ARTE, (Association relative à la télévision européenne – Association relating to European television) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It's a joint venture between France and Germany, offering a wide range of programs focused on arts, culture, history, and documentary films. 

Rematch

In 1997, the IT giant IBM challenged the world chess champion Garry Kasparov to a rematch against the supercomputer Deep Blue. Garry had won a match against Deep Blue a year earlier, but the computer had been improved, and the grudge rematch could begin.

Now Arte has made and released a six-part dramatic movie on the epic match. It will be broadcast on the 17th of October, but you can watch the entire series now (until the 23rd of November) on the Arte Internet web site. 

This film re-enactment of the historical struggle is almost five hours in length. Links to the individual parts are below the video.

The film plays in German or French by default, but you can switch the audio to English!

Click on the language choice at the bottom right of the video and select "English"

We have discovered that it is not possible to replay the film from the ARTE site in different countries. But there is an easy solution: you can watch it all, in full quality, on YouTube!

On this YouTube index page you will find all six parts, as well as trailers

On a personal note

As I write this report, I must confess that I have so far only watched parts one to three of the series. I will certainly watch the remaining three as soon as I can – and may post a second report when I have done so.

The first three parts are quite gripping. For me, watching them was a unique experience. I was part of Garry's team in Philadelphia and New Your, and present at almost every minute of scenes depicted in the movie. It was sometimes jarring to see how many scenes were not quite accurate – but on the other hand, I realize that the narrative was often changed for dramatic effect. That is good. This is not a historical documentation on what exactly transpired during the Kasparov-Deep Blue encounters. It is a film that, like Queen's Gambit, is intended to appeal to a lay audience.

Here are a few examples of the film deviating from reality:

The games in New York were not played in front of a large audience in a theatre. They were played in a private room in the Equitable Center in Manhattan – without public. There were only a few seats for VIP guests and the Kasparov team. Some floors below was a giant auditorium, completely filled with spectators – with multiple grandmasters commenting on the moves.

In the movie, Garry is show staying in a hotel that is definitely not the Plaza, where we were actually housed. And he is supposed to have a bank of computers in his room to analyse games. In reality, we had a special suite in which Garry and his second Jury Dokhian worked, usually with one, sometimes two notebooks on the table.

I also had some problems identifying characters in the movie. They had different names from the actual persons involved in the match. For instance, I tried to figure out who "Paul", the strong player working on the Deep Blue team, was supposed to be. I think he depicts Joel Benjamin. I was somewhat surprised that they renamed the main Deep Blue developer "PC". That was of course Feng-hsiung Hsu, whom everyone called CB (or Crazy Bird).

Garry's manager in the movie is Roger Laver, in reality Owen Williams, who was a completely different personality. But I suppose Laver brings greater drama to the movie.

Finally, Christian Cooke actually begins to look a little like Garry Kasparov as the film progresses, and his imitation of Garry's accent slowly grows on you.

Master Class Vol.7: Garry Kasparov

On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.

How I became World Champion Vol.1 1973-1985

Garry Kasparov's rise to the top was meteoric and at his very first attempt he managed to become World Champion, the youngest of all time. In over six hours of video, he gives a first hand account of crucial events from recent chess history, you can improve your chess understanding and enjoy explanations and comments from a unique and outstanding personality on and off the chess board.

How to play the Najdorf

Between 2004 and 2007 the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov recorded a large 3-volume Najdorf video course. ChessBase is publishing this great classic in a complete edition in the current ChessBase Media format. Look forward to this classic of chess!