The year is 1997. It is a May afternoon in New York City and in the Equitable Center on Seventh Avenue a chess match is taking place. On one side, world champion chess player Garry Kasparov makes the opening move. On the other, a representative from IBM waits to make a move on behalf of the company's supercomputer, Deep Blue. The game is a rematch – Kasparov had beaten the machine the prior year – but this time, IBM has implemented some upgrades.

The match is intense, and the two sides stay tied until the final round. Kasparov decides to try a risky strategy to throw the computer off but ultimately fails, losing the match in just over an hour. The world is shocked. Artificial intelligence (albeit a comparatively primitive form) has surpassed human intelligence in a highly publicized event.