Machines Beating Mankind

In a milestone for AI, a Google program beat South Korean grand master Lee Sedol at the strategy game Go (left) on March 15. But machines have been mastering board games since the 1970s.

BACKGAMMON

A program called BKG 9.8 became the first to defeat a human in a board game in 1979 when it beat then world champion Luigi Villa in a 7-1 match. Its creator said the victory was due to luck.

CHECKERS

Chinook became the first program to win a world championship against humans in 1994 when opponent Marion Tinsley withdrew because of illness. The program retained its title a year later.

CHESS

IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated grand master Garry Kasparov in a highly publicized 1997 tournament. The Russian won the first game, drew in the next three and forfeited his last after 19 moves.