Deep Blue–Kasparov, 1996, Game 1 is a famous chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 game in which a computer played against a human being. It was the first game played in the 1996 Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov was a pair of famous six-game human-computer chess matches played between the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue and the World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. The first match was played in February 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Kasparov won the match 4–2, losing one...

 match, and the first time that a chess-playing computer

Computer chess

Computer chess is computer architecture encompassing hardware and software capable of playing chess autonomously without human guidance. Computer chess acts as solo entertainment , as aids to chess analysis, for computer chess competitions, and as research to provide insights into human...

 defeated a reigning world champion

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

 under normal chess tournament conditions (in particular, normal time control

Time control

A time control is a mechanism in the tournament play of almost all two-player board games so that each round of the match can finish in a timely way and the tournament can proceed. Time controls are typically enforced by means of a game clock...

s).

Overview

Deep Blue was a computer developed by IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 to beat grandmaster Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

, the top chess player in the world at the time according to Elo rating

Elo rating system

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....

s. Playing White, Deep Blue won this first game in the match on February 10, 1996 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. Kasparov rebounded over the next five games, winning three and drawing two, to soundly beat the machine in the 1996 match.

The game

White: Deep Blue Black: Kasparov Opening: Sicilian Defense

Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...

 (B22)
1. e4 c5 2. c3

It is more common to play 2.Nf3, but Kasparov has deep experience with that line, so White's opening book goes in a different direction.

2... d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 e6 7. h3 Bh5 8. 0-0 Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Bb4 (see diagram)

A more common move here is Be7. This was a new approach by Kasparov, developing the bishop

Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...

 in an unusual way. The merit of the new move is debated. After this move, the computer left its opening book and began calculating its next move.

11. a3 Ba5 12. Nc3 Qd6 13. Nb5 Qe7 14. Ne5! Bxe2 15. Qxe2 0-0 16. Rac1 Rac8 17. Bg5

Black now has a problem, especially with the pinned

Pin (chess)

In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece...

 knight

Knight (chess)

The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

 on f6.

17... Bb6 18. Bxf6 gxf6

Kasparov avoids ...Qxf6? because White would gain material with 19.Nd7. Note that Kasparov's king

King (chess)

In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...

 is now far more exposed.

19. Nc4! Rfd8 20. Nxb6! axb6 21. Rfd1 f5 22. Qe3!

This is an excellent place for White's queen

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

.

22... Qf6 (see diagram) 23. d5!

This type of pawn

Pawn (chess)

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...

 sacrifice

Sacrifice (chess)

In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....

 is typical of Kasparov's style of play. Kasparov commented that he might have played 23.d5 himself in this position, since it hurts Black's pawn structure and opens up the board, and Black's exposed king suggests that there is probably a way to exploit the result. Kasparov has been attacking White's d-pawn, and the computer wisely decides to advance it for an attack instead of trying to defend it.

23... Rxd5 24. Rxd5 exd5 25. b3! Kh8?

Kasparov attempts to prepare a counter-attack by preparing to move his rook

Rook (chess)

A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...

 to the g-file, but it will not work. Burgess suggests that 25...Ne7 26.Rxc8+ would have been better, though White would still have some advantage.

26. Qxb6 Rg8 27. Qc5 d4 28. Nd6 f4 29. Nxb7

This is a very materialistic move, typical of computers; White grabs an undeveloped pawn for a small gain in material. However, Deep Blue has not identified any threat of checkmate from Black, so it simply acquires the material.

29... Ne5 30. Qd5

30.Qxd4?? would lose to 30...Nf3+.

30... f3 31. g3 Nd3

The move 31...Qf4 won't work, because of 32.Rc8! Qg5 33.Rc5!

32. Rc7 Re8

Kasparov is attacking, but the computer has correctly determined that the attack is not a real threat.

33. Nd6 Re1+ 34. Kh2 Nxf2 35. Nxf7+ Kg7 36. Ng5+ Kh6 37. Rxh7+ 1–0

After 37...Kg6 38.Qg8+ Kf5 39.Nxf3, Black cannot meet the simultaneous threats of 40.Nxe1, 40.Rf7 and 40.Qd5+. Kasparov resigned.