What was the first chess engine that could beat the world champion on a standard desktop?












10















What was the first chess engine that could beat the world chess champion when running on a standard desktop playing at standard speeds (i.e. not blitz chess)? For concreteness, say a $1000 PC.










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    10















    What was the first chess engine that could beat the world chess champion when running on a standard desktop playing at standard speeds (i.e. not blitz chess)? For concreteness, say a $1000 PC.










    share|improve this question



























      10












      10








      10


      1






      What was the first chess engine that could beat the world chess champion when running on a standard desktop playing at standard speeds (i.e. not blitz chess)? For concreteness, say a $1000 PC.










      share|improve this question
















      What was the first chess engine that could beat the world chess champion when running on a standard desktop playing at standard speeds (i.e. not blitz chess)? For concreteness, say a $1000 PC.







      engines human-versus-machine






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      share|improve this question













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      edited Feb 4 at 23:36









      SmallChess

      15.3k22250




      15.3k22250










      asked Feb 3 at 19:04









      AnushAnush

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      22918






















          2 Answers
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          14














          Deep Blue was a super computer. In the 2006 match, Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz that everybody could buy.




          In a November 2006 match between Deep Fritz and world chess champion
          Vladimir Kramnik, the program ran on a computer system containing a
          dual-core Intel Xeon 5160 CPU, capable of evaluating only 8 million
          positions per second, but searching to an average depth of 17 to 18
          plies in the middlegame thanks to heuristics; it won 4–2.[31][32]




          (source)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 4





            The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:20








          • 3





            @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

            – SmallChess
            Feb 3 at 23:23








          • 2





            True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:25






          • 5





            @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:05






          • 2





            For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:13



















          8














          A standard desktop today is significantly more powerful than whatever machine Deep Blue was running on in the mid-1990s against Kasparov. Since Deep Blue was the first engine to beat a world champion, that's the answer to your question.



          Note that there may have been an engine before Deep Blue that, if it ran on a modern day desktop, could have beat Kasparov. But we never saw such a match happen so it's just speculation to say any earlier engine than Deep Blue.






          share|improve this answer



















          • 5





            Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

            – Anush
            Feb 3 at 20:01








          • 8





            Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

            – Ian Bush
            Feb 3 at 20:30






          • 1





            Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 21:35






          • 8





            Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

            – David Richerby
            Feb 4 at 14:41






          • 3





            Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

            – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
            Feb 4 at 16:08











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          2 Answers
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          active

          oldest

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          2 Answers
          2






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          active

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          active

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          14














          Deep Blue was a super computer. In the 2006 match, Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz that everybody could buy.




          In a November 2006 match between Deep Fritz and world chess champion
          Vladimir Kramnik, the program ran on a computer system containing a
          dual-core Intel Xeon 5160 CPU, capable of evaluating only 8 million
          positions per second, but searching to an average depth of 17 to 18
          plies in the middlegame thanks to heuristics; it won 4–2.[31][32]




          (source)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 4





            The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:20








          • 3





            @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

            – SmallChess
            Feb 3 at 23:23








          • 2





            True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:25






          • 5





            @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:05






          • 2





            For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:13
















          14














          Deep Blue was a super computer. In the 2006 match, Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz that everybody could buy.




          In a November 2006 match between Deep Fritz and world chess champion
          Vladimir Kramnik, the program ran on a computer system containing a
          dual-core Intel Xeon 5160 CPU, capable of evaluating only 8 million
          positions per second, but searching to an average depth of 17 to 18
          plies in the middlegame thanks to heuristics; it won 4–2.[31][32]




          (source)






          share|improve this answer





















          • 4





            The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:20








          • 3





            @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

            – SmallChess
            Feb 3 at 23:23








          • 2





            True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:25






          • 5





            @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:05






          • 2





            For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:13














          14












          14








          14







          Deep Blue was a super computer. In the 2006 match, Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz that everybody could buy.




          In a November 2006 match between Deep Fritz and world chess champion
          Vladimir Kramnik, the program ran on a computer system containing a
          dual-core Intel Xeon 5160 CPU, capable of evaluating only 8 million
          positions per second, but searching to an average depth of 17 to 18
          plies in the middlegame thanks to heuristics; it won 4–2.[31][32]




          (source)






          share|improve this answer















          Deep Blue was a super computer. In the 2006 match, Kramnik was defeated by Deep Fritz that everybody could buy.




          In a November 2006 match between Deep Fritz and world chess champion
          Vladimir Kramnik, the program ran on a computer system containing a
          dual-core Intel Xeon 5160 CPU, capable of evaluating only 8 million
          positions per second, but searching to an average depth of 17 to 18
          plies in the middlegame thanks to heuristics; it won 4–2.[31][32]




          (source)







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Feb 4 at 19:16









          Riker

          1033




          1033










          answered Feb 3 at 22:18









          SmallChessSmallChess

          15.3k22250




          15.3k22250








          • 4





            The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:20








          • 3





            @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

            – SmallChess
            Feb 3 at 23:23








          • 2





            True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:25






          • 5





            @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:05






          • 2





            For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:13














          • 4





            The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:20








          • 3





            @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

            – SmallChess
            Feb 3 at 23:23








          • 2





            True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 23:25






          • 5





            @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:05






          • 2





            For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

            – J...
            Feb 4 at 13:13








          4




          4





          The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 23:20







          The comparison between a 1997 supercomputer and a 2006 standard machine isn't necessarily trivial.

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 23:20






          3




          3





          @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

          – SmallChess
          Feb 3 at 23:23







          @InertialIgnorance I don't know but I am sure you couldn't afford IBM Deep Blue.

          – SmallChess
          Feb 3 at 23:23






          2




          2





          True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 23:25





          True, but I'm talking about the comparison between computational speeds. A mobile phone today is much faster than a supercomputer in the 50's, even though the latter costed way more at the time.

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 23:25




          5




          5





          @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

          – J...
          Feb 4 at 13:05





          @InertialIgnorance A mobile phone today would have made the supercomputer TOP 500 list in the mid 1990s, nevermind the 1950s!

          – J...
          Feb 4 at 13:05




          2




          2





          For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

          – J...
          Feb 4 at 13:13





          For reference, Deep Blue was evaluating 100 million (first version) to 200 million (updated) positions per second, but to a depth of only 6-8moves on average (to a max of 20 in some cases). Deep Fritz had better heuristics, allowing it deeper searches with fewer evaluations.

          – J...
          Feb 4 at 13:13











          8














          A standard desktop today is significantly more powerful than whatever machine Deep Blue was running on in the mid-1990s against Kasparov. Since Deep Blue was the first engine to beat a world champion, that's the answer to your question.



          Note that there may have been an engine before Deep Blue that, if it ran on a modern day desktop, could have beat Kasparov. But we never saw such a match happen so it's just speculation to say any earlier engine than Deep Blue.






          share|improve this answer



















          • 5





            Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

            – Anush
            Feb 3 at 20:01








          • 8





            Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

            – Ian Bush
            Feb 3 at 20:30






          • 1





            Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 21:35






          • 8





            Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

            – David Richerby
            Feb 4 at 14:41






          • 3





            Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

            – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
            Feb 4 at 16:08
















          8














          A standard desktop today is significantly more powerful than whatever machine Deep Blue was running on in the mid-1990s against Kasparov. Since Deep Blue was the first engine to beat a world champion, that's the answer to your question.



          Note that there may have been an engine before Deep Blue that, if it ran on a modern day desktop, could have beat Kasparov. But we never saw such a match happen so it's just speculation to say any earlier engine than Deep Blue.






          share|improve this answer



















          • 5





            Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

            – Anush
            Feb 3 at 20:01








          • 8





            Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

            – Ian Bush
            Feb 3 at 20:30






          • 1





            Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 21:35






          • 8





            Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

            – David Richerby
            Feb 4 at 14:41






          • 3





            Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

            – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
            Feb 4 at 16:08














          8












          8








          8







          A standard desktop today is significantly more powerful than whatever machine Deep Blue was running on in the mid-1990s against Kasparov. Since Deep Blue was the first engine to beat a world champion, that's the answer to your question.



          Note that there may have been an engine before Deep Blue that, if it ran on a modern day desktop, could have beat Kasparov. But we never saw such a match happen so it's just speculation to say any earlier engine than Deep Blue.






          share|improve this answer













          A standard desktop today is significantly more powerful than whatever machine Deep Blue was running on in the mid-1990s against Kasparov. Since Deep Blue was the first engine to beat a world champion, that's the answer to your question.



          Note that there may have been an engine before Deep Blue that, if it ran on a modern day desktop, could have beat Kasparov. But we never saw such a match happen so it's just speculation to say any earlier engine than Deep Blue.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Feb 3 at 19:57









          Inertial IgnoranceInertial Ignorance

          5,197513




          5,197513








          • 5





            Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

            – Anush
            Feb 3 at 20:01








          • 8





            Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

            – Ian Bush
            Feb 3 at 20:30






          • 1





            Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 21:35






          • 8





            Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

            – David Richerby
            Feb 4 at 14:41






          • 3





            Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

            – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
            Feb 4 at 16:08














          • 5





            Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

            – Anush
            Feb 3 at 20:01








          • 8





            Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

            – Ian Bush
            Feb 3 at 20:30






          • 1





            Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

            – Inertial Ignorance
            Feb 3 at 21:35






          • 8





            Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

            – David Richerby
            Feb 4 at 14:41






          • 3





            Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

            – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
            Feb 4 at 16:08








          5




          5





          Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

          – Anush
          Feb 3 at 20:01







          Thanks for this. It seems according to the wiki that Deep Blue was running at 11.38 GFLOPS which is roughly the speed of a cheap PC these days. However it's not 100% clear Deep Blue was better than Kasparov. The match was controversial.

          – Anush
          Feb 3 at 20:01






          8




          8





          Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

          – Ian Bush
          Feb 3 at 20:30





          Note peak FLOPS and achieved FLOPS are very different things. And I'm not sure that FLOPS is actually a reasonable measure of performance in this case - Ian the HPC guy

          – Ian Bush
          Feb 3 at 20:30




          1




          1





          Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 21:35





          Yes, the match was controversial. If you don't accept that Deep Blue was superior though, you could select the next engine that beat a world champion in a match (there's a list in the wikipedia page on "Computer Chess").

          – Inertial Ignorance
          Feb 3 at 21:35




          8




          8





          Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

          – David Richerby
          Feb 4 at 14:41





          Deep Blue used significant amounts of custom hardware. It is not the answer to the question because it cannot "run on a standard desktop."

          – David Richerby
          Feb 4 at 14:41




          3




          3





          Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

          – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
          Feb 4 at 16:08





          Due to the specific hardware used by Deep Blue I am not certain that the assumption about powerful holds. A 10 year old GPU can probably still outperform a modern CPU when rendering graphics.

          – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
          Feb 4 at 16:08


















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