Chinook becomes world champion
After six draws Marion Tinsley withdrew from the match on health grounds, and the world checkers title passed to a program for the first time.
Why it matters
A machine took a world title in a game before it did in chess, but it took it by forfeit, and that is part of the fact.
Tinsley was regarded as the strongest player in the history of checkers: in forty years he lost only a handful of games. He beat Chinook in the 1992 match; in 1994 all six games were drawn. He withdrew because of illness and died the following year. Schaeffer later solved checkers outright: in 2007 it was proved that correct play by both sides ends in a draw.