5 Hollywood movies to watch if you love chess
Beyond the 64 squares and 32 pieces of the chess board lies intriguing strategies and intense psychological battles that have fascinated the world for ages now. Here are some Hollywood films that have portrayed the intellect and complexities of minds of the Kings and Queens, the chess masters, who won at the game and life, and the ones who found peace through it.
'Queen of Katwe' (2016)
Directed by Mira Nair, Queen of Katwe is a biographical sports drama film depicting the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl living in the slums of Katwe who learns chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master after winning the World Chess Olympiads. Nair described the film as "a radical film for Disney in many ways...It has beauty and barbarity side-by-side."
'Pawn Sacrifice' (2014)
Pawn Sacrifice is yet another biographical sports drama film that tells the story of chess grandmaster and 11th world champion Bobby Fischer. Starring Tobey Maguire, the film is set during the Cold War when Fischer is caught in a dilemma amid top Soviet chess grandmasters. It concludes with a match against Boris Spassky at the World Chess Championship 1972 match in Reykjavík, Iceland.
'Knights of the South Bronx' (2005)
Starring Ted Danson, Knights of the South Bronx is also a true story but not based on a world-known chess champion. It is based on a businessman who decided to teach students at a tough South Bronx elementary school. He taught them chess to win at the New York City and the State Chess Championships and learned life lessons in the process.
'The Luzhin Defence' (2000)
Directed by Marleen Gorris, the romantic drama film The Luzhin Defence stars John Turturro and Emily Watson. Based on the novel The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov, the film, set in the early 1920s, narrates the love story between a chess grandmaster with mental health issues and a young beautiful woman he met at a world-class tournament.
'Searching for Bobby Fischer' (1993)
The 1993 American film Searching for Bobby Fischer, released as Innocent Moves in the UK, stars Max Pomeranc as the prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin. Adapted from the book of the same name by Waitzkin's father, the Oscar-nominated film follows the life of Waitzkin since his prepubescent age when he was encouraged to prepare himself to become a world champion like Fischer.
