Below you will find an upcoming program paired with related movies, documentaries, books, music, and more to help you gain a wider understanding of the topic before or after the program.
Explore further, deepen your discovery, and connect to learning!
The Program: Chess Club Instructional Session, Sat., July 13, 1 – 4 pm
Description: Join the Willoughby Chess Club and instructor, Don Ross, and up your chess playing skill! Open to players of all ages and skill levels.
Chess on the Big Screen
Check out these movies and documentaries, available on Hoopla, Kanopy, or both!
Description: Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers thirty-some years ago, Computer Chess transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs.
We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.
Description: During the Cold War, four legendary female chess players from Georgia revolutionized women’s chess across the globe and became icons of female emancipation.
Description: Based on a true story from 1998, five Latinx and Black teenagers from the toughest underserved ghetto in Miami fight their way into the National Chess Championship under the guidance of their unconventional but inspirational teacher.
Description: In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer’s terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world.
Description: A Keaton-esque comedy in which a young man’s passion for the game threatens to wreck his marriage.
Description: This unique coming-of-age story follows Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian chess prodigy who became a grandmaster at age 13 and world champion in 2013.
Description: King Chess follows eight Super Grandmasters as they battle to take on the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen. Experience the world of top-level chess through 14 grueling rounds, chess boxing, visual artists, and a diverse cast of legends.
Further Learning
Great Courses: How to Play Chess
Description: Chess is a sport, a science, and an art. For more than a thousand years, people around the world have enjoyed this game of skill and tactics and intellectual prowess. From Parisian nightclubs to Hollywood films to everyday dining rooms and dens, you can find people furrowing their brows in concentration over their next strategic move. The fun of the game is that anyone can play, and there is always something more to learn—especially with the right guide.
