Chess in film and television

[Nigel Hanrahan]

The CBC's "The Current" had half an hour relating to chess yesterday. GM Ashley was interviewed and the topic was ... Forget the treadmill: An intense game of chess can burn hundreds of calories, research suggests

[Erik Malmsten]

Chess in Franklin the Turtle cartoon (2006):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0G7mj-xA7k

The book:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...as-the-hiccups

[Nigel Hanrahan]

OK, this one is a stage play but belongs here anyway, I think.

Chess: The Musical (Capitol Theatre, Nelson BC) October 17-19, 2019

The Amy Ferguson Institute is pleased to present CHESS on the Capitol Theatre stage, in collaboration with Black Productions and Forstmedia!

The most popular fictional portrayal of chess ever created! Set during back-to-back World Championships, CHESS is the story of a love triangle between two grandmasters – one American, one Russian – and the wormen’s champion who serves as a manager to one of the players but falls in love with the other.

Led by the worldwide hit album, the beauty of ABBA’s Benny & Bjorn’s catchy songs and epic orchestration uplifts this captivating tale of love, politics and gamesmanship! CHESS is directed by Lisel Forst (Grease, Chicago, The Marriage of Figaro), with musical direction by Robyn Lamb (Into The Woods, Mamma Mia!) and choreographed by Mackenzie Hope (Cabaret, Rock of Ages, Mamma Mia!).

Recommended age: 11+. There is a small amount of strong language.

Tickets are $26 for Adults and $21 for Students.

[Alex Starks]

One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head - Song from the Chess musical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgc_LRjlbTU


Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world
In a show with everything but Yul Brynner

Time flies doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
Or this place!

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother

It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city

Whaddya mean?
Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town

Tea, girls, warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite

Get thai'd, you're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha

And thank God I'm only watching the game controlling it

I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you

So you better go back to your bars, your temples
Your massage parlours

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

[Aris Marghetis]

Cool memories! I still have the original CD of the British run, such amusing lyrics!

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Fahim the Little Chess Prince

Plot synopsis: Forced to flee his native Bangladesh, eight year-old chess prodigy Fahim arrives in Paris with his father. Refused asylum, as illegal immigrants they spiral downwards into homelessness and desperation.
By a stroke of luck, Fahim is introduced to one of France’s top chess coaches, Sylvain (real name: Xavier Parmentier), who tutors him and gives him a sense of purpose - his struggles on the chessboard mirroring both his victories and his crushing defeats in his battle for a normal life.
Fahim then rises through local and national tournaments only to be crowned France’s Under-12 Chess Champion in 2012.
The film tells the story of a child who learns to live without his mother and without his father, far from home, from his roots and his language. Fahim’s tale is not only a moving account of the grim realities that underlie a supposedly caring society, but also a heartwarming testimony to a father’s determination, the kindness of strangers, and one small boy’s courageous will to succeed.

Directed by : Pierre François Martin-Laval
Produced by : Waiting for Cinéma
Genre: Fiction - Runtime: 1 h 47 min
French release: 16/10/2019
Production year: 2019

Directed by De Pierre-François Martin-Laval
Starring Assad Ahmed, Gérard Depardieu, Isabelle Nanty

Gérard Depardieu plays the grumpy, old coach - the late French FM Xavier Parmentier(1963-2016)

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Masha and the Bear

Stephen Wright notes that the original Russian-language version is also on YouTube.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Fahim the Little Chess Prince

Any idea if it is available in English or at least with English subtitles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Fahim_(film)
does not list any English speaking country where it was released.

[Erik Malmsten]

Fahim is playing in New York's Children film festival this month, so I expect it will get a release in North American theaters this year.

[Erik Malmsten]

http://cyberspaceandtime.com/GSc-416bz9o.video+related

Also, if you have Netflix, this month they released The Queen's Gambit, based on the novel of a rise of a 1960ish US women master. A 6-part miniseries that filmed several outside shots in Southern Ontario. But all the chess tournament scenes were filmed in Europe.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Thanks Eric. I have provided a link to this thread over at chess.com so we may get some visitors, comments, etc.

[Erik Malmsten]

Men in Black: International with Chris Helmsworth has a major character who is a chess piece! Pawny is voiced by Kumail Nanjiani. (Does that mean chess came from another galaxy?) Pawny was a loyal servant of the Queen. It was a fun, silly movie.

Slaughterhouse Rulez, is a comedy-horror film with Simon Pegg and Margot Robbie. There are a couple of scenes with chess sets and a demo board in the boarding school. One of the students is supposedly a strong player in an online international tournament, but the camera skips away from showing a chess position. And in the dramatic escape from the monsters, her chess advice is not really a chess strategy. A missed opportunity to give some strength to a minor character. The film had odd characters but not much to laugh at.

[Erik Malmsten]

I watched a strange Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch (2021) on Crave TV.

In the middle story, the"Chessboard Revolution," the protesting French student leader plays a game of chess with the riot police commissioner, moves delivered through the lines. Except each group's board only has their own pieces. Was it a game of Kriespiel? I don't think the demo board has the same position as on the students' board. Anyways the story was more about the love between the student leader (Timothée Chalamet) and a journalist (Frances McDormand), a character loosely based on writer Mavis Gallant from Montreal. Has there been any reviews of this film on chess sites?

[Fred Henderson]

A plug for my nephew. A different sort of chess video. The King's African Defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zEv...Zz6VTr3htlIWg0

[Erik Malmsten]

A plug for my nephew. A different sort of chess video. The King's African Defence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zEv...Zz6VTr3htlIWg0

That was a good game to practice blindfold analysis.

Here's a video by Toronto high school students in 1973 that was nominated for an Oscar. There is a short chess cartoon in it.

https://rarefilmm.com/2019/10/life-times-nine-1973/