By Garry Kasparov
AI, chess, and human-machine collaboration
Subject
Themes
Garry Kasparov recounts his historic battles against chess computers, spanning two decades at the pinnacle of human-machine competition. His journey began in Hamburg in 1985, when he achieved a perfect 32-0 score against thirty-two computers simultaneously, barely breaking a sweat. At twenty-two, he was fearless and supremely confident, representing the height of human chess mastery. The computers of that era were laughably weak, though one uncomfortable moment arose when he nearly stumbled against a machine bearing his own name. This golden age of human dominance would prove brutally short.
Garry Kasparov recounts his historic battles against chess computers, spanning two decades at the pinnacle of human-machine competition. His journey began in Hamburg in 1985, when he achieved a perfect 32-0 score against thirty-two computers simultaneously, barely breaking a sweat. At twenty-two, he…
Deep Thinking emerged at a critical moment in the ongoing debate about artificial intelligence, automation, and human agency. Published in 2017, twenty years after the iconic Deep Blue matches, the book benefits from two decades of reflection and the rapid acceleration of AI capabilities across…
For thousands of years, humans dominated chess completely and utterly. No machine could challenge even a novice player. The first real chess program predates the computer itself, written by Alan Turing in 1952 on slips of paper, with Turing himself acting as the processor. This early "paper machine"…
After Deep Blue's victory in 1997, Kasparov faced a choice: accept defeat as the end of human relevance in chess, or explore new possibilities. He chose the latter, pioneering Advanced Chess in 1998, where human players partnered with computers during games. The goal was achieving the highest level…
Throughout history, each wave of automation sparked panic about jobs and social disruption. Elevator operators, seventeen thousand strong in 1920, paralysed cities with strikes like the September 1945 New York action. Thousands struggled up seemingly endless stairways, including the Empire State…
The availability of powerful chess engines has fundamentally transformed how humans learn and play the game. Young Grandmasters growing up with these tools develop differently than previous generations. Kasparov worked with students at the Kasparov Chess Foundation's Young Stars programme for a…
For decades, prominent thinkers have debated whether super-intelligent machines will surpass and possibly turn on their creators. In a 1951 lecture, Alan Turing suggested that machines would "outstrip our feeble powers" and eventually "take control." Computer scientist and science fiction author…
Kasparov's introduction to chess computers began in Hamburg on 6 June 1985, when he faced thirty-two computers simultaneously at age twenty-two. The four leading chess computer manufacturers had sent their top models, including eight bearing the Kasparov brand name from electronics firm Saitek.…
In 1968, when the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was created, it was not yet a foregone conclusion that computers would dominate humans at chess. Predictions about machine potential ranged wildly from utopian dreams about the fully automated world just around the corner to dystopian nightmares of…
Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy features a supercomputer called Deep Thought, tasked with finding the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. After calculating for 7.5 million years, it produces the answer: forty-two. The problem, Deep Thought…
Bill Gates remarked in 2001 that within five to ten years, tough problems in speech recognition and language understanding would be solved. He described these challenges as within reach thanks to increasing computing power and better algorithms. This optimism characterised the early twenty-first…
IBM's publicity machine went into overdrive after defeating Kasparov. The company had achieved its goal: global recognition of IBM's computing prowess. Headlines proclaimed the dawn of the age of intelligent machines. Stock prices rose. The Deep Blue team became celebrities. Yet behind the triumph…
IBM's Watson represented the next generation of question-answering systems after Deep Blue. Created to compete on the television quiz show Jeopardy, Watson demonstrated abilities beyond pure calculation, including natural language processing and knowledge retrieval. When Kasparov met one of Watson's…
By Garry Kasparov
Subject
Themes
Garry Kasparov recounts his historic battles against chess computers, spanning two decades at the pinnacle of human-machine competition. His journey began in Hamburg in 1985, when he achieved a perfect 32-0 score against thirty-two computers simultaneously, barely breaking a sweat. At twenty-two, he was fearless and supremely confident, representing the height of human chess mastery. The computers of that era were laughably weak, though one uncomfortable moment arose when he nearly stumbled against a machine bearing his own name. This golden age of human dominance would prove brutally short.