Man vs Machine: Chess Champions Fall to AI Supremacy

The battle between humans and machines in chess has been ongoing for decades, with each side pushing the limits of their abilities. One of the most iconic matches was between Garry Kasparov and IBM's Deep Blue in 1996. The match started off poorly for Kasparov, as Deep Blue won the first game, marking the first time a computer had beaten a reigning World Champion under classical time controls in a single game. However, Kasparov regrouped and dominated the remaining five games, eventually closing out the match at 4-2.

The following year, IBM upgraded their system to evaluate around 200 million chess positions per second, roughly double its 1996 capability, and its opening book had been reinforced with input from grandmaster consultants. The rematch in 1997 was a rollercoaster ride for Kasparov, who won Game 1 but then lost Game 2 due to resigning too early. He accused IBM of cheating, alleging that a grandmaster had secretly fed the machine moves during play, but later walked back the accusation.

Vladimir Kramnik faced off against Deep Fritz in 2002, with rules more favourable to humans than in previous matches. Despite this, the result was still remarkably even, with Kramnik racing out to a 3-1 lead at the halfway point before the Fritz team regrouped and stormed back to level the score.

In 2006, Deep Fritz won decisively against Vladimir Kramnik, demonstrating that engines running on consumer-grade hardware had genuinely surpassed even the very best human grandmasters. This marked a turning point in the Man vs Machine matches, as the gap between humans and machines became too wide to be a fair sporting contest anymore.