In the mid-1990s, the chess world witnessed one of its most famous rivalries: Garry Kasparov, the reigning World Champion, against IBM’s Deep Blue, a supercomputer built to calculate millions of positions per second. Their clashes in 1996 and 1997 became global spectacles, symbolizing the battle between human creativity and machine power.
The events were broadcast worldwide. Deep Blue became a celebrity in its own right, and the 1997 loss was later immortalized in the documentary Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.
The first match took place in February 1996. Kasparov won 4–2, but history was made when Deep Blue won Game 1, the first-ever victory by a computer over a reigning champion in classical time controls.
Just over a year later, in May 1997, Kasparov faced a much-improved Deep Blue. This time, the computer prevailed 3½–2½, marking the first time a machine defeated a world champion in a match under tournament rules.
In the deciding game, Kasparov chose the Caro–Kann Defence, hoping to sidestep the machine’s preparation. Deep Blue responded with a stunning knight sacrifice, tearing open Black’s position. Kasparov resigned in under 20 moves – a shocking finale.
The matches were as much about psychology as chess. Kasparov believed human intervention guided Deep Blue in Game 2 of the 1997 match. Though unproven, the suspicion affected his play and confidence for the rest of the event.
Deep Blue’s triumph inspired AI research far beyond chess, fueling advances in machine learning, search algorithms, and neural networks that power today’s technology.
The rivalry remains one of the most symbolic events in chess history. It was not only a clash between a champion and a computer, but also a turning point in how we view machines, intelligence, and the future of human competition with AI.
👉 Explore more iconic matches in our Chess History Guide.