Deep Blue vs Gary Kasparov, 1997: The Year Humanity Fell.

The year is 1997. Gary Kasparov is arguably the greatest chess player the world has ever seen and has already won 6 classical world championships. And just the year before, he had beaten the inferior Deep Blue engine 4-2 and it seemed as if humanity was safe from losing dominance over its prized royal game. But in the spring of 1997, the software developers at IBM wanted a rematch; and their robot was better than ever.

GAME 1.

The first match takes place on May 3rd in New York City, and with the entire world watching, Kasparov and the software developer shook hands, and the game began.

And the world breathes a sigh of relief as Kasparov prevails over his machine opponent. Humanity was proving once again that their champion could defeat any rival, sentient or otherwise.

GAME 2.

But there ss no time to rest. Just the next day, Kasparov and the software developers shake hands once again, and start a game steeped in controversy, drama, and a shocking ending for the time.

The world is in shock. Could the great Kasparov had really been defeated so surgically by a cold, unthinking machine? Gary himself didn't believe it. After 36. axb5! he fully believed the IBM team was receiving outside help from a grandmaster, as Deep Blue didn't play like that whatsoever. But heigh-ho. Who was this one-trick pony to challenge him? He had beaten it last year. This year would be the same. In fact, he commented on his loss:

Deep Blue is intelligent the way a programmable alarm clock is intelligent. Not that losing to a $10 million alarm clock made me feel any better.

GAME 3.