Story · 2026-10-14 · 2 min read

The day a computer beat the World Champion

In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a match. What did it change?

Garry Kasparov was the World Chess Champion for 15 years and many people thought no machine could beat him. In February 1996, in Philadelphia, he played IBM’s computer Deep Blue and won the match 4–2, although the machine won one game.

In May 1997, in New York, they played again with an improved Deep Blue. This time the computer won the six-game match 3½–2½. It was the first time a computer beat a reigning World Champion in a match with normal time controls.

Many feared that chess was finished. The opposite happened. Today a free engine on your phone is stronger than any human, and it is the best coach ever: players of every level use it to find mistakes and new ideas. Stockfish, the engine inside Chess Castles, is one of the strongest in the world.

Chess is more popular now than ever. The computer did not replace the human fight; it gave everyone a tireless teacher.