The historic chess showdown between man and AI, decades before ChatGPT

With the eyes of the world on Philadelphia in February 1996 for Kasparov versus Deep Blue, a different sort of chess struggle was taking place elsewhere in the city. The North Philadelphia middle school named for Roberts Vaux had once been home to one of the country's best chess teams. From 1977 to 1983, the school claimed seven national championships. But then funding dried up and the program had difficulty attracting skilled coaches and players.