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Game Over: Kasparov And The Machine

2003, Movie, NR, 85 mins

Game Over: Kasparov And The Machine: Review

GAME OVER: KASPAROV AND THE MACHINE
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Vikram Jayanti's documentary about the disputatious 1997 chess match during which Garry Kasparov — widely regarded as the best player in the history of the game — was trounced by an IBM supercomputer provocatively named Deep Blue, has the paranoid tone and narrative urgency of a conspiracy thriller. Excessive trappings for a documentary about some chess games, you might think. But the question that lies at the film's heart — did the machine win fair and square, or did IBM rig the contest for its own benefit? — is anything but trivial, since it's inevitably connected to broader questions about corporate ethics. History is dotted with stories of mechanical chess whizzes, notably Baron von Kempelen's 1769 Turk. But the Turk, brought to life in clips from the silent movie THE CHESS PLAYER (1927), was a fraud — there was a man inside. Brash, outspoken and supremely self-confident, Kasparov, a Russian prodigy just out of his teens when he bested grand master Anatoly Karpov at the 1984 World Championship match, made no bones about chess-playing machines. He called them "stupid" and scoffed at the idea that one could ever beat a top-notch human player. IBM, meanwhile, was assembling an A-team of programmers and chess grand masters to work on Deep Blue, a world-class chess-playing program. In 1996, Kasparov wiped the floor with Deep Blue's first iteration. The following year they played again, under strict guidelines established and enforced by IBM. Kasparov won the first game and got whomped in the second — the machine played differently that time, Kasparov claimed; like a person, not a machine. Much of the chess community agreed, but IBM representatives responded by closing ranks, becoming even more secretive about Deep Blue's programming and operation. Kasparov resigned during Game 6 and ceded victory to the machine, but was he really bested by sheer computing power, or an unfair combination of processing power, human guidance and relentless psychological pressure? Jayanti gives IBM's Dr. Murray Campbell and Dr. Feng-hsiung Hsu, who led the development team, ample opportunity to plead their case. Jayanti's opinion is evident and the circumstantial evidence he rounds up in support is suggestive. IBM refused a rematch and tucked the undefeated Deep Blue into storage. But even Kasparov — clearly aware that he's vulnerable to accusations of paranoia and bad sportsmanship — seems resigned to inconclusiveness. The competition between man and machine is fogged by distrust and obfuscation. And for now, the result is a draw. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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