Movie chess scenes where the board is set up wrong

by ChessBase
11/5/2012 – "Once you start to look for them, you see chessboards everywhere," writes Arika Okrent in Mental Floss. "In commercials, print ads, TV shows, and movies, chess is a go-to symbol for class, intelligence and the drama of strategic one-upmanship. However, very often the board is set up wrong." Arika has documented eleven famous movies with bad boards. Can you find more?

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It has long been our contention that there is a free-lance chess expert who advises magazines and movie makers when they want to include a chess scene in their production. He ensures that they get the board wrong – with a black square on the bottom right-hand corner. Unlike Arika Okrent we estimate that the incidence is well over 50% and connot be explained by chance or incompetence. There must be someone doing it on purpose, for reasons which elude us. Below are some of the more blatent examples of wrong set-ups – you can see all eleven in Arika's Mental Floss report.


Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)


History of the World: Part I (1981)


Bergman: The Seventh Seal (1957)

Arika Okrent has quoted eleven cases of wrong chessboards in famous films. They are:

  1. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
  2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  3. Hands of a Murderer (1990)
  4. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  5. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde (2003)
  6. The Da Vinci Code (2006)
  7. History of the World: Part I (1981)
  8. What’s New Pussycat (1965)
  9. Blade Runner (1982)
  10. Never Say Never Again (1983)
  11. The Seventh Seal (1957)

We are sure there are more and ask our readers to send in further examples. Please use our feedback form to do so, and make sure to use "Wrong board" in the subject line, to make sure your message is not missed.

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