7/27/2022 – By now it is almost impossible to not have heard the tragic tale of the 7-year-old boy whose finger was broken during an exhibition by a chess playing robot. It was certainly the least likely incident one would have imagined, but Murphy's Law was in full swing that day. Still, the history of robots and chess has been ongoing for over 250 years now, with robot chess players today in the homes of proud owners.

9/24/2020 – Chess players have had to change their routine in light of the Coronavirus, with online tournaments and practice from home. Not the same as physical, over the board encounters. There are differing ways of adapting to the changes, but chess players will always find a way. We should all remember that no matter how hard it may seem, The Dark Knight always rises. Here's some movie-themed advice from a very experienced player.

7/25/2020 – The movies we are about to show in this quiz are crystal clear. Perhaps, because all of them have a chess scene with a chess set made of glass! Unfortunately, we had to cheat a bit and one of the scenes is from a film presented in one of our last quizzes. Nonetheless, this might be the hardest film quiz so far.

6/6/2020 – We would like to invite you to another movie quiz. This time, we present four films in which a computer plays a minor or major role. The oldest film "2001: A Space Odyssey" is from 1968, the newest movie "Chess Computer" is 45 years older. In addition, we have the "The Thing" from 1982 and "Knight Moves", an erotic thriller. But do you know which still belongs to which film?

5/18/2020 – As we promised in our last article, we now proceed to another round of guessing the movie stills. This time we take a look at films which are exclusively from the 1960s. The films are "From Russia with Love", "The Fire Within", "Becket" and "The Thomas Crown Affair". Once again, you are very welcome to participate in our little movie guessing quiz, where you have to guess which chess board still is from which movie.

4/25/2020 – Going to the movies is fun! In this article we therefore take a look at four more or less famous films ("Casablanca", "The Killing", "The Seventh Seal" and "Brainwashed") in which chess plays a major or minor role. But we would also like to invite you to a little film quiz and ask you to "Guess the movie"!

4/22/2020 – "Queen of Chess" is documentary about Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov that is scheduled for release at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. In six episodes the documentary tells the story of the encounters and battles between Judit Polgar, the greatest female chess player of all time, and Garry Kasparov, who many consider the best male player of all time. In an interview with ChessBase Peter Stern, the producer of "Queen of Chess", reveals details about the project and his passion for chess.

3/21/2020 – "The Coldest Game" is a spy movie which came out exclusively on the streaming service Netflix. Fortunately for all chess lovers, it includes a couple of very interesting chess games which consist of some analysis. Although this movie is fictional, some real events and politicians are part of it, like the Cuban crisis, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The fictional chess games also follow real examples and it is a joy to replay some of the beautiful combinations the film cites.

3/7/2019 – Stanley Kubrick was a giant in film history. Almost all of his films were milestones in their genre. He was also a great chess lover. In almost every one of his films, there is at least an allusion to the game of chess. He died 20 years ago today, on March 7, 1999, at the age of 70. We take a brief look at his career use of chess and chess imagery. | Photo: On the set of Dr. Strangelove | SK Film Archives LLC, Sony Colombia, the Kubrick family, and University of the Arts London

1/4/2019 – Fahim Mohammad is an aspiring chess player originally from Bangladesh who immigrated to France. His life story is the subject of an upcoming film 'Fahim' starring Gerard Depardieu. DIANA MIHAJLOVA got to know the boy ten years ago in Budapest and recounts his unlikely rise to prominence in his adopted country. | Photo: Diana Mihajlova

10/17/2018 – “If you were going to write a movie script, you couldn’t have done it better,” says English GM Daniel King. A new feature documentary, Closing Gambit, is being released to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the 1978 World Championship and the start of the Carlsen versus Caruana match in November. The film was successfully screened to international buyers at the Cannes Festival earlier this year, and will become widely available on TV and digital platforms later this year.

8/24/2018 – One of the most famous chess scenes in a film is the game between the knight Antonius Block and Death from Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" (1957). Bergman's film inspired the German director Margarethe von Trotta to become a director herself, and as a homage to Bergman she now made a documentary about her idol: "Searching for Ingmar Bergman", a film in which the chess scene from "The Seventh Seal" also plays a role.

10/19/2016 – No, it's not a typo! Background: there is vigorous chess activity in New York's Washington State Park, and plenty of hustling going on there. Sometimes, though, someone turns up who is really, really strong. And then the hustlers get owned, as in a video shot in 2010 that recently went viral: World Champion Magnus Carlsen took a detour to the park, watched his manager get "crushed" and then, with Liv Tyler watching, proceeded to restore the honour of Norwegian chess.

5/26/2016 – Although the timeless masterpiece "Casablanca" is adored by film-lovers throughout the world, among chess fans in particular, it holds a special place in our hearts for the famous chess scene with Humphrey Bogart. Very recently, Madeleine LeBeau, the last surviving credited cast member passed away at the age of 92. We take advantage to pay homage to the great classic.

4/9/2016 – Chess is on the rise, even in the world of motion pictures. Based on the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a starving Ugandan girl living in the streets who learned chess at age nine while looking for food handouts and became the Ugandan Open junior champion (defeating the boys) at age 16, Disney will be releasing a film on her later this year starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o.

3/29/2016 – We are having such a great time following the Candidates. But there was one thing missing in Moscow – Magnus Carlsen! For chess fans who are experiencing withdrawal here's some good news: The film "Magnus" will be aired at the prestigious TriBeCa festival in New York mid April. The 76-minute documentary has been compiled from more than 500 hours of footage shot over a decade. For now we have the trailer.

1/20/2016 – It is always interesting to see a film not simply include a chess board or scene, but use it as a key element. An Indian film was just released, classified by IMDB as “Crime/Thriller” in which a ‘grief-stricken cop and amputee grandmaster are brought together by a peculiar twist of fate as part of a wider conspiracy that has darkened their lives.’ Trailer and review.

11/4/2015 – On Thursday the new Bond film will be released in cinemas all over Europe. British actor Daniel Craig (born 1968) impersonates the ageless Bond who fights an old acquaintance: an organisation named "Spectre". "Spectre" first appeared in the Bond film "From Russia With Love" from 1963 and its chief strategist was a chessplayer. 52 years later Bond is back at the board.

10/11/2015 – In 1997 Garry Kasparov went head-to-head with the computer Deep Blue – and lost. That led to a flurry of discussion surrounding computer intelligence – and the possibility of human intervention at key moments in the match. Director Jonah Bleicher's new film, The King's Pawn, explores these theories. In honor of National Chess Day (USA), the film is now premiering online for free.

8/20/2015 – Pawn Sacrifice, the 2015 American biographical thriller film directed by Edward Zwick and starring Tobey Maguire (whom we remember as Spiderman, or more fondly from Seabiscuit) as Bobby Fischer, is set to be released in the US on September 18, 2015. Huffington Post has posted an exclusive featurette, to which we have added some clips from the past. Happy viewing.

8/9/2015 – The year was 2010. Boris Gelfand had ascended the massive world championship ladder to earn the right to battle Vishy Anand for the title. His entire life had been dedicated to making this moment possible. A camera crew followed him throughout the match, filming the drama involving not only him and his team, but all those who helped him prepare the way. A fascinating documentary.

7/27/2015 – That's Maori for "Long live da king!" The Dark Horse is a heart-warming drama about the struggles and failures, the triumphs and successes of the life of New Zealander Gen “da man” Potini. But doing a film review of the movie wasn’t enough for Desmond Rooplal: he researched the man himself and the people around him. His follow-up article contains unique images and narrative.

7/16/2015 – When the streets are closed off for the red carpet to be rolled out for a movie’s premier, what would you guess it is about? You may be surprised and impressed to find out it won twenty awards and was nominated for another eight, but would you even suspect that the main theme of the movie is chess? Yes a chess movie wining twenty awards! Preview with videos.

6/24/2015 – Everyone has heard the myths and the rumours surrounding the Polgár sisters, but how many of us really know the true story of the family that yielded three chess super-talents? For over four years an Israeli film-maker collected archive material never seen before, and produced a documentary that is epic and historic, but also personal and intimate. Watch the latest trailer.