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Benchmark · February 10 – 17, 1996

Deep Blue wins a game against Kasparov

In Philadelphia a machine won a game against a reigning world champion at classical time control for the first time, and lost the match 2-4.

Why it matters

A single game fell a year before the match: the threshold was crossed gradually rather than in one jump.

Kasparov lost the first game on 10 February, then adjusted and won three of the next five. He described the machine's play in public as looking purposeful in places. IBM strengthened the machine substantially over the year and won the 1997 rematch. The atlas holds 1997 as evt-0056; this record shows the result was not sudden.

Event record

Event date
February 10, 1996 – February 17, 1996
Timeline date
Event date
Verification
Sources gathered automatically · September 17, 2026
Lines
ID
evt-0175

The Philadelphia match, 10-17 February 1996; the machine won the first game on 10 February.

Sources

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