In 1997, in New York, humans suffered an enormous blow to their chess ego when Deep Blue, a chess computer, outplayed Garry Kaspa-rov, a reigning world champion. The age of artificial intelligence (AI) had arrived.
Computers have transformed the way in which the game is played and understood. It is a truism that players from novices to grandmasters rely on technology for learning.
It has been recorded that way back in the 18th century attempts were made to create chess playing machines using technology. However, it wasn’t until the 20th century and the introduction of modern computing that progress was made.
British computer scientist Alan Turing developed the first rudimentary chess algorithm in 1951, and by the 1970s, computers were capable of competing with humans at a respectable level, according to Chess.com. Readers would recall it was Turing, mathematician, computer scientist, cryptanalyst, who developed the Turing test. It is the test of “a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to that of a human,” according to reports. Basically, the test is one of indistinguishability in performance capacity. Turing’s foremost question was: Can machines think?
Perhaps in chess they can. During the Kasparov-Deep Blue second match there was some serious talk of Blue playing moves it wasn’t programmed to play. The computer out-manoeuvred Kasparov, emerging victorious. The first match between the two in 1996 ended 4-2 in the world champion’s favour. However, IBM upgraded Blue with more powerful computing capabilities allowing it to process 200 million moves per second for the second match. It wasn’t only a con-frontation between human and machine, it was a test of artificial intelligence. The six-game match was played in New York from May 3-11, 1997. Kasparov won the first game playing white against the Sicilian defence in 45 moves. Blue returned the favour in precisely 45 moves in the Ruy Lopez. The other three games were drawn. In the sixth and final game, Kasparov playing the black pieces, employed the Sicilian defence. Blue won decisively in 19 moves.
Blue’s victory was a major success for IBM. It was also a significant milestone in the history of chess and artificial intelligence. It opened a new era for AI development. Kasparov’s call for a third match never happened.
Chess game
White: Matthias Rasmussen, 1807
Black: Alf Andries, 2164
Event: Obro/CXU New Year, 2024, December 30
Type of Game: Sicilian Defence
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2 d6 4. d3 g6 5. Be3 Bg7 6. c3 Nf6 7. Nbd2 Ng4
8. Bg5 h6 9. Bh4 Nge5 10. O-O Nxf3+ 11. Nxf3 O-O 12. Nd2 Qc7 13. f4 e6 14. Bg3 b5 15. Qb3 Na5 16. Qc2 Rb8 17. Kh1 Bd7 18. Rae1 Nc6 19. Bg4 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 21. Bh5 b4 22. Nf3 Qa5
23. Nh4 bxc3 24. bxc3 Qxc3 25. Qf2 Rb2 26. Qe3 Nb4 27. Ng6 Nc2
28. Ne7+ Kh7 29. Bg6+ Kh8 30. Qf3 Nxe1 31. Qh5 Qxd3 32. Rxe1 Rb1
33. h3 Rxe1+ 34. Bxe1 Qf1+ 35. Kh2 Qxf4+ 36. Bg3 Qg5 37. Bxd6 Qxh5 38. Bxh5 c4 39. Ng6+ Kg8 40. Ne7+ Kh7 41. Bg6+ Kh8 42. Bh5 c3
43. Ng6+ Kg8 44. Bxf8 Bxf8 45. Bd1 Bc6 46. Bb3 Bd5 47. Bc2 Be4 0-1. White resigns.
