Dangerous Moves (1984)

Two masters of chess duel each other not only in their game but also in their different ideologies. The veteran Akiva is a Soviet Jew and ferocious Communist, master of his game but also ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Dembo

Writer:

Richard Dembo

Stars:

Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, Liv Ullmann

Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michel Piccoli	...	Akiva Liebskind
Alexandre Arbatt	...	Pavius Fromm
Liv Ullmann	...	Marina Fromm
Leslie Caron	...	Henia Liebskind
Wojciech Pszoniak	...	Le grand maître Felton - l'équipe de Fromm
Jean-Hugues Anglade	...	Miller, l'équipe de Fromm
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Tac-Tac, l'équipe de Liebskind
Hubert Saint-Macary	...	Foldes
Michel Aumont	...	Stepan Ivanovitch Kerossian - l'équipe de Liebskind
Pierre Michaël	...	Yachvili
Serge Avedikian	...	Fadenko
Pierre Vial	...	Anton Heller
Bernhard Wicki	...	Pühl
Jacques Boudet	...	Stuffli
Benoît Régent	...	Barabal

Storyline

Two masters of chess duel each other not only in their game but also in their different ideologies. The veteran Akiva is a Soviet Jew and ferocious Communist, master of his game but also dealing with a declining health while the young and restless genius Pavius has defected to the West to escape from the Communism tentacles. Their differences will be put to test while they're both competing in the World Chess Championship, with a huge prize at stake just as much as the political ideologies behind those characters.

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Plot Keywords:

chess | jew | escape | communism | communist | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

France Liechtenstein Switzerland

Language:

French

Release Date:

24 May 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dangerous Moves

Filming Locations:

Asnières-sur-Oise, Val d'Oise, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

La Cécilia,Michael Arthur Films,Ministère de la Culture

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the events are based on the Anatoli Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi World Chess Championship match in 1978. The actual match pitted Karpov (a Soviet prodigy) vs Korchnoi (who had escaped to the West just a few years prior to the match), and there was no love lost between the sides. The accusations included Karpov's team using a "parapsychologist" (Vladimir P. Zukhar) to sit in the audience and try and unnerve Korchnoi during the matches, and Korchnoi using two members of the Ananda Marga sect who were experts in "transcendental meditation". Other actions included arguments about what anthems and flags could be used, accusations of secret devices hidden in Korchoi's chair that he used during the matches (the chair had to be X-rayed), and accusations that yogurt delivery to Karpov during the games was a form of secret communication. The events are also described in the documentary Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versus Karpov and the Kremlin (2018).

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Goofs

Early in the film, Liebskind describes a move as "Rook to G-10". There is no G-10 on the chessboard; the numbers only go to 8. This error is in the subtitles only and was a mistranslation; the actual line ends with "huit", French for eight.

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Quotes

Pavius Fromm: Check. Check.
Akiva Liebskind: Mate! Mate!
[wins one match]

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Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

User Reviews

A major disappointment!

A well filmed movie of the tense contest for the World Championship between Soviet player Akiva Liebeskind (undoubtedly modeled after International Grandmaster Akiba Rubenstein, a magnificent master of the endgame, originally a rabbinical student in Poland who never quite made it to the World Championship level and declined into mental illness), and Liebeskind's challenger, Grandmaster Pavius Fromm (almost certainly named after "From" of the From's Gambit in chess). Fromm, a Lithuanian political exile from behind the Iron Curtain, is an arrogant dislikeable pawn of the Soviets who have kept his wife prisoner. Virtually unrecognizable are their wives, the once lovely Leslie Caron and Swedish star Liv Ullman who have little more than bit parts.

Personally, as a chessplayer who has been struggling to find the secret of chess for almost 30 years, it was made clear that Grandmasters of chess see farther than us ordinary mortals when Liebeskind analyzes his strategy to win the next game with the final coup by moving a Rook to the square G10! (The chessboard has only 8x8 squares.) Many incidents from the real history of chess are keyed into the script. When analyzing a game with his team, he objects to a player putting a cigarette to his mouth. "But it is not lit!" his friend replies. "Yes," says Liebeskind, "but it is well known that in chess the threat is greater than the execution". A quote right from Emmanuel Lasker, World Champion for 27 years. And this actualy occurred in a top level chess match when a player put an unlit cigar in his mouth, and his opponent protested.

When each player's team brings in a parapsychologist to stare down or even hypnotize his the opponent, there are vigorous protests. Exactly what happened in a match in Baguio City, the Phillipines when World Champion Anatoly Karpov's team brought parapsychologist Dr. Zharkov from Moscow to stare down the challenger, dissident and escapee from the Soviet Union, Viktor Korchnoi. (Korchnoi lost the match.)

In the end, I found the script of this move poorly written, disappointing in the ending, well acted and portraying the world of chess and a World Championship contest reasonably well. One jarring note was the large number and rows of empty seats in the auditorium where the World Championship was being played. In the real world, every seat would have been taken and overflow audiences would have been in auxiliary rooms watching on TV with commentary from other GM's unheard by the players. Did the producers just try to save a few pennies but not hiring enough extras to fill the seats? Hard to understand when clearly this was an expensive and lavish film portrayal of a World Chess Championship.

Almost a good movie. As a long time chessplayer, I am glad I watched it. I cannot recommend it as worthwhile for general audiences.