Rematch review: Man vs machine gets a stylish, unsettling upgrade

We live in a world where artificial intelligence can write symphonies, pass medical exams, and yes, obliterate even the greatest human chess minds without breaking a virtual sweat. But before ChatGPTs and AlphaZeros, there was one machine that changed everything. Its name? Deep Blue. Its target? Garry Kasparov.

As we are already into 2025, that iconic standoff returns not through a documentary or fact-driven biopic but through a stylized psychological thriller entitled Rematch. Imagine a blend of The Queen’s Gambit and The Social Network, drenched in a noir aesthetic and heavy doses of existential doom. It’s captivating, undeniably. But it raises a deeply troubling question: if the past is already filled with drama, why do we seek to add fiction?

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What happens when a true story gets a rewrite?

Let’s get something out of the way—Rematch is not a history lesson. It’s a thought experiment dressed up as prestige television. Directed by Yan England, the show pulls you into the mind of Kasparov (played with brooding intensity by Christian Cooke) as he spirals through paranoia, pressure, and the slow erosion of his invincibility. The chessboard is just the backdrop; the drama unfolds in whispered suspicions, late-night strategy sessions, and cold boardroom decisions.

In the series, IBM isn’t just a tech company—it’s a shadowy monolith. And its fictional VP, Helen Brock (Sarah Bolger), is the human face of its ambition. She’s also the show’s most obvious invention. Like much of the series, she exists not because history demands it, but because narrative needs someone to stir the pot.

And stir she does. The rematch is greenlit, the cameras roll, the psychological warfare begins—and as Kasparov starts losing control, the audience is left wondering: is he playing against a machine... or a machine aided by men?

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Fact, fiction, and the fog in between

What makes Rematch both fascinating and frustrating is how deftly it blends reality with fiction. Yes, Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in 1997. Yes, he was unsettled by a bizarre move in Game 2. And yes, IBM refused him a rematch and disassembled the machine after its victory.

Beyond those broad strokes, Rematch invents freely—characters, scenes, and motives. It paints Kasparov as a near-tragic figure, a Shakespearean hero outwitted not just by technology, but by the limits of human understanding. It works on the screen. Emotionally, even. But if you followed the match in real time—or are part of the chess world—you’ll notice the corners it cuts.

Reviewing the show for Remote Chess Academy, Grandmaster Igor Smirnov puts it bluntly: the story the series tells isn’t exactly wrong. But it’s not quite right, either. Kasparov wasn’t a technophobe. In fact, he championed computer-assisted chess long before most of the world cared. The real man saw technology as a tool, not a threat. That nuance? Gone.

But here’s the kicker: even when it veers from fact, the miniseries still feels honest in a strange, cinematic way. Because this isn’t just about one match in 1997. It’s about what happens when we look across the table and realize we might no longer be the smartest ones in the room.

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More than a Chess match. Maybe too much.

Rematch doesn’t want you to care about chess positions. It wants you to care about legacy, hubris, and fear. It wants you to understand that this wasn’t just a battle of algorithms and openings—it was a reckoning - the moment humanity realized we might be writing the script of our own obsolescence.

But in doing so, the series occasionally trips over its own ambition, the pacing wobbles, the fictional threads sometimes tug too hard, and there’s a lingering sense that Kasparov has been made more tortured than he needed to be.

Still, even with its dramatized arcs and invented characters, this series hits a nerve. Because in 2025, we’re all Kasparov - watching as machines learn faster, work longer, and maybe—just maybe—understand more than we think they should.

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Final move: Watch it—but keep a search tab open

I'll have to give this miniseries a 9/10⭐

Here’s the truth: Rematch is gripping. It’s moody. It’s immaculately acted and beautifully shot. It will pull you into a world where every move feels like a crisis, victory is never clean, and defeat feels almost preordained.

But it’s also a reminder that in the age of AI, even our history is being reimagined. So watch this miniseries for the story, but search for the facts, too. In this game, knowing the difference between reality and drama might be the most important move of all.