The Chess Game from 2001 Space Odyssey

Hal the computer from "2001, A Space Odyssey" won't allow Dave to make a losing move, but isn't this kind of like saying "You must resign, otherwise I will checkmate you?" Because that's what Dave has to do anyway, supposedly. Oh well, now we have Fritz, and Rybka, and God only knows what the latest super-computer is named. None of them have ever been named Hal, at least not that I've heard. The computer chess game in 2001 isn't from a computer game, it was from the game Roesch vs Willi Schlage. But the vision that one day computers would outplay human beings came true when Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov. Now the relationship between computers and human chess players is interesting, perhaps even somewhat like that of Hal and Dave. Humans still play chess, using computers as resources. The one thing that always gives me the willies is hearing human moves called "computer perfect." I guess meaning Hal will let us play them?

So what is it Hal can't let Dave do? See if you can figure out what Dave might have the instinct to play here. Bishop takes queen right? And why can't he? See if you can find out why. The instinct is of course, "Hey, the queen's en pris, let's grab it." Now look at how neat that checkmate looks after the knight recaptures.

But what else. White is up material. But Black is seriously looking like he has camped out all around White's king. He threatens to play Bh1 followed by Qg2, for one. So does White have any moves that he can do?

No. Rook takes knight is followed by Queen takes bishop check, and mate next move. There are no pieces that can come to the defense, the king can't run anywhere, so it's rather silly for Hal to tell him he he can't let him move there. But let's face it, that's what Hal is, silly.