What was Deep Blue?
Deep Blue was a supercomputer designed by IBM specifically for the purpose of playing chess. The computer distinguished itself in 1997 by beating Garry Kasparov, one of the top chess players in the world. Although Deep Blue was retired after this match, the match laid the groundwork for increasingly sophisticated chess computers and programs, and many chess players now utilize chess software as a learning and practice tool to keep their games sharp. The inspiration for Deep Blue came to Feng-Hsiung Hsu in 1985. Hsu started to develop a computer which he called Chiptest, later bringing the idea to IBM when he joined to company in 1989. At first the resulting computer was code-named Deep Thought, and jokers at IBM later proposed “Deep Blue,” a melding of “Deep Thought” and “Big Blue,” IBM’s nickname. This supercomputer was specifically designed for the purpose of playing chess, with the developers taking a hardware based approach, rather than focusing on software like that used in modern
