11 May 1997 - Deep Blue defeats world's best chess player

When IBM’s Deep Blue defeated the then best chess player in the world on the 11th of May, 1997, the surprise was widespread. Developed by IEEE senior members Murray Campbell and Feng-hsiung Hsu, Deep Blue was a chess-playing supercomputer by IBM which competed against the best chess player in the world and became the first machine to defeat a reigning chess champion. This machine consisted of 2-meter   tall towers, had more than 500 processors, and included 216 accelerator chips. This supercomputer was capable of exploring up to 100 million possible chess moves within a second.

The chess master, Garry Kasparov, claimed that the supercomputer could not outperform a human in chess. He was able to beat Deep Blue in the first match but lost in the second and sixth ones. The third, fourth, and fifth matches came to a draw. Kasparov, therefore, lost the game along with $1.1 million. IBM was even accused by Kasparov of building a supercomputer specifically to defeat him after he lost the final match. While many expected the chess champion to display unconventional and unpredictable moves, the swift moves of Deep Blue took everyone by surprise. However, what must be noted here is that programmers had been interested in and working on developing software to play chess since the early 1940s.

The victory of Deep Blue was a lot more than a sensational chess match - it was a true test of artificial intelligence and its capabilities. While Kasparov was described as devastated after the historic loss since he left the venue without even speaking to the reporters, the tech community - and the masses in general - could not be happier at the promise artificial intelligence had shown. With renewed confidence in artificial intelligence, Deep Blue inspired developers and programmers worldwide to incorporate this technology in their inventions.