The show, dedicated to confrontation between famous chess player Garry Kasparov and IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue, was named the winner at Series Mania. A somewhat lukewarm reception of "Apples ...

If Kasparov won, it would be confirmation that times were changing, that something fresh and exciting and terrifying was coming. But to be abandoned, without a winner, after 48 grueling games?

A few years later, Dreyfus rather embarrassingly found himself in checkmate against a computer. And in May 1997 the IBM computer Deep Blue defeated the world chess champion Garry Kasparov.

If Kasparov won, it would be confirmation that times were changing, that something fresh and exciting and terrifying was coming. In terms of popularity, chess in the Soviet Union was akin to the ...