To refresh your memory, in the early 90s, a group of computer scientists at IBM developed Deep Blue, a chess machine that was able to explore 200 million chess positions per second. The story of Deep Blue beating the world chess champion lives in most people’s memories in 2020 but, just like good movies, it is nice to go back and watch (or read) it again. Extracted from: Kasparov Overthrown by Deep Blue Kasparov playing chess computers in the 80s.
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Watch this trailer of “Computer Chess”, a comedy movie that makes fun of chess computers in the 80s. Soon after, computer engine only tournaments were organized, and prizes were awarded to the first computer to get to the master level and beat the world champion.
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Businesses started to allocate money to develop chess software as demand increased. The journey to make computers reach chess mastery really began in the 80s when personal computers became available to the public. Look at this website for more info on this.
He successfully cashed in 3000 US$ in 1978 as computers were not able to fight against human pattern recognition and intuition. In 1968, the IM David Levy bet that a chess computer engine would not beat him for the next ten years. Until the 70s, computers could barely play amateurs and were not good enough to play experienced players.ĭuring that time, chess masters bullied computers over and over. Many computer engines were developed based on Shannon’s paper, but they were not nearly as strong as computers today. In the publication, he characterized the first-ever chess engine algorithm in history. Claude Shannon, recognized as the father of modern IT, published a scholarly paper called “ Programming a Computer For Playing Chess” in 1949. The human v chess computer contest started in the middle of the 20th century. The Humans Reigned Over Chess Computers Until the 90s I went ahead and compiled the most critical moments in history that started and ended such a controversial contest between algorithms and hardware vs. In order to discuss the question already answered a few years ago, I did some research on the history of chess engines. However, chess engines were weaker than humans until 1997 when IBM’s Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov. The strongest chess engine (Stockfish 11) is rated over 3500, whereas Magnus Carlsen’s peak ELO is only 2875.
So I decided to do some research and restate a question that was answered about 15 years ago: Are computers better than humans at chess?Ĭhess computer engines are currently much stronger than humans. I was always wondering if they were making fun of me. As I was becoming a stronger player, people outside the chess world often asked me if I was able to beat the computer in chess. Chess engines were already around when I started playing chess.