An interesting documentary about the much hyped "Man vs. Machine" chess match that took place in the late 1990's between Gary Kasparov, the Grand Master Chess Player, and the IBM computer Deep Blue, developed and programmed by scientists and lesser master Chess Players.

In 1997 the greatest chess player in the world, Gary Kasparov played the IBM computer Deep Blue in what Kasparov thought would be a friendly six game tournament to see who or what is the bet chess player in the world. After winning the first game fairly easily, Kasparov was on his way to winning the second game when the computer made a very uncharacteristic, almost human move. This rattled Kasparov and he lost the second game and eventually the entire six game match. The movie goes into detail how Kasparov believes that there was human intervention in the second game and how that game affected his confidence.

This can be a very entertaining movie, if you have an interest in chess. I am a very bad chess player and when I first tried to watch this movie I was tired and I went to sleep in the middle of the movie. However, I watched again when I was wide awake and had no problems. So if you don't like chess, I would advise against this movie.

The most fascinating aspect of this movie was how the second game really affected the concentration level of Kasparov. Deep Blue was not only designed by engineers but five other chess champions, all of which have lost to Kasparov in the past. Kasparov was convinced that during the second game, one of the human players intervened and changed the outcome of the match.

Apparently when computers play games, they will take pieces, even if that is what you want them to do to win the match. In the first game, the machine did just that, taking a piece that Kasparov wanted it to take and lost the match. In the second game, not only did the machine not take the piece, but its move immediately put Kasparov on the defensive and that confused Kasparov and totally blew his concentration. Kasparov conceded the match soon after. However, it was brought to the attention of both Kasparov and the IBM team that one of the final moves of Deep Blue was a mistake and if Kasparov had paid attention, he could have put the machine in perpetual check, forcing a draw. This sent a warning signal to Kasparov. How could a machine make such an advance move earlier, and then make a very basic mistake in the end? After that game Kasparov, did not trust anyone on the IBM team and that ruined his concentration for the remaining games.

At the end of the match, everyone, including Kasparov, was expecting a rematch. Yet IBM took Deep Blue apart and ended any idea of a rematch, cementing Kasparov's belief that the people at IBM did this to humiliate him and make a lot of money. At the end of the match, IBM's stock jump 50 points, gaining the company a lot of money. Kasparov also thought that this had something to do with it.

Like I said, this movie is entertaining, if you like Chess. It will make my collection eventually but probably when it becomes a little cheaper. The DVD has some nice extra's, including the "play by play" of the six matches and a test game for basic chess. If you don't like chess, avoid it, there really is no other reason to watch it.

Brian - the Naked Gun