New York, May 1997: After winning the first round, world chess champion Garry Kasparov faces for the second time the powerful Deep Blue computer designed by the American company IBM. This time, computer scientists deployed greater resources to improve the performance of the “beast.”
Measuring 1.80 meters tall and weighing about one and a half tons, this type of supercomputer (partly developed by former chess grandmasters) can predict approximately three hundred million positions per second. At the dawn of the technological upheavals of our time, Deep Blue served as a kind of precursor, whose presence takes on a very different resonance today.
The grand prize of the Séries Mania festival last March, rematch It traces the intense weeks leading up to the meeting, through to its conclusion. A six-round fight with each side then preparing for a kind of doomsday. Because here we are talking about the emergence of artificial intelligence and what its development can (already) generate. With all the illusions that go with it: “Can machines be better and smarter than humans? These are the questions everyone was asking themselves back then.”says Jan England, creator of the series. At the time, Newsweek went so far as to name the Russian strategist “The last stronghold of humanity.” As if defeat on his part could symbolically open the door to a world finisher…
We get into the ring to fight
The idea to tell this very special story began to emerge more than seven years ago in the minds of Quebec screenwriter Yann England and French producer Bruno Nahon. a little “blind” At first, without knowing whether this type of topic would be able to attract viewers. “success queen game, “On Netflix, it doesn’t exist yet, and the world of chess is very special.” Yan England continues. Rematch's strength lies precisely in successfully treating this moment in history as a psychological thriller rather than a simple game of chess, important as it is. The series sometimes feels tense and tense in its production, as it follows the daily lives of two boxers preparing to enter the ring for a fight.
Between phases of surveillance, intimidation, or even repeated deception, Kasparov and the Deep Blue engineers oppose each other vehemently throughout the six episodes. With the chess champion played by Christian Cooke, unknown to us, but particularly adept at the exercise. “He was particularly selected for his intense gaze and tremendous energy. He then worked extensively with professional players to perfect these very specific gestures and stances. Jan England confirms.
Dark, haunted, almost consumed by his passion like the greatest strategist of all time, the British actor manages to give extraordinary depth to the character. While waiting for the showdown, the Russian prodigy does push-ups in his room, talks to his mother who is standing next to him, and argues with his agent, who he doesn't really like. But everything happens above all in his looks and silence, especially when the match begins.
The faithful attitudes of the real hero were made possible thanks to the enormous documentation and investigative work carried out by the production, which in particular interviewed many people close to the legend. “But not Garry Kasparov himself, because we wanted to maintain some form of creative freedom,” the screenwriter explains. » Because part of the story is fictional.
The characters and many of the stories didn't really exist. On the other hand, on the other hand, there was radio silence on the part of IBM: despite repeated requests from the screenwriters, the American company did not actually want to cooperate in the project. Too bad, because it's probably a weakness rematch : The scenes involving Deep Blue's designers are slippery and sometimes lack interest. We would like to know more about “bowels” This XXL computer is from another time, but it inspired the AI that's making headlines today.
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