The 1970 United States computer chess championship: The start of the longest-running experiment in computer science history

Abstract

On August 31, 1970, an experiment began that continues to this day. The first chess tournament for computers was held as part of the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM’s) National Conference. The interest generated was tremendous, leading to ACM sponsoring an annual event until 1994. Chess competitions continue to this day, allowing for 50 years of data on the growth of artificial intelligence capabilities in this domain. During this period, program ratings have soared from roughly 1400 in 1970 to over 3500 today. The 1970 event was the first continuous competition in computer science history, and it represents the longest ongoing experiment in computing history.1

Some paragraphs of the text have been taken from Man vs. Machine: Challenging Human Supremacy at Chess by Karsten Müller and Jonathan Schaeffer [2018].

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