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Playing with or against Chess Software: This you've got to try! by Michael Kanehl
If you're getting a little long in the tooth, and grey on top, then you
might be stuck back in the days of yon when chess software wasn't worth
the price of the floppy disk that it came on. Well my friend, times have
changed, and this is definitely NOT your father's chess software we're
talking about here.
Human vs. Computer
Computer chess software really came into its own in February 1996 when
legendary Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov played a six-game match in
Philadelphia against IBM Chess software nicknamed "Deep Blue". Although
he declared his 4-2 score a "win for mankind", he also admitted that it
was the most difficult tournament of his career.
IBM, sporting their next generation of chess software named "Deeper Blue"
demands a rematch which in played in May of 1997 in New York. The chess
software puts a whuppin on Kasparov and defeats him 3.5-2.5.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your point of view, IBM
didn't sell their chess software and the industry kind of went to sleep
for a while. Well, it wasn't really sleeping, big things were going on
behind the scenes. And that's great news for us chess software geeks!
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