Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14464 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-10
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

DVD Description
In May 1997, before massed ranks of the world’s media, Garry Kasparov, widely regarded as the greatest chess player the world has ever seen, played Deep Blue – a hulking, one-and-a-half ton IBM supercomputer – in a chess tournament and ‘scientific experiment’. International interest in the match had exploded. The epic battle of man vs. machine had captured people’s imaginations. And the outcome was stunning. To win the match the computer what many thought impossible at the time, it appeared to think like a human.

Directed by multi award-winning filmmaker Vikram Jayanti (James Ellroy’s Feast of Death, The Man Who Bought Mustique), Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine takes us on a gripping cinematic odyssey into the mindscape of a legendary chess genius as Kasparov battles to come to terms with the machine from IBM.

Special Features

• Downloadable chess program Fritz 6 with Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced tutorial functions including free talk files and chess game database with over 300,000 games to view and analyse
  
• Free connection to the internet chess server Playchess.com to play with chess enthusiasts from all over the world
  
• Trailer

Synopsis
Garry Kasparov, possibly the world's greatest chess player, and his one-and-a-half ton IBM supercomputer opponent Deep Blue entered the ultimate tournament, a 'scientific experiment' in May 1997. In this epic battle of man vs machine, Deep Blue appeared to think like a human, and Kasparov perhaps, was thinking like a machine. This documentary follows the gripping battle where you must always think many moves ahead of your opponent. Who will win

Customer Reviews

Kasparov documentary.
This is an excellent documentary. For anyone curious about how the highest rated chess player in history Garry Kasparov is in real life, this is highly recommended. It won't be very easy viewing for Kasparov fans though because there is forever the air of injustice against him throughout the documentary. Kasparov, and much of the chess world, thought that IBM had cheated in their 1997 match with Deep Blue VS Kasparov. After watching the documentary I could bullet about 20 points that made me suspicious of the Deep Blue team. My personal opinion is that the Deep Blue team did cheat, though anyone watching the film will have to decide for themselves.
The film is very nicely shot and has an uneasy musical score that suits the atmosphere of the film. There are interviews with many employees of IBM - such as the man who designed the chess chip used in Deep Blue - with chess players such as Yasser Seirawan, with friends of the chess community such as Fred Friedel, and of course Kasparov is interviewed throughout the film, so all this makes for a highly entertaining documentary for chess fans.
In addition to the film itself, this DVD comes with Fritz 6. This is an excellent addition to the DVD and really makes it a double package, half film/half chess engine. The only problem I have had with Fritz 6 is that when using the Fritz server to play online I had forgotten my password and the for password retrieval there is a command button specifically for this purpose, and it simply does not work, meaning I cannot play online with a real username and have to be a guest if I use that server. But Fritz 6 is a great chess engine to have with loads of features and is excellent for analysing games.

Chess as mental torture
Garry Kasparov is generally regarded as the greatest chess player of all time and this excellent film examines his 1997 duel with IBM's purpose-built chess playing machine Deep Blue.

The stress of playing a silicon opponent who doesn't get tired, distracted or upset if it loses weighs heavily on Kasparov. Under the glare of the world's media the film shows how his initial enthusiasm for the contest as a 'scientific experiment' quickly fades when he loses a game and begins to suspect that behind IBM's locked doors Deep Blue is receiving human assistance.

You don't need to know how to play chess to appreciate this study in psychological warfare as IBM deny Kasparov information about the computer and his paranoia about the true nature of his opponent grows. Kasparov once described chess as 'mental torture' and there is no doubt that he experienced just that during the match.

So, were IBM playing by the rules or were they prepared to win at any cost? Watch the film and decide for yourself...

The DVD also features a fully functioning chess program - Fritz 6 - which can be downloaded onto your PC (compatible with Windows 98, 2000 or XP).

excellent insight
Excellent insight into the 1997 computer match with deep blue, not much actual footage of the games, more an insight into how computers evolved playing chess, the ibm company and how gary got into his mind that the match was being played on not a level playing field. The 1996 match was a friendly match , computer science experiment, the 1997 was a deathmatch in which ibm had to win at all coats. They eventually pushed gary over the edge and he lost without a fight in game 6 going down to the computer overall in the match, excellent dvd if you like chess, computer chess or kasparov in general this is a must have. buy it now