Flashback: IBM Defeats Chess Champ

Do you remember the day that machine triumphed over man? It was 18 years ago when an IBM computer named Deep Blue did something many people thought was not possible. It defeated Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game rematch marking the first time that a machine defeated a reigning world champion under regular time controls. That happened in May 1997.

The year before, Kasparov had defeated Deep Blue 4-2. After being heavily upgraded the rematch was on the following year with Deep Blue triumphant. Kasparov did not take defeat well. He accused IBM of cheating and demanded a rematch, but IBM refused and now Deep Blue is retired and on display at the National Museum of American History.

Following Deep Blue was the development of a couple more supercomputers with Rochester IBM connections. First was the computer known as Blue Gene and that was followed by the infamous Watson which went on to become a 'Jeopardy' champion in 2011. Some very intelligent people right here in Rochester had an important part in creating some very intelligent supercomputers. (There's at least one Russian chess champion that wished they hadn't).