Chess Movies
by rosie_perera | created - 2 months ago | updated - 2 months ago | PublicNoteworthy movies featuring the game of chess
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1. Queen of Katwe (2016)
PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.
Director: Mira Nair | Stars: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Kabanza
Votes: 18,677 | Gross: $8.81M
2. The Queen's Gambit (2020)
TV-MA | 57 min | Drama
Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.
Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chloe Pirrie, Bill Camp, Marcin Dorocinski
Votes: 552,907
3. Critical Thinking (2020)
Not Rated | 117 min | Drama
The true story of the Miami Jackson High School chess team which was the first inner city team to win the U.S. National Chess Championship.
Director: John Leguizamo | Stars: John Leguizamo, Rachel Bay Jones, Michael Kenneth Williams, Corwin C. Tuggles
Votes: 2,745
4. Pawn Sacrifice (2014)
PG-13 | 115 min | Biography, Drama, History
Set during the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers and his own struggles as he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 49,266 | Gross: $2.44M
5. Brooklyn Castle (2012)
PG | 101 min | Documentary
Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school's champion chess team.
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore | Stars: Je'Daiah Ballantyne, Michelle Ballantyne, Rochelle Ballantyne, Pamela Ballard
Votes: 1,017 | Gross: $0.22M
6. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen
Votes: 42,406 | Gross: $7.27M
7. Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)
TV-14 | 93 min | Documentary, Biography, History
'Bobby Fischer Against the World' is a documentary feature exploring the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer. The drama of Bobby Fischer's career was undeniable, ... See full summary »
Director: Liz Garbus | Stars: Bobby Fischer, David Edmonds, Anthony Saidy, Susan Polgar
Votes: 7,402
8. The Luzhin Defence (2000)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Romance
Two worlds collide when an eccentric genius falls in love with a strong-willed society beauty.
Director: Marleen Gorris | Stars: John Turturro, Emily Watson, Geraldine James, Stuart Wilson
Votes: 4,705 | Gross: $1.05M
9. Fresh (1994)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Death and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.
Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Sean Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, N'Bushe Wright
Votes: 14,584 | Gross: $8.09M
10. Game Over (2003)
PG | 90 min | Documentary
In 1997, chess champion Garry Kasparov goes head-to-head against IBM's computer, Deep Blue, and accuses IBM of cheating its way to victory. Interviews with Kasparov, his manager and members of the Deep Blue team illuminate the controversy.
Director: Vikram Jayanti | Stars: Marc Ghannoum, Joel Benjamin, Michael Greengard, Anatoli Karpov
Votes: 1,395
11. The Dark Horse (2014)
R | 124 min | Biography, Drama
A brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.
Director: James Napier Robertson | Stars: Cliff Curtis, James Rolleston, Kirk Torrance, James Napier Robertson
Votes: 6,584 | Gross: $0.06M
12. The Chess Player (1927)
135 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In 1776, an inventor conceals a Polish nobleman in his chess-playing automaton, a machine whose fame leads it to the court of the Russian empress.
Director: Raymond Bernard | Stars: Pierre Blanchar, Charles Dullin, Édith Jéhanne, Camille Bert
Votes: 339
13. The Chess Players (1977)
Not Rated | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, History
In 1856, two obsessed noblemen ignore everything while playing chess and fail to notice British rule extending into their Indian province.
Director: Satyajit Ray | Stars: Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Farida Jalal
Votes: 4,064
14. The Boy & the Chess Player (2012)
22 min | Short, Drama, Family
Leonard, a shy and troubled young boy raised in a Antisemitic family in New York, meets a mysterious old chess player in a park, who will teach him a great lesson.
Director: Jordan Goldnadel | Stars: Micheal Deacutis, Lew Gardner, Kelley J. Jackson, Tom Martin
Votes: 10
15. The Chessplayer (2017)
98 min | Drama, History, War
Leaping from Spain's civil war to German occupied France, this period drama follows a chess master who is falsely accused of being a spy and sent to an SS prison in Paris.
Director: Luis Oliveros | Stars: Marc Clotet, Melina Matthews, Alejo Sauras, Lionel Auguste
Votes: 873
16. Knights of the South Bronx (2005 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 89 min | Drama
A business man decides that he wants to teach school in the inner city and chooses a tough school in the South Bronx. He teaches the children how to play the game of chess, and along the way they learn a lot about life.
Director: Allen Hughes | Stars: Ted Danson, Malcolm David Kelley, Brian Markinson, Kate Vernon
Votes: 1,117
17. A Little Game (2014)
PG | 92 min | Adventure, Family
A young girl finding her way around the city and her own life through chess lessons. This is also about being open to all the clues about your life and your options that surround you everyday.
Director: Evan Oppenheimer | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Ralph Macchio, Olympia Dukakis, Janeane Garofalo
Votes: 791
18. The Coldest Game (2019)
TV-MA | 102 min | History, Sport, Thriller
During 1962's Cuban missile crisis, a troubled math genius finds himself drafted to play in a U.S.-Soviet chess match -- and a deadly game of espionage.
Director: Lukasz Kosmicki | Stars: Bill Pullman, Lotte Verbeek, James Bloor, Robert Wieckiewicz
Votes: 12,546
19. Magnus (2016)
78 min | Documentary
Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess prodigy, becomes a grandmaster at age 13 and world champion in 2013.
Director: Benjamin Ree | Stars: Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand
Votes: 2,648 | Gross: $0.01M
20. Queen to Play (2009)
Unrated | 101 min | Drama
A chambermaid on Corsica is obsessed with chess after seeing a US expat play it lovingly with l'Américaine. She cleans his house and now also plays with him on Tuesdays.
Director: Caroline Bottaro | Stars: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals
Votes: 3,190 | Gross: $0.48M
21. Life of a King (2013)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama
Ex-felon, Eugene Brown, establishes a Chess Club for inner city teenagers in Washington, D.C.
Director: Jake Goldberger | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Dennis Haysbert, George Dick, Thurston Hill III
Votes: 7,630 | Gross: $0.01M
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