Garry Kasparov

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Kasparov's 1996 match against Deep Blue began with Game 1 on February 10, the first game a computer won against a reigning world champion under normal tournament conditions. Game 2 on February 11 saw Kasparov win after 73 moves; Deep Blue had a configuration error and played without its opening book, though its 'extended book' reproduced opening theory up to move 13. Game 3 on February 13 was drawn in 39 moves. Game 4 on February 14 was also drawn, though Deep Blue's team declined Kasparov's draw offer. Game 5 on February 16 was the turning point—Kasparov won as Black, and it was considered an embarrassment for the Deep Blue team because they had declined his draw offer after the 23rd move. Game 6 on February 17 saw Kasparov win by slowly improving his position while Deep Blue wasted time; Kasparov's next move would probably have been 44.Qe7 to exchange queens, allowing his passed pawn to advance. In the 1997 rematch, Game 1 on May 3 began with a Réti Opening developing into the King's Indian Attack; Kasparov won in 45 moves. Deep Blue's 44th move was allegedly the result of a bug. Game 2 on May 4 began with the Ruy Lopez, Smyslov Variation; Kasparov resigned, though post-game analysis indicated he could have held a draw. After this game Kasparov accused IBM of cheating, alleging a grandmaster was behind a certain move—a claim repeated in the documentary Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. The moves that surprised Kasparov were 36.axb5! axb5 37.Be4! after which Black is lost. Game 3 on May 6 saw Kasparov play the irregular 1.d3, the Mieses Opening, transposing to the English Opening; the game was drawn. Game 4 on May 7 began with the Caro–Kann Defence but transposed to the Pirc Defense; Kasparov got into time trouble and the game ended in a draw. Game 5 on May 10 began identically to Game 1; Deep Blue played a brilliant endgame to secure a draw when Kasparov looked like winning—it was later discovered Kasparov had a win beginning with 44.Rg7+. Game 6 on May 11 was a miniature, the shortest of either match. With the score even at 2½–2½, Kasparov played the Caro–Kann Defence; Deep Blue made a knight sacrifice that wrecked Kasparov's defense, forcing him to resign in less than twenty moves. Kasparov later said he chose a dubious opening to put Deep Blue out of its comfort zone, but the knight sacrifice is a well-known refutation.

Reader's Guide

Garry Kasparov's two matches against Deep Blue defined a turning point in human-computer competition. In the 1996 match in Philadelphia, Kasparov won 4–2, but the 1997 rematch in New York City saw Deep Blue win 3½–2½—the first defeat of a reigning world chess champion by a computer under tournament conditions. The matches were widely covered by the media, and Deep Blue became a celebrity. Prizes were awarded by IBM Research: for the first match, the winner got $400,000 and the loser $100,000; for the second, the winner got $700,000 and the loser $400,000. Carnegie Mellon University awarded an additional $100,000 to the Deep Blue team from a prize created by Edward Fredkin in 1980 for the first computer to beat a reigning world champion. Deep Blue's win was seen as symbolically significant, a sign that artificial intelligence was catching up to human intelligence. Later analysis tended to play down Kasparov's loss as uncharacteristically bad play and downplay chess as a game that can be defeated by brute force. In a December 2016 podcast, Kasparov reflected that after research and introspection while writing a book, his perspective shifted—he gained increased respect for the Deep Blue team and decreased his opinion of both his own and Deep Blue's performance. He noted that modern chess engines easily surpass Deep Blue. After Deep Blue's victory, the ancient Chinese game of Go became the canonical example of a game where humans outmatched machines, requiring more intuition and being less susceptible to brute force. In 1997, many players with less than a year of experience could beat the best Go programs, but programs gradually improved, and in 2015 Google DeepMind's AlphaGo defeated European champion Fan Hui, then top-ranked Lee Sedol in 2016.

Did You Know?

• Kasparov won the first match against Deep Blue in 1996 by 4–2, held in Philadelphia.
• Deep Blue won the 1997 rematch in New York City by 3½–2½, the first defeat of a reigning world chess champion by a computer under tournament conditions.
• In Game 2 of the 1996 match, Deep Blue had a configuration error and played the entire game without its opening book.
• After Game 2 of the 1997 rematch, Kasparov accused IBM of cheating, alleging a grandmaster was behind a certain move—a claim repeated in the documentary Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.
• Carnegie Mellon University awarded an additional $100,000 to the Deep Blue team from a prize created by computer science professor Edward Fredkin in 1980 for the first computer program to beat a reigning world chess champion.