In 1991 I blew my big chance. The story begins in 1989, when the guy who was to make Deep Blue, the chess supercomputer, for IBM was my graduate school officemate at Carnegie Mellon. His little side project was called “Chiptest” and I would play the chess program all day long, to the dismay of my professors.

Although I was a US-ranked master, Chiptest (and its successor, Deep Thought) would destroy me nearly every game. Then IBM brought the team over and I was left alone.