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Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion – narrative tenses: past simple, continuous and perfect

This B2 ESL lesson plan teaches narrative tenses through the 1997 chess match in New York between IBM's computer Deep Blue and world champion Garry Kasparov.

Grammar
The past simple for main events, the past continuous for the background and the past perfect for a step back (Kasparov had won the first game), with by then, by the time and as soon as.
Topic
How Deep Blue won and whether it was smart or just fast, with words such as resign, grandmaster and brute force.
Activities
An explainer to read, an office argument and a reader's voice memo to hear, self-checking drills, a chat with a colleague and boxes to argue in.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: your move!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: machines and chessVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: the day the machine won

    • Look at the picture: the last gamePictureUnlock
    • Read Isaiah's explainer on The Why DeskArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Match the names and the facts from the articleMatchUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: smarter, or just faster?

    • Listen to Leona and IsaiahListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Reader's Rebuttal: Alma's voice memoListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Kasparov had won the first game

    • Study the scheme: three past tenses in one storyGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: past simple, past continuous or past perfectFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: three past tenses for every personFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Sort the sentences into the correct columns: what does each verb do?Sort into columnsUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: checkmate, or not?

    • Choose the right replies: Harper missed the meetingChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: tell the story, argue your sideOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the verbs in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what happened first?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: This week in the archiveChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: our answer to AlmaDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Chess vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • checkmate
  • opponent
  • grandmaster
  • reigning champion
  • algorithm
  • brute force
  • computer chip
  • turning point
  • rematch

Grammar: narrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect

Narrative tenses are three past tenses working together in one story: Kasparov had won the first game. In Game 6, he was playing Black, and after 19 moves he resigned. The 1997 match gives each tense a clear job, so learners choose the tense by its job in the story and add the linkers that signal it.

Kasparov had won the first game…

One story, three past tenses: the past simple for the main events, the past continuous for the background, the past perfect for a step back in time.

Main events, background and a step back

The past simple moves the story forward: Deep Blue won Game 2, and Kasparov resigned. The past continuous sets the scene: Kasparov was playing Black. The past perfect jumps back to something earlier: Kasparov had won the 1996 match.

Game 6 in three layers

pastnow
  • Earlier: each player had won one game
  • Background: Kasparov was playing Black
  • Main event: Kasparov resigned
  • Now: we tell the story

Three tenses, three jobs

TenseFormIts job in a storyExample
past simpleresigned, won, beganthe main events, one after anotherDeep Blue won Game 2, and Kasparov resigned.
past continuouswas / were + -ingthe background: something in progressKasparov was playing Black.
past perfecthad + past participlea step back: something that happened earlierKasparov had won the 1996 match.

Was / were + -ing and had + past participle

Only was and were change with the person: I was playing, we were playing. Had is the same for everyone, and the verb after it is the third form: had beaten, had won, had begun.

PersonPast simplePast continuousPast perfect
II playedI was playingI had played (I'd played)
youyou playedyou were playingyou had played (you'd played)
hehe playedhe was playinghe had played (he'd played)
sheshe playedshe was playingshe had played (she'd played)
itit playedit was playingit had played
wewe playedwe were playingwe had played (we'd played)
theythey playedthey were playingthey had played (they'd played)

By then, by the time, as soon as, when and while

By then, or by the time + past simple, calls for the past perfect: By then, each player had won one game. As soon as joins two events in the past simple, and when or while joins a background to an event.

Time linkers

LinkerWhat it doesExample
by then, by the time + past simplethe earlier event: past perfectBy the time Game 6 started, each player had won one game.
earlier that week, the year beforea step back in time: often past perfectThe year before, Kasparov had won their first match.
as soon asone event right after another: past simpleAs soon as Kasparov resigned, the match was over.
when, whilethe background (was / were + -ing) and the event (past simple)Kasparov was playing Black when Deep Blue sacrificed a knight.

Back in New York

  • Kasparov had won Game 1 when Deep Blue won Game 2.
  • By the time Game 6 started, each player had won one game.
  • When Kasparov resigned in Game 6, he was playing Black.
  • Deep Blue was running on 480 special chess chips when it beat Kasparov.
  • By May 1997, the team had built a new chess chip.
  • Isaiah was planning an attack when the app took his queen.

Before and after: the past simple is fine

When before or after already shows the order, the past perfect is optional: Kasparov won the 1996 match before he lost in 1997, and had won is right too. Use it when you step back in the middle of a story.

Before and after: both are right

With before and after, the order is already clear, so the past simple is fine: Kasparov won the 1996 match before he lost in 1997 (had won is right too). Use the past perfect when you step back in time in the middle of a story, and after by then and by the time: By the time the rematch began, he had been world champion for about twelve years.

A finished result and a single short event

A final score takes the past simple: Deep Blue won the match 3½–2½. So does a short event inside a background: While he was playing, Deep Blue sacrificed a knight. Was winning means “was ahead” in a game still going on.

A finished result, a single event

A finished result takes the past simple: Deep Blue won the match 3½–2½ (not: was winning the match 3½–2½). A single, short event too: While Kasparov was playing Black, Deep Blue sacrificed a knight (not: While he played, Deep Blue was sacrificing a knight). In a game still going on, was winning means “was ahead”: Toni was winning, but then she lost her queen.

Common mistakes

  • In 1989, Kasparov had beat Deep Thought.

    In 1989, Kasparov had beaten Deep Thought.

    beat → beat → beaten

  • While he played, Deep Blue was sacrificing a knight.

    While he was playing, Deep Blue sacrificed a knight.

    the background: was + -ing; the single event: past simple

  • On May 11, Deep Blue was winning the match 3½–2½.

    On May 11, Deep Blue won the match 3½–2½.

    a finished result: past simple

  • By then, each player won one game.

    By then, each player had won one game.

    by then / by the time: past perfect

More lessons on this grammar: Past perfect lessons and exercises · Past simple lessons and exercises · Past continuous lessons and exercises

Try the narrative tenses exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • tell one story in three past tenses: Kasparov was playing Black when Deep Blue sacrificed a knight.
  • step back in time after by then and by the time: By the time Game 6 started, each player had won one game.
  • form all three tenses for every person, with irregular participles: had beaten, not had beat
  • give a finished result in the past simple: Deep Blue won the match 3½–2½, not was winning
  • argue whether a machine got smarter or only faster: Deep Blue didn't think. It calculated.

Lesson 1 opens AI and the future of work, unit 1 of English B2.1 · How the World Works, and follows B1.2 lesson 32. It brings the past continuous of A2.2 lessons 9 and 10 and the past perfect of B1.2 lessons 18 and 19 into a single story. Lesson 2 moves on to by, until and in time. A match with an earlier result, a game in progress and a sudden resignation needs all three tenses at once.

Students spin a wheel of questions about games, speed and machines, then learn twelve words, from resign and sacrifice to brute force and rematch, with pictures and audio. They read Isaiah's explainer for The Why Desk, the course's online magazine, then hear him and Leona argue whether 1997 made machines smarter or just faster, and Alma, a chess coach, answer back in a voice memo; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them sentences to sort into event, background and step back. In the speaking chapter, students retell the match to Harper by chat and open boxes to tell a story and argue a side.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the chess words and a memory game, then new sentences to complete, verbs to put in the right tense, word order, a quiz on what happened first, the newsletter's archive story about Deep Thought and the team's answer to Alma with words to drag in.

Grammar:
narrative tenses · past simple · past continuous · past perfect · time linkers
Topic:
Deep Blue · Garry Kasparov · chess · artificial intelligence · IBM · New York City · The Why Desk

Teaching tips

  • Draw Game 6 in three layers before the scheme: the wins that came earlier, the game in progress, the resignation. Students label each layer with its tense and write one sentence for it.
  • Ask who has lost to a computer before the reading: a chess app, a video game, a quiz show. Then students read to find out how Deep Blue won and why people still argue about it.
  • Play the office argument twice: first to hear who says “smarter” and who says “faster,” then to catch every was playing and had won as the two retell the match.
  • Split the class for the boxes: half argue that 1997 was a turning point, half that it was only brute force. Every speaker must use all three tenses at least once.

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The whole course: English B2.1 · How the World Works

32 lessons for adults at B2 in American English, each answering one question about how the world works. The team of The Why Desk, a small online magazine in Pittsburgh, takes on one question a week, from the day a computer beat the world chess champion to eight people sealed inside Biosphere 2. Learners tell stories with narrative tenses, speculate about the past and the future, and report what experts claim. The practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 AI and the future of work

    narrative tenses, by and until, be bound to and be likely to, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 1 · you're hereCheckmate: the day a computer beat the championNarrative tenses: past simple, past continuous and past perfect
    2. Lesson 2The robot car that crossed the desertTime prepositions: by, until, within, throughout, in time and on time
    3. Lesson 3Can a chatbot fool you?Probability about the future: be bound to, be likely to, the chances are
    4. Lesson 4By 2035, what will AI have designed?The future perfect simple: will have + past participle

  2. Unit 2 Health breakthroughs

    the third conditional, the past perfect and past continuous passive, have something done, the passive with two objects

    1. Lesson 5The moldy melon that changed medicineThe third conditional: if + had done, would have done
    2. Lesson 61.8 million Polio PioneersThe past perfect passive and the past continuous passive
    3. Lesson 7One clinic, many doctorsHave / get something done
    4. Lesson 8A kidney from a twinThe passive with two objects

  3. Unit 3 Moving people

    the past perfect continuous, the passive infinitive and -ing form, it's worth and there's no point, the future in the past

    1. Lesson 9Six years to the golden spikeThe past perfect continuous vs the past perfect simple
    2. Lesson 10Riding a pod with no driverThe passive infinitive and the passive -ing form
    3. Lesson 11The town that painted bike lanes firstIt's worth, there's no point and it's no use + -ing
    4. Lesson 12The highways that were supposed to take 13 yearsThe future in the past

  4. Unit 4 Wildlife comebacks

    reporting verbs with a that clause, with an object and infinitive and with -ing, verbs of perception

    1. Lesson 13Did wolves really change Yellowstone's rivers?Reporting verbs + that clause
    2. Lesson 14Bringing a parrot back from the edgeReporting verbs + object + (not) to + base form
    3. Lesson 15The beavers that came by parachuteReporting verbs + -ing and verb + preposition + -ing
    4. Lesson 16Fifteen bison take the trainVerbs of perception + object + base form or -ing

  5. Unit 5 Pop culture goes global

    comment adverbs, wish and if only for the present and the past, have someone do and get someone to do

    1. Lesson 17The party that started hip hopComment adverbs: apparently, supposedly, undoubtedly
    2. Lesson 18Slide to the left!Wish and if only for wishes about now
    3. Lesson 19If only they'd kept SupermanWish and if only + past perfect for regrets
    4. Lesson 20The hit factory on West Grand BoulevardCausative have and get: have someone do, get someone to do

  6. Unit 6 Money and smart choices

    -ever words and no matter, should have and could have, prepositions for numbers and change, it's time and would rather

    1. Lesson 21The bank that never closed-ever words and no matter
    2. Lesson 22One marshmallow now or two later?Should have, shouldn't have and could have
    3. Lesson 23Benjamin Franklin's 200-year giftPrepositions for numbers and change
    4. Lesson 24Why buy a drill you'll use once?It's (high) time and would rather + past simple

  7. Unit 7 Language and communication

    must have, might have and can't have, verb prefixes and suffixes, past modals in continuous and passive forms, agreement with quantities

    1. Lesson 25How did one man write down a language?Past modals of deduction: must have, might have, can't have
    2. Lesson 26Why do Americans write “color”?Verb prefixes and suffixes: misspell, rewrite, simplify, shorten
    3. Lesson 27The joke that needed a smileyPast modals in continuous and passive forms
    4. Lesson 28Can preschoolers save a language?Subject-verb agreement with quantities and collective nouns

  8. Unit 8 Exploring the extremes

    dimension nouns, the future continuous and future perfect continuous, compound adjectives, only, even and just

    1. Lesson 29A walk on the ocean floorDimension nouns and phrases: depth, width, height
    2. Lesson 30Six months of night at the South PoleThe future continuous and the future perfect continuous
    3. Lesson 31Flying on pedal powerCompound adjectives with numbers and participles
    4. Lesson 32Two years under glassFocus adverbs: only, even, just and at all

Questions about this lesson

What are narrative tenses?
They're the past tenses you use to tell a story: the past simple for the main events, the past continuous for the background and the past perfect for something that happened earlier. Kasparov was playing Black. He had won the first game. After 19 moves, he resigned. The B2 lesson Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai teaches all three with the 1997 Deep Blue match.
How do you use narrative tenses in a story?
Give each tense one job. The past simple carries the events in order: Deep Blue sacrificed a knight, and Kasparov resigned. The past continuous describes what was in progress: he was playing Black. The past perfect steps back, often after by then or by the time: By the time Game 6 started, each player had won one game. The scheme in Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai puts all three on one timeline.
What are some examples of narrative tenses?
Four from Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai: Kasparov had won Game 1 when Deep Blue won Game 2. When Kasparov resigned in Game 6, he was playing Black. Deep Blue was running on 480 special chess chips when it beat Kasparov. Isaiah was planning an attack when the app took his queen. Each one mixes two of the three tenses, and the scheme shows which job each verb does.
What's the difference between the past continuous and the past perfect?
The past continuous is in progress at a past moment, while the past perfect was already over before it. When Kasparov resigned, he was playing Black: the game was still going on. When Kasparov resigned, the game had lasted only 19 moves: those moves came first. In Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai, students sort sentences into the main event, the background and the step back.
Is it “had beat” or “had beaten”?
It's had beaten: after had, use the third form of the verb, and the third form of beat is beaten. In 1989, Kasparov had beaten Deep Thought. The same goes for had won (not had winned) and had taken (not had took). Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, lists this mistake in its scheme and drills the participle in a quiz and the chat.
When did Deep Blue beat Kasparov?
In May 1997, in New York City, IBM's Deep Blue won a six-game match against Garry Kasparov 3½–2½. Kasparov won Game 1, Deep Blue won Game 2, three games were draws, and on May 11 Kasparov resigned Game 6 after only 19 moves. It was the first match a computer won against a reigning world champion under normal tournament time controls. Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai tells the story.
How did Deep Blue play chess?
Mostly by searching huge numbers of positions very fast: it ran on 480 special chess chips and checked about 100 to 200 million positions a second. Grandmasters had built its opening book by hand, about 4,000 positions, and it also used a database of 700,000 grandmaster games. Whether that is intelligence is still debated: in Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai, Leona calls it brute force and Isaiah calls it a turning point.
How do I teach narrative tenses to B2 students?
Start from one short story with a clear timeline, then give each tense its job: events, background, step back. Add by the time and as soon as once the jobs are clear, and keep the traps few: the participle, a finished result, a single event. Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai moves from an explainer and an office argument to a timeline scheme and five drills.
What's a good game for practicing narrative tenses?
Try a three-player chain story: one student gives the main event in the past simple, the next adds the background with the past continuous, and the third steps back with the past perfect. I resigned. I was losing badly. My opponent had taken my queen. The boxes in Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai ask for a game you won or lost: what had happened, what was going on and how it ended.
What's good homework for narrative tenses?
Mix form and meaning: verbs to put in the right tense, sentences to order and a quiz such as “Alma came back at nine. By then, Elliot had left.” Which is true? All ten homework tasks in Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai check themselves, and two of them are whole texts: an archive story about Deep Thought, Deep Blue's ancestor, and the team's answer to a chess coach.
How do you practice narrative tenses one-to-one?
Swap the stories of games you remember: the teacher asks What was happening when…? and What had happened by then?, the student answers in the right tense and then asks back. The chat in Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai is done alone: Harper missed the meeting, and the student retells the 1997 match for her, choosing between replies.
Are there interactive exercises for narrative tenses?
Yes. This page plays three parts of the B2 lesson Checkmate: the day a computer beat the champion on edio.ai with no account. The three are the listening with Leona and Isaiah, a gap-fill with three past tenses to choose from and Harper's chat about the meeting she missed. Everything else needs an account.
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