IBM’s Deep Blue – The Garry Kasparov’s opponent is being exhibited in Mountain View

The first computer chess-playing system to win both a chess game and a chess match against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. The project was started as ChipTest at Carnegie Mellon University by Feng-hsiung Hsu, followed by its successor, Deep Thought. After their graduation from Carnegie Mellon, Hsu, Thomas Anantharaman, and Murray Campbell from the Deep Thought team were hired by IBM Research to continue their quest to build a chess machine that could defeat the world champion.

Deep Blue won its first game against a world champion on 10 February 1996, when it defeated Garry Kasparov in game one of a six-game match. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, defeating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded, and played Kasparov again in May 1997. Deep Blue won game six, thereby winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½ and becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls. Kasparov accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch. IBM refused and dismantled Deep Blue.

Featured Image: Garry Kasparov holding his head at the start of the sixth and final match against IBM’s Deep Blue computer, New York, 1997 / Image: by © Stan Honda / AFP / Getty Images

Websites: computerhistory.org