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“Computer Chess” is a 2013 film by Andrew Bujalski, and winner of the prestigious Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
While this thought provoking comedy is set in the early ‘80s, one gets the feeling that the programmers are about a decade behind the times in terms of their methodology, expectations and level of experience. That said, aside from the clichéd nerdy programmers with Coke-bottle eyeglasses, the film is replete with twists, turns, and unexpected situations.
It’s great to hear that I’m not the only one that enjoyed this contemporary gem, Greg. Computer dating was already being implemented by many high-priced matching organizations in the mid ‘70s. One of the chess teachers from my JHS chess club actually found his wife, and through her, his job as a part time chess teacher in our school, through this service. It really paid off for him in a big way, as a matter of fact.
I thought that the TM convention at the hotel in the film was an excellent balancing treatment for all the tension of competitive chess.
I picked up the DVD on ebay last summer, but only recently got around to watching it.
Finally a film for us thinking folks regards,
John
Thanks for your input just the same, McLane. The film really doesn’t stand up to Star Trek’s The Gamesters Of Triskelion or The Prisoner’s Checkmate in terms of excitement, though I’m hard pressed to come up with a non-documentary film with computer chess as its central theme.
Two that came close are “Colossus: The Forbin Project” and “Wargames” – both worth checking out for anyone that hasn’t seen these films.
Cyberchess wrote:One of the chess teachers from my JHS chess club actually found his wife, and through her, his job as a part time chess teacher in our school, through this service.
John
Interesting. Do you remember the name of the service?
Cyberchess wrote:One of the chess teachers from my JHS chess club actually found his wife, and through her, his job as a part time chess teacher in our school, through this service.
John
Interesting. Do you remember the name of the service?
Greg,
Being that this was so long ago, I’m really not sure of the service, though Together was frequently advertised at the time. Looking them up on the internet (they’re still in business after all these years), I learned that they started in 1974. This would make them a likely candidate, since he began teaching chess in ’75. One thing that I distinctly recall is that the results of the candidate’s questionnaires were fed into a computer, which then drew up a list of potentially suitable candidates. This method had apparently spawned far more successful relationships than purely random matching based on age, education level, income, etc.
Indeed they were. I surmise that they were renting mainframe time with which to run their matching program. This program would surely take into account the simple fact that chess players mate better – LOL!
In their founding year, 1974, Canada’s Ribbit won the 5th ACM North American Computer Chess Tournament held in San Diego, CA. The cross table, some commentary from Duchess programmer, Thomas Truscott, and a sample game with Belle can be found HERE. The victory of a mere “mini” over a mainframe was attributed to the superiority of the Unix operating system.
Finally a film for us thinking folks regards,
Indeed they were. I surmise that they were renting mainframe time with which to run their matching program. This program would surely take into account the simple fact that chess players mate better – LOL!