Deep Blue (chess computer)

Deep Blue

Active	1995 (prototype) 1996 (release) 1997 (upgrade)
Architecture	1995: IBM RS/6000 Workstation with 14 custom VLSI first-generation "chess chips"[1] 1996: IBM RS/6000 SP Supercomputer with 30 PowerPC 604 "High 1" 120 MHz CPUs and 480 custom VLSI second-generation "chess chips" 1997: IBM RS/6000 SP Supercomputer with 30 PowerPC 604e "High 2" 200 MHz CPUs and 480 custom VLSI second-generation "chess chips"
Operating system	IBM AIX
Space	2 cabinets
Speed	11.38 GFLOPS (1997)
Purpose	playing chess

This article is part of the series on
Chess programming
Board representations 0x88 Bitboards
Evaluation functions Deep neural networks (Transformers) Attention Efficiently updatable neural networks Handcrafted evaluation functions Piece-square tables Reinforcement learning Stochastic gradient descent Supervised learning Texel tuning Unsupervised learning
Graph and tree search algorithms Minimax Alpha-beta pruning Principal variation search Quiescence search Monte Carlo tree search
Chess computers Belle ChessMachine ChipTest Cray Blitz Deep Blue Deep Thought HiTech Hydra Mephisto Saitek
Chess engines AlphaZero Chess Tiger Crafty CuckooChess Deep Fritz Dragon by Komodo Chess Fairy-Max Fritz Fruit GNU Chess HIARCS Houdini Ikarus Junior KnightCap Komodo Leela Chess Zero MChess Pro Mittens MuZero Naum REBEL Rybka Shredder Sjeng SmarThink Stockfish Torch Turochamp Zappa
v t e

Deep Blue was a chess-playing expert system run on a unique purpose-built IBM supercomputer. It was the first computer to win a game, and the first to win a match, against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. Development began in 1985 at Carnegie Mellon University under the name ChipTest. It then moved to IBM, where it was first renamed Deep Thought, then again in 1989 to Deep Blue. It first played world champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match in 1996, where it lost four games to two. It was upgraded in 1997 and in a six-game re-match, it defeated Kasparov by winning two games and drawing three. Deep Blue's victory is considered a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence and has been the subject of several books and films.