Q: Context: Chess computers were first able to beat strong chess players in the late 1980s. Their most famous success was the victory of Deep Blue over then World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, but there was some controversy over whether the match conditions favored the computer.

Question: when did a computer first beat a human at chess?
Let's give stream of consciousness below
To answer the question, consider the following: Chess computers were first able to beat strong chess players in the late 1980s. So the answer is the late 1980s.