Chess Oriented Short Films
Before moving on to something different, I thought of extending the mood of my previous article by sharing some lesser known chess oriented short films. Most of the films are short and can be watched in a few minutes. Treat yourself to some coffee and sit glued to your screen. Enjoy!
1. Illegal Move
Illegal Move is a short film directed by Sana Srinivasan and Kyle Lopez. The duo made this as a part of their college project. Set in a fantastical chess world, Illegal Move is a story of an honorable white knight obliged to protect his King from his long lost love, The Red Queen. The film has won awards at the Barcelona Planet Film Festival, Largo Film Awards, Superman Celebration Film Festival, and is an official selection in several international film festivals.
Watch the movie here:
2. Chess People
While the chessmen are in despair, two pawns proactively take up the initiative to seek peace and restore balance in their family. Chess People is a poignant animated short film about two chess pawns engaged in an effort to stall the war and seek peace. The film is written and directed by Yianni Rowlands. It won an award at the Los Angels Cinfest International Film Festival recently.
Watch the movie here:
3. Geri’s Game
Geri’s Game is the most common known short film, but it deserves a mention. It is a 1997 computer animated short film made by Pixar under Walt Disney Pictures, written and directed by Jan Pinkava. In the movie, Geri enjoys playing a game of chess with himself and that characteristic shows how we are our greatest opponents at times!
Watch the movie here:
4. The Chess
After the initial success of the commercial drama, ‘Kahi Kaltay Ka,’ Anvi creations has come up with their first short film, ‘The Chess’. ‘The Chess’ is a short film written by a young chess enthusiast, Suhit Magar. It is about a boy who learns the game from his father. Learning the game helps him in more than one way. I got to know about this film through a Whatsapp video.
Watch the movie here:
5. Check-Mate
Check Mate is a brilliant Bengali short film about a postman in a dilemma. The Lord of Death, Yama, forces him to make a difficult choice. The rest of the film is about how the postman cleverly uses a chess convenience to solve the problem in his life. This is one of the best short movies I have ever watched in recent times.
Watch the movie here:
6. Poker Fish
Poker Fish is a short film about two players involved in a winner-takes-it-all chess match with some cash on stake. The story is written and directed by Sachin Bhat, under the banner of Eye Line Pictures.
Two major highlights of the film:
1. All the members of the team are from Belgaum.
2. The film features a game played by me against Himal Gusain.
Watch the movie here:
Contest Alert:
In the game, I moved my bishop from e8 to b5, and my opponent (Himal Gusain) resigned. Objectively, this position is losing for White if Black manages to spot the only winning move.
Can you spot it? Please drop the answer in the comment section and also share the post. The winners will receive an 8cross8 voucher selected randomly.
I hope my list of short films made your moments lively! If you know of a chess oriented short film that deserves a mention, do let me know. I will be back with another article next week. Ciao!
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Liked two of them. Postman, the only one that really is about chess. Others could have been any other game. And pokerfish.
I personally liked Postman, Illegal move and Chess people but others deserved a mention. Thanks for stopping by, Ananth!