The concept of a machine that plays chess actually dates back centuries. We have all read about Wolfgang von Kempelen's contraption in the 1760s that had a human hidden inside who was pulling levers to move, but it wasn't until the 1950s that computers could play a crude game.
By the 1980s computers could conduct basic searches and examine several thousands positions per second and by 1987 they were beginning to compete against humans.
It was in 1987 that Deep Thought defeated British IM David Levy.
On February 10, 1996, at a convention center in Philadelphia a six game match was held between World Champion Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue, IBM's 2,800-pound supercomputer.
Commentator GM Maurice Ashley didn't believe the computer had a chance. Nor did Kasparov who had derided the idea that a computer could defeat a GM before the year 2000. Deep Blue was capable of evaluating 100 million positions per second, but while Kasparov saw fewer, they were better and he won 4–2. A rematch was played in New York City in 1997 and was won by Deep Blue by a score of 3.5-2.5.
The USCF's best selling clock was the battery operated Master Quartz (analog) clock that sold for about $85. A bargain plastic clock cost about $60 and if you wanted to go high tech, you could get a digital clock with new and dramatic breakthrough technology for $100. It had a delay option and besides regular time controls (no delay) there were 96 preset time limits. The clock also boasted the option of a sound alarm, or a red light and an on-screen flag to show when the time expired plus there was an optional move counter. A basic set, the now ubiquitous regulation size plastic set with a 3.75" King, weighted and balanced, was $7.95.
Internet chess was starting to become popular. If you had a computer and a sufficiently fast modem you could play rated games at any time control with players around the world 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
In those days Google didn’t exist and in January 1996 there were only 100,000 websites. The browser of choice was Netscape Navigator. By 1996, Yahoo, created in 1995, was well on its way to becoming one of the major Web portals. In 1996, the search engine Altavista became the exclusive provider for Yahoo. People used dial-up internet connections and they were beginning to switch from 640×480 to 800×600 screen resolutions.
In 1996 Chess.Net hosted its first Internet tournament, a $1,000 event with cash prizes and no entry fee that even drew some GMs. The time control was Game 15.
Players had to have a "handle" and GMs had to use their last name. Thus the following game pitted Nimrod, a 2232 rated US Master named Rene Phillips against the new US Open Champion Gabriel Schwartzman (born 1976), a Romanian-born American GM.
Schwartzman moved to Florida and played in his first tournament at the age of 4 and by the age of 12 he had the FIDE Master title. Three years later, he became an IM and in November 1993, at the age of 17, he was awarded the GM title.
In 1988 he finished 2nd behind Judit Polgar in the World Under 12 Championship. He won the 1996 US Open and was the winner of the Internet World Student Championship. He started the world's first interactive chess school in 1996, the Internet Chess Academy.
Schwartzman decided to retire from chess in 2000 to focus on a career in business. His USCF rating stands at 2617.
In spite of his impressive credentials, in the following game Schwartzman got dinged by Phillips.
A game that I liked (ChessBase 16)
NM Renee Phillips–GM Gabriel Schwartzman1–0A80First Internet Tmt, G151996Stockfish 15
Dutch Defense 1.d4 f5 The Dutch has never been a main line defense and is rarely seen in high
level competition. In the past is was sometimes used by Morphy, Alekhine,
Najdorf ,Larsen and Nakamura. It's most notable adherent was Botvinnik and
Bronstein who also played it in their 1951 World Championship match. 2.f3
In practice 2.g3 yields somewhat better results. f6 3.f4 A rare sideline.
Again, 3.g3 gives better results, but 3.Nf3 is also good. d6 4.e3 e6 5.bd2 c6 6.c3 e7 6...e7 7.e2 0-0 8.h3 h8 9.c2 d7 The position is equal,
but in Hanel,E-Hechl,G Vienna 1994, black blundered on his next move and lost
quickly. 7.c4 h6 8.h3 e5 Oddly, this is the same mistake Hechi made in
the above quoted game! Here, too, it results in black getting an inferior
position. That's odd because it strikes at the center while the seemingly
weakening 8...g5 is actually the best move. 8...g5 9.h2 d7 10.b4 d8 11.a4 f7 and black has completely equalized. 9.h2 g5 10.e2 This is too
passive and allows black to justify his last move. 10.dxe5 xe5 11.xe5 dxe5 and white is better. 10...e4 11.g1 e6 One square too far as will
be seen in the note to white's reply. After 11...Bd7 there is no d5 fork. 12.0-0-0 12.d5 was his best option. After xd5 13.xd5 xd5 14.b5 b6 15.xf5 12...d5 While hardly a mistake, this eventually causes black some
problems because it allows the B on h2 to become active. He probably should
have castled. 13.b3 This is a poor position for the B, so 13.Bb5 was
better. a5 This is also questionable. Again, black should castle Q-side. 14.a4 f7 This is hard to understand. Simply 14... Bg7 was good. 15.b3
White is aiming for Q-side play, but the more straightforward attack on the
center with 15.f3 was stronger. 15.f3 g8 15...exf3 16.gxf3 g8 17.b5 b8 18.e5 xe5 19.xe5 g7 20.xa5 white is better. 16.f1 h7 17.fxe4 xe4 18.b1 and white has the more active position. 15...a7 The N is
out of play here so retreating to d8 would have been better, but Schwartzman
is setting a little trap. 16.c5 16.xa5 This is a horrible mistake! c8 and the N is trapped. 17.xb7 xa4 18.b3 a7 19.c5 White's 2 Ps for the
piece are not sufficient compensation. 16...c6 17.e5 b6 This loses the
game. He could have put up stouter resistance with 17...Bg7 18.xe6 xe6 19.g4 Black's K-side is going to get ripped apart. b5 Black has a forlorn hope
of getting counterplay on the Q-side 19...fxg4 20.hxg4 d6 21.f4 gxf4 22.exf4 White has a decisive advantage. 20.gxf5 xf5 21.c2 b4 22.c4 g7 23.f3 g6 23...e6 24.f1 dxc4 25.fxe4 e7 26.f3 and white is clearly much
better. 24.f1 Black must now prevent fxe4. e6 25.fxe4 xe4 26.f3 hf8 27.xg7 xg7 28.e5 f6 29.xe4 dxe4 30.xf6 xf6 31.f1 e6 32.f7+ g8 33.f2 xh3 This allows a mate in 4, but he was dead lost in any case. 34.g7+ h8 35.h7+‼ Decoy xh7 36.f7+ h8 37.g6# A solid performance against a GM 1–0
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