Mission: Impossible (TV Series) A Game of Chess (1968) User Reviews

A good episode with one flaw...though I doubt if folks at the time noticed.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 May 2014]

flaw--having a computer beat a grand master is most likely possible but he COULD win

A chess grandmaster also has some larceny on his mind, as he's planning on stealing funds in a bank vault that belong to an opposition movement in his Communist Bloc nation. So, the plan is to use a computer to feed Rollin the chess moves in order to make him unbeatable and get the attention of this grandmaster. Then, using the computer, they'll help him rob the vault. Naturally, the IM Force doesn't intend to really help him!

The big problem about this episode is that the writer assumed that you could make a computer that could ALWAYS win the chess match. However, in highly publicized matches years later, Garry Kasparov played a computer and managed to win...at least some of the matches. So, the best computers of the 1980s and 90s, still could not guarantee wins against humans. In fact, when Kasparov did lose matches, the did split several of the games making up the match. However, considering that folks in the 1960s didn't know this and thought computers were magic, this is mostly a problem for folks today watching reruns.

Overall, a decent and involving episode.

PLAYING CHESS WHILE STEALING GOLD!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 3 March 2024]

This has to be the textbook definition of "poetic license" for any M. I. episode, but still a whole lot of fun. Written by Richard M. Sakal, who only wrote two episodes for the series, and it's a shame, because he could write a tale.

Dedicated to chess players or those of us who just love to watch the game, and what a superior match this is.

Don Francks is perfect in the role of a very greedy gentleman named Nicholas, billed as the greatest chess player of all time -- also a master criminal.

Between games, he's planning a major gold heist, which has been transferred to the hotel where he's staying at and where the chess match is being held.

Naturally, to beat him at his own game, enter rival chess champ Rollin, who challenges Nicholas with the help of a "secret" revolutionary computer of computers. Upstairs, all purpose Barney is working the controls. You have to love this, and the intricate plan to follow.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE fiction at its best. We kids were addicted to it.

Yes, I agree with the last reviewer 100-percent. Chess players, in later years, have taken on computers and have won. This episode truly may have inspired further computer research in the late 60s, at least the challenge was there. It also reminds me of the famous episode where the team worked an amazing money making machine; these dream machines were what made the show so fascinating.

Credit also due to technical supervisor John "Jonnie" Burke, who handled the special effects for the series for years, also for MANNIX. He was behind the revolutionary inventions, triggering the blinking lights and interesting sounds. My vote still goes to the mini mini tape recorder that self destructs in a cloud of smoke. What an idea!

Skillfully directed by actor Alf Kjellin, who headed such shows as the MAN FROM UNCLE and HAWAII FIVE O.

Don Francks is something to marvel, the arrogant guy you love to hate, and waiting for him to get it. Francks was a popular dramatic movie and tv actor, a career spanning decades. At the time he co-starred in FINIAN'S RAINBOW.

See this for the acting, Martin Landau and Francks make sensational opponents. SEASON 2 EPISODE 17 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 7 dvds 2007 release.

A good episode with a chess theme

[ChristianSanchez · 6/10 · 17 August 2023]

The focal point of this episode revolves around a remarkable chess computer with the ability to outplay even the most skilled masters. While this concept was science fiction in 1968, it has undeniably become a reality in our modern times. It appears that the preceding review fails to grasp the authenticity of these developments.

The chess matches portrayed in the episode are depicted with meticulous attention to detail, resulting in a high level of realism. However, it's important to note that the same level of authenticity might not extend to the portrayal of the actors' amateurish behaviors.

As for the remainder of the plot, it predominantly delves into the realm of familiar devices of the series. It's worth mentioning that this portion of the storyline could potentially benefit from an increased sense of suspense to enhance its impact.

Messily complicated!

[s_sather · 4/10 · 4 March 2024]

Just an overly complicated plot devised by the writers of Mission: Impossible.

Apparently, the IMF has some kind of device that can cause a safe's time lock to run fast, which will allow them to recover stolen gold. Why complicate things by introducing a chess grandmaster who also wants to steal the gold? The chess adversary aspect was entirely superfluous, except for the fact that the grandmasters minions had surreptitiously ascertained the safe's combination, a simple task that could have easily been accomplished by the IMF. Why not just have the IMF obtain the combination themselves, knock out everyone in the hotel with gas or something, then use their device to advance the time lock and recover the gold, without anyone being the wiser? I think one could write a captivating Mission: Impossible episode along that simplified scheme.

Aside from the ridiculous idea that the IMF somehow knows beforehand that stolen gold will be transported to and secured in a particular soft target - a hotel safe rather than a bank vault - the story is further complicated by having a crooked chess grandmaster who also sees an opportunity to steal the gold from the hotel safe - which the IMF also knows beforehand.

Now the IMF needs a chess computer that "can't be beaten," use it help an unknown chess player defeat the grandmaster in a competition at the hotel, making the grandmaster suspicious so that he'll come to the IMF chess player's hotel room and "discover" the computer. Then, while demonstrating the computer, just casually mention to him (falsely) that it "messes with watches," causing them to run fast. Coincidentally, the hotel is installing a time lock on their safe to make it more secure before the gold arrives. So now the chess master realizes that he can team up with IMF and their "chess computer" in order to steal the gold because he wasn't counting on a time lock on the hotel safe. Again, somehow the IMF knew beforehand that the hotel would be installing a time lock that would cause the chess master to need to work with the IMF.

In summary, in this episode we learn that the IMF: has foreign intelligence to ascertain exactly how stolen gold will be transported, has a device that can make a safe's time lock run fast, has a computer chess program that can't be beaten, and can temporarily disable everyone in a hotel, yet they can't figure out the easiest piece of the mission - how to obtain a safe's combination - which is shown to be simple, yet acquiring that combination is the sole reason for including the chess grandmaster subplot.