1925 and 1937 died in Argentina. Chess book author William Cozens (1911-1984) died in Taunton, England.
Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) died of stomach cancer in Moscow. Czech composer Jindrich Fritz (1912-1984) died in Prague. Many time Swiss champion Max Blau (1918-1984) died in Bern, Switzerland.
Palestine champion (1936) and Israeli champion (1955) Moshe Czerniak (1910-1984) died in Tel Aviv.
The former USSR champion (1927) and long time Canadian stalwart Fedor Bohatirchuk (1892-1984) died in Ottawa. Yugoslav GM Mijo Udovcic (1920-1984) died in Zagreb.
Sporting a rating of 2710, Garry Kasparov became the No. 1 ranked player in the world, surpassing world champion Anatoly Karpov. Walter Browne (1949-2015), rated 2582, was the only American on the list of 20 highest-rated players in the world.
The most boring World Championship match ever played, the Karpov-Kasparov match, began in Moscow on September 10, 1984. Mercifully, it was halted in February, 1985 after 48 games with Karpov leading +5 -3 with 40 games drawn.
ICD was selling a lot of different models of chess computers. The Sci Sys Explorer was under $80 and for under $100 you could get Fidelity Elite that played at over 1800 strength.
For a little under $1,200 (equal to a whopping $3,529.31 in 2023) you could get the Prestige-B, that was touted as the world's strongest microcomputer. It had 2" squares with a 3-3/4" King, 14K of Ram, clock and voice, 15 levels of play and it played at over 1900.
For $130 you could also get a printer for the computers that would print out the moves and even diagrams! And, if you bought that Prestige-B, you could also buy a lightweight scientifically designed carrying case with an egg-crate foam interior to carry it in. It cost "only" $34.95 ($102.79 today).
A plain old human operated set of pieces, the Drueke Players Choice set, sold for $24 (almost $71 in today's dollars!!) and a roll up plastic board cost $6 ($17.65 today).
In 1984, GM Lev Alburt (born August 21, 1945), who defected from the Soviet Union in 1978 and arrived in the U.S. broke, had managed to make use of his talents and became the U.S. Champion.
For this tournament Paul M. Albert Jr. of South Salem, New York donated $250 (735.27 today) for the most brilliant game of the event. Arthur Bisguier was the judge and there were two among the many high-quality games that he found to be of clarity and overall beaut so he decided tio split the money. They were the game Peters-Seirawan (the co-winner) and deFirmian (the co-winner)-Kudrin.
[Event "US Champ, Berkeley, CA"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1884.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nick deFirmian"]
[Black "Sergey Kudrin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E12"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1884.??.??"]
{Queens Indian Defense} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 b6 4. e3 Bb7 5. d4 cxd4 6.
exd4 e6 7. a3 d5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bb5+ Bc6 {This position had been known since
the 1950s except that in this game white has played the useful move 7.a3.} 10.
Bd3 Nd7 11. O-O {The position is equal.} (11. Ne4 N5f6 12. Bg5 Be7 13. Ng3 h6
14. Be3 Qc7 15. Qe2 a6 16. O-O {with equality. Benjamin,J (2610)-Gurevich,D
(2535) US Champ, Key West 1994}) 11... Be7 12. Re1 O-O 13. Ne4 N7f6 (13... N5f6
{was recommended by Bisguier because it prevents white from placing a N on e5.}
14. Ng3 (14. Ne5 Bxe4 15. Bxe4 Nxe4 16. Rxe4 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 Bf6 18. Re4 Qd5 19.
Qd3 Rfd8 20. Be3 Rac8 {and black is better.}) 14... a6 15. Bg5 Ra7 16. Qe2 {
is nearly equal. Lobo,R (2310)-Gurevich,D (2540) San Francisco 1998}) 14. Ne5
Bb7 15. Ng5 {At some point over the next couple of moves black should have
played ...h6 to drive the N back. As it is, he will eventually pay a price for
not having done so.} Qc7 16. Bd2 Rad8 17. Rc1 $16 Qb8 18. Qe2 {Perhaps more
precise would have been 18.Qc2 g6 and then the maneuver Qe1-f3} Bd6 19. Bb1 Ne7
{With white's pieces menacing his K, Kudrin tries to avoid weakening his
K-side P-structure, but but since this proves unavoidable he should have
played 19...h6 and then simplify.} (19... h6 20. Ne4 Nxe4 21. Qxe4 f5 22. Qe2
Bxe5 23. Qxe5 Qxe5 {with a equal position.}) 20. Ng4 {Perhaps black overlooked
the force of this move which forces him to retract his last move,} Ned5 (20...
Nxg4 21. Bxh7+ Kh8 22. Qxg4 Bxh2+ 23. Kh1 {and white has a winning attack. To
give just one example...} g6 24. Qh3 Bf4 25. Bg8+ Kg7 (25... Kxg8 26. Qh7#) 26.
Qh7+ Kf6 27. Qh4 Kg7 28. Bxf4 {and white is clearly winning.}) {A frequently
seen B+Q battery in these types of positions.} 21. Qd3 g6 22. Qh3 Bf4 {This
loses without much of a fight, but he was pretty much lost anyway, but it was
possible to make white work to score the point.} (22... h5 {would have worked
better.} 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Nhxf7 Rxf7 25. Nxe6+ Kh8 26. Bxg6 Rdd7 (26... Rff8
27. Bxh5 {is hopeless}) 27. Bxf7 Rxf7 28. Ng5 {with a decisive advantage.}) 23.
Bxf4 Qxf4 24. Nh6+ Kg7 25. Nhxf7 Rxf7 26. Nxe6+ Kg8 27. Nxd8 {Witty play and
stronger than taking the Q!} (27. Nxf4 Nxf4 28. Qh6 N4h5 (28... Nxg2 {Bisguier}
29. Re5 Rxd4 (29... Ng4 30. Qg5 Rxd4 (30... Nxe5 31. Qxd8+) 31. Bxg6 Nxe5 32.
Bxf7+ Kxf7 33. Qxe5) 30. Ba2 {wins.}) 29. Re5 Rg7 30. Ba2+ Kh8 31. Rce1 Be4 {
There is no question that with only two Ns for the Q that black is losing, but
deFirmian's 27.Nxd8 is clearer..}) 27... Ng4 28. Re8+ {Black resigned. Engine
analysis indicates that deFirmian's play was "flawless."} (28. Re8+ Rf8 29.
Rxf8+ Qxf8 30. Qxg4 Qxd8 31. Ba2 Kg7 (31... Qe7 32. Qg3 Kg7 33. Qe5+ Qxe5 34.
dxe5 {with a easily won ending.}) 32. Qg3 {There is no way to meet the
intended Qe5} Kf8 33. Qe5 Qe7 34. Qh8+ Kf7 35. Qxh7+ {etc.}) 1-0
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