In 'Game Over' director Vikram Javanti documents the events leading to the man generally regarded as the greatest chess player who ever lived, Garry Kasparov, being defeated in a six game chess match against IBM's Deep Blue super-computer in 1997. A result that shook the chess world's view of computer intelligence as much as it shook Kasparov himself.
To this day Kasparov is convinced that underhand tactics were in play as IBM launched their win-at-all-costs onslaught to protect their share value, and in the process destroy the grand master.
Theories ranging from human intervention, spying and bugging to withholding and destroying of evidence are all thrown at the giant corporation, and although the viewer is left to come to their own conclusions it would appear that all IBM really won was a psychological game to distract and confuse the human opponent.
The film charts Kasparov's early career, from his defeat of the then world champion Anatoly Karpov in 1984 up until his loss to Karpov in 2002. It also talks to the team behind Deep Blue, all of whom are likeable and in some cases quite funny, so it is difficult to demonise them in the way Kasparov would have you do.
In all, the film is fascinating, dramatic, enjoyable and funny. The bickering between Kasparov and the Deep Blue engineers in the post game press conferences are particularly sharp witted. No understanding of either the game or the computing involved is necessary as this is a human story. The story of the struggle to build an intelligent machine and one mans attempt to prove than the human brain is still superior to it. In the end the question is still open but Deep Blue has at least proven true artificial intelligence is a realistic possibility.
For further information see the Wikipedia Kasparov entry as a great starting point.
Posted by Dan, 14.04.04.