Modern Masters of an Ancient Game

Deep Blue beat world chess champion Gary Kasparov in the final game of a tied, six-game match last May 11. Kasparov had beaten the machine in an earlier match held in February 1996. The Fredkin Prize was awarded under the auspices of AAAI; funds had been held in trust at Carnegie Mellon University. The Fredkin Prize was originally established at Carnegie Mellon University 17 years ago by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science Professor Edward Fredkin to encourage continued research progress in computer chess. The first award of $5,000 was given to two scientists from Bell Laboratories who in 1981 developed the first chess machine to achieve master status.