I'm a chess player and somehow I imagine that the film will be about chess after reading the description. Well, the truth is that chess does show a little here and there; the chessboard and the game itself is very little shown and I considering that many people may not know chess is reasonable to keep a balance.. but they sincerely could have done better. The main characters are hard to like, due to little construction and the acting is way over the top with "Pavius"the young one. The personal dramas were interesting but presented in a sort of confusing way that there was not time to understand what was going on. Frankly, if you are interested in chess and films you may see it for curiosity but not for quality or entertainment. Chess is fascinating and Im sure that you could a good movie out of this one, maybe a remake?

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 Communist tentacles.I love that this is billed as the "thinking man's Rocky". First, this assumes that "Rocky" is not for thinking men, which is not necessarily true. It may not be high art, but it's still a good movie. But that aside, I find it interesting to compare a film about a boxer with one about chess players.Anyway, whether we accept that marketing or not, it really is a good film. I'm curious about how accurate the subtitles are (they notoriously changed "eight" to "ten" in an early scene) but even if the film was silent, it is quite visually appealing.

Finally a close to perfect work. This film got it all. The conflict, thank god, can be read through more than one dimension, it's how to be rich as a drama, and a thought-provoking film too. One can read it as a brilliant chapter in the cold war's time; the original Soviet communist vs. the Lithuanian enemy of the proletarian revolution. As if it's the eastern block vs. the western world. Then it's a battle of minds between the old generation who believed in something and fought for it, and the young one who rebelled against the first, fighting for the opposite. So it is, as well, the wise old vs. the riotous young. The differences between the 2 main characters are catchy and well-made. One is mystic who loves to unite with nature (great scene, with only music, for him enjoying sailing as if it's a spiritual fun). And the other is more materialistic, with hot pace and temper (enough to remember his leather jacket and motorcycle). I loved the pace, it's meditative and exciting in the same time; which is very hard to achieve by the way. Still the scene of seeking help by external factors to affect the players is smartly comic to the max (that Indian guru, who controls minds, is pure comedy). The 2 lead actors played their roles in iconic way if you will. However nothing is better than the end of it. Simply this film wins immortality by not relaying only on the cold war situation back then, yet it dives into deeper layer to make it essentially a conflict between just humans, who wants to assure themselves in the thing they love. Notice well how it doesn't eventually choose a winner or a loser too, because the game is on and the conflict is forever between the older and the younger. It's how the film – so intelligently – will live for more and more; being suitable to watch anytime or anyplace (it outlived the cold war itself already). So it is satisfying whether as politically, philosophically, or – and that's the most important – as a good effective drama in the first place; where you can watch it only as a thrilling movie about a crucial game of chess between the smartest 2 guys on earth! Naturally, this is one of the best films I have ever seen. Or in another word, this is how films must be made.

Geneva welcomes the 23rd world chess championship, which sees the confrontation of the Soviet citizen Michel Piccoli, unconquered for 12 years, with his young fellow countryman, now a refugee in the West, Alexandre Arbatt, winner (conqueror) of the " tournament of the candidates "... The chess is only an excuse for a political tussle, the real game taking place gently in the wings in an East-West confrontation. The whole thing is perhaps a little dated.