The History of Chess Engines!

Welcome to another blog by me...

This time it is about the History of Chess engines!

The history of chess spans 1500 years and continues to evolve. In recent decades, chess engines have also been evolving. In this blog, we will cover from the Turk to the AlphaZero and everything in between!

The First Engine (technically)

In 1770, a machine was being developed. The Turk. A robot that could make ingenious moves, catch if you were cheating, and play unpredictable moves, like a human. Which leads to how? Now, let me tell you that this robot was unlike any robot. It was... a human. A human? A HUMAN?!?!?!? Yeah. A human. A human hiding inside a box with a solid face, ready to smash you. This robot (human) was not that bad; after all, the robot was a chess master. It was an inferior product that lasted a while before it went out of business. 

The First Actual Chess Engine

Chess engines began to develop during the 1940s and 1950s. But the first automated chess engine was invented in 1912. Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (this reminds me of chips and nacho cheese for some reason), a Spanish engineer and mathematician, built the first chess engine. On its own, it could mate a human with a king and a rook. Not precisely, but it could execute the mate. Torres called it "El Ajedrecista." The name translates to "The Chessplayer."

The Rise of Chess Engines

In the 1950s, Alan Turing invented another chess engine, but it lacked the power to play a complete game. In 1951, a close colleague of Turing, Dietrich Prinz, created a standard chess algorithm that could solve a mate in two.

Six years later, an IBM engineer, Alex Bernstein, created the world's first automated chess engine. It was capable of playing an entire game. Its average time per move was eight minutes. The computer could play a full chess game.

In the later years, computers got stronger. Regular hardware was replaced with stronger and faster hardware. Improved and more sophisticated algorithms were placed into computers. However, the computers were still not as strong as humans. According to Chessentials, IM Dave Levy bet 3000$ that he could beat any computer in the next ten years. He succeeded and took home 3000$. 

But then the 1980s came.

A Challenge to the Superiors

Edward Frekin, a computer scientist, introduced a prize system. 5,000$ for the first computer to reach master level, 10,000$ for the first computer to reach grandmaster level, and 100,000$ for the first engine that could beat the world champion.

The race was on.

A colleague of Frekin, Carnegie Mellon, invented the first engine that reached the grandmaster level. He also created the Deep Thought, most notably known as "Deep Blue." In 1988-1990, it tied with a Grandmaster and beat Dave Levy 4-0. Then, the world turned its head to Garry Kasparov. Kasparov is the current world champion and a contender for the title of "Greatest of all time." In 1989, Kasparov faced Deep Blue and won 2-0. Garry became the "chosen one."

But, as it showed, he would fall too.

The Rise above

Deep Blue's team improved the engine and was set to face Kasparov in May 1997. Kasparov won the first game. Deep Blue evened the score the next. The next three were a draw. In the last game, Deep Blue won and became the first computer to beat a world champion in standard time controls.

Since then, chess engines have only been getting stronger. The Watson was developed. The Stockfish took its place. The Komodo challenged the Stockfish. For the next couple of years, Stockfish would be hailed as the "King of the engines." In 2017, AlphaZero defeated the king and took the throne.

(I hope I didn't write anything incorrectly. If I did, please tell me.)

Hope you enjoyed this blog, cause it took me a long time to write it!