How Chess Built AI: The History of Computers That Learned to Think - Chess Journalist Peter Doggers

Chess isn't just a game; it's the "fruit fly of reasoning."

Since the 1940s, AI pioneers like Alan Turing and Claude Shannon used it as the ultimate testing ground.

They sought a path to non-human intelligence, and the chessboard became their laboratory. The decades that followed saw the rise of increasingly sophisticated algorithms and stronger computer programs, culminating in the dramatic 1997 moment: Deep Blue's victory over Garry Kasparov.

The shared history of chess and AI didn't stop there. Techniques first refined in those early chess programs are now foundational to the very core of modern AI, even within today's Large Language Models (LLMs).

Join Peter Doggers as he unpacks this fascinating journey, tracing the evolution of intelligence - both human and artificial - from the earliest work on the chessboard that shaped AI to the latest algorithms.

Peter Doggers (https://peterdoggers.com/) is one of the most well-known and respected journalists in the chess world. An internationally ranked chess player, he is a senior global correspondent for Chess.com. Doggers has played chess for more than 35 years and has covered it for almost 20. He has interviewed dozens of grandmasters, played basketball with Magnus Carlsen, and interviewed Garry Kasparov at Bobby Fischer‘s grave. Doggers lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His first book, The Chess Revolution, was published in the fall of 2024.

Doors open at 19:30 – Arrive early, grab a seat, and settle in.

Talk starts at 20:00 and runs until around 21:30.

Price includes light drinks.

Stick around afterward—good conversations don’t have closing times.