Today in Technology History
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May 3
On May 3, 1997, world chess champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov began his historic rematch against Deep Blue.
Attempts to automate chess long predate computers. As early as 1769, a machine known as "The Turk" toured Europe -- a mannequin seated atop a chest of complex machinery. The Turk would play anyone in chess, moving the pieces with one hand. But the machine was a fraud, probably operated by a short chess master concealed inside.
Once computers came along, it seemed natural to teach them chess. The first attempts were made in the 1950s (including an effort by Claude Shannon, the subject of last Monday's history message). As computers improved, so did their chess skills. In 1966, Soviet and American computers were pitted against one another in the first international computer match. The Soviets won.
In 1996, Kasparov beat Deep Blue although he lost the first game of the match. But IBM's 1.4-ton computer was greatly improved for the 1997 rematch: it was capable of analyzing over 200 million moves per second.
Kasparov won only one of the six games in the rematch; the rest were losses or draws. It was the first time a computer defeated a reigning world champion, and it was the first match Kasparov lost -- ever. He wanted another rematch but the IBM RS/6000 SP was reassigned.
According to a recent poll, Deep Blue is more famous than many celebrities. In 1999, Kasparov played against "the world" in an online chess game which he won. Late last year he lost his position as world champion to one of his protégés.
Related links:
Click here to visit IBM's homepage for the 1997 match.
Click here to read about Kasparov's 1999 online game against "the world."
Click here and here to read about how Kasparov, perhaps still spooked by his loss to Deep Blue, lost the world championship last year.
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