The chess world has always been full of paranoiacs and palace intrigue, so it should come as no surprise that a new documentary, “Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine,” would have the trappings of a thriller: dramatic music, moody lighting, and hints of conspiracies.
Still, it surprised me. This account of the 1996 and 1997 matches between world chess champion Garry Kasparov and the IBM computer “Deep Blue” serves up new information for the layperson.
Kasparov won the first match, in ‘96. (He got a memorable Pepsi commercial out of it.) But a year later, in New York, he was beaten in a six-game series by a new, improved Deep Blue, a devastating loss that still haunts the once-invincible, now-shaky player.
Although Kasparov won the first game of the ‘97 series, he got pole-axed in the second game, as Deep Blue suddenly began making intuitive, uncomputer-like moves. Immediately, Kasparov was suspicious – in the footage of the press conference after the game, he all but accuses the IBM team of cheating. He never won another game against the machine.
In new footage of Kasparov wandering around the hotel where the games were played, he unrolls his theory that Deep Blue may have been aided by a human element. IBM didn’t allow any access to the rooms that housed the machine, and denied inspection of the inner workings behind each chess move.
Filmmaker Vikram Jayanti seems on Kasparov’s side. He weaves in footage from a 1927 silent film about a famous 19th-century contraption that purported to be a chess-playing machine (it beat Napoleon once), although the machine was actually a trick that relied on human influence.
Jayanti also points out that IBM had millions, if not billions, to gain in public relations, as the company had been lagging in the tech world. Its stock went up 15 percent the day after Deep Blue won.
Oh, and IBM refused a rematch, quickly dismantling the machine. It sits in a warehouse now, its circuits dreaming of a crack at Bobby Fischer.
Although it may be in his camp, “Game Over” does a nice job of capturing Kasparov’s eccentricities. Considered by many to be the greatest chess player ever, Kasparov first came to fame as the underdog – young, half-Armenian, half-Jewish – against the poster boy of Soviet chess, Anatoly Karpov. It was almost impossible not to root for Kasparov in the 1980s.
When he’s talking about the Deep Blue loss, Kasparov begins talking about telescopes looking into his hotel room, and he compares IBM with Enron, implying that crooked corporations will stop at nothing to win.
He comes off a little cracked, but he’s a champion chess player. He’s supposed to be goofy. All things said and done, though, at least Kasparov still has a wicked sense of humor and a passion for the game, which is more than you can say for a machine.
“Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine” HHH
Thriller: A chess documentary that plays like a conspiracy thriller, about the 1997 match between champ Garry Kasparov at the IBM computer Deep Blue, and Kasparov’s suspicious theories about the outcome.
Rated: PG rating is for language.
Now showing: Varsity.
“Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine” HHH
Thriller: A chess documentary that plays like a conspiracy thriller, about the 1997 match between champ Garry Kasparov at the IBM computer Deep Blue, and Kasparov’s suspicious theories about the outcome.
Rated: PG rating is for language.
Now showing: Varsity.
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