The series ‘Gambit de Dama’ (‘Queen’s Gambit’, 2020) together two great universal and elevated passions in a single audiovisual product, one is Anya Taylor-Joy, the other the game of chess. The host of this game is Netflix and this has made it one of the most talked about series in recent years, creating an unusual interest in the time that it is set and in chess itself.
Therefore, we recover a list of 13 films, series and documentaries that have chess as one of their main themes, if not the main one, from biographies of great geniuses to series with games or criminal thrillers in which the board and the pieces are only a central ingredient, but not a definitive one.
Chess Fever (1925)
This Soviet classic is a silent film, but it is equally of great interest to chess scholars as it follows a man obsessed with gambling to such an extent that he threatens to end his marriage. Then, while spending time at the 1925 Moscow chess tournament, he enlists the help of World Champion José Raúl Capablanca, who saves the happy couple. Many other chess greats were at the tournament and can be seen during the film, including Emanuel Lasker, Frank Marshall, and Richard Reti.
The Master Game (1976-1983)
‘The Master Game’ was a BBC production of actual televised chess tournaments that ran over seven seasons on BBC2 from 1976 to 1983. It was hosted by Jeremy james, which gave way to the games on a board visualized with animated figures and accompanied by two boxes with the players reflecting, while the voice-over had an expert analysis of Leonard barden and later on, Bill Hartston.
The Grass Arena (1992)
Biopic based on the autobiography of John healy. Raised in an ultra-religious family with an abusive father, young Johnny soon discovers that he has to learn to defend himself. He started boxing, but fell victim to alcoholism. After finishing his career in the ring, John goes to the Grass Arena (the park) where he lives with other alcoholics and there everything gets worse, until he learns to play chess, which saves his life, and in just 11 years he managed to draw him. none other than Kasparov. Mark Rylance has a tailor-made role here, which places the film among the most interesting on the list.
Check the Killer (Knight Moves 1992)
Directed by Carl Schenkel and written by Brad mirman, ‘Check the Killer’ is about a chess grandmaster who is accused of several grisly murders. It’s basically a thriller / suspense movie that uses chess only as a tool to set the background for its whodunit twists, though certain aesthetic aspects and some deaths make it giallo-like.
In Search of Bobby Fischer (Searching for Bobby Fischer, 1993)
Josh (Max Pomeranc) is a normal kid, but also a chess prodigy and his passion for the game leads him to want to become a new Bobby Fischer, his idol. His father (Joe Mantegna), a sports journalist supports his ambition and wants his son to become a future teacher, for which he assigns him a very cool coach, Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley), who teaches him Fischer’s strategies in this movie made by Steven Zaillian which is a kind of ‘Whiplash’ (2014) taken to a mental playing field.
Fresh (1994)
A 12-year-old boy with the nickname “Fresh” sells gangster drugs without any brighter plans for the future. When you learn to play chess, the game changes your life. Written and directed by Boaz yakin, this little film was the typical independent film hit of the 90s that has been lost over time despite its fairly modern motivational story, the structure of which keeps repeating itself, as we will see in some more title. Of course, no other has to Samuel L. Jackson as a mentor.
The Luzhin Defense (The Luzhin Defense, 2000)
Based on the book ‘The Defense’ by the author Vladimir Nabokov, ‘The Luzhin Defense’ is about a talented chess player named Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, played by actor John Turturro, who travels to Italy to compete in a prestigious tournament where he also meets and falls in love with Natalia Katkov. Turturro’s cerebral performance completes some good chess game scenes and Emily watson completely convinces the viewer why Luz would fall in love with her.
Game Over: Kasparov And The Machine (2003)
The game between master Garry Kasparov (who lost) and the artificial intelligence Deep Blue captured the public’s attention in a way that few other chess games have. In this documentary, viewers look back on what happened and see the perspective of Kasparov and his team, as well as the Deep Blue team. Documentary circulates on Kasparov’s hypothesis that IBM cheated during the competition by providing human assistance at critical moments.
Brooklyn Castle (2012)
Directed by Katie dellamaggio, this documentary tells the stories of five members of a chess team at “318,” a school in downtown Brooklyn where more than 65% of students come from households below the poverty line, and with the best chess team in the state, which has won more national championships than any other in the United States. A whole manifesto on the importance of the environment, the lack of opportunities and sport as a way out of the barriers imposed by class and economic level.
The Fischer case (Pawn Sacrifice, 2014)
When the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union raged, chess was no exception and ‘The Fisher Affair’ shows the true story of Bobby Fischer and his challenge against Boris Spassky during the 1972 World Chess Championship. An effective American biographical drama directed by Edward zwick and written by Steven knight in which Tobey Maguire plays the mythical player and Liev Schreiber to Spassky. For those most interested in the figure of the great Fisher, the documentary ‘Bobby Fischer Against the World‘gives a broader view of his turbulent life.
The Queen of Katwe (Queen of Katwe, 2016)
Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo star in this correct biographical drama about a Ugandan girl named Phiona Mutesi whose life changed dramatically after learning to play chess and become one of the best players after winning competition after competition, managing to redefine his life in a real and more dramatic version of what ‘Fresh’ told.
Magnus (2016)
Magnus carlsen He is currently the highest ranked chess grandmaster in the world. This fascinating documentary on the rise to fame of the prodigy serves to take the pulse of the current situation of the sport and to delve into the personality of Magnus, who turned professional at 13 years old and won the world chess championship in 2013 at the age of 22. The entire early life of the Norwegian grandmaster is documented as he rises through the ranks of international chess to become one of the greatest of all time.
The coldest game (The Coldest Game, 2019)
The most recent chess movie on the list is also from Netflix, another cold war thriller in which the skill of the game on the chessboard serves as an important metaphor for war strategy. In it, Joshua Mansky, an alcoholic math teacher, is recruited by the United States government to play a game of chess against a Soviet opponent, while a parallel plot involves Russian spies and an escalation of the conflict with military intervention. If you like Bill Pullman making suspicious faces like in ‘The Sinner’, it’s your movie.