The Man vs. The Machine

Mastery at chess has been a proxy measure for human intelligence for centuries. So what did it mean when, in 1997, a computer beat Gary Kasparov, the highest-ranked chess master in history at the time?

The six-game tournament between Kasparov and an IBM computer, Deep Blue, was an international media story. Kasparov had beat Deep Blue the year before, but IBM engineers worked to improve their machine’s game for the rematch. In the end, Kasparov’s narrow loss proved he was only too human, while the triumph of the machine marked not a defeat for humanity, but an advance in what humans can accomplish.

Directed by Hollywood producer Frank Marshall, a part-time Telluride resident, The Man vs. The Machine documents a fascinating milestone in the relentless advance of artificial intelligence.