Chess

In this tale of sex, violence, race, and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, "Cadillac Records" follows the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

Stanley Kubrick considered "The Killing" (1956) to be his first mature feature, after a couple of short warm-ups. He was 28 when it was released, having already been an obsessed chess player, a photographer for Look magazine and a director of "March of Time" newsreels. It's tempting to search here for themes and a style he would return to in his later masterpieces, but few directors seemed so determined to make every one of his films an individual, free-standing work. Seeing it without his credit, would you guess it was by Kubrick? Would you connect "Dr. Strangelove" with "Barry Lyndon?". This is a heist movie. Like horror films, heists are a genre that make stars not so necessary. The durable form inspires directors to create plots that are baffling in their complexity or bold in their simplicity.

After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown made an unexpected move. He established a Chess Club for inner-city high school students in Washington D.C. where, amidst dwindling educational resources, over-policing and a looming drug economy, it can be near impossible for youth to find their way to a whole and happy adulthood. Brown resolved to teach young people the fundamentals of chess but it was never just a game for them. For Brown and his students, chess became a matter of survival. Always think before you move.

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine is a 2003 documentary film by Vikram Jayanti about the match between Garry Kasparov, the highest rated chess player in history and the World Champion for 15 years (1985–2000), and Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer created by IBM.
In 1997, Kasparov played his second chess match against Deep Blue, a computer designed specifically to beat Kasparov in chess. In the second game, Kasparov set a trap that most computers fall for. Deep Blue didn't fall for it. From this experience, Kasparov suspected IBM, the creator of Deep Blue, of cheating by using a human player during the game to increase the strategic strength of the computer. As a metaphor for this suspicion, the film weaves in the story of the Turk, a hoax involving a chess-playing automaton built in the eighteenth century, but secretly operated by human beings. (The film also implies that Deep Blue's heavily promoted victory was a ploy by IBM to boost its market value.) Deep Blue went on to win the match in the sixth game, marking the first time in history that a computer defeated the World Champion in a match of several games.
The film was nominated for a 2003 International Documentary Association award. It was coproduced by Alliance Atlantis and the National Film Board of Canada.

Josh Waitzkin is just a typical American boy interested in baseball when one day he challenges his father at chess and wins. Showing unusual precocity at the outdoor matches at Washington Square in New York City, he quickly makes friends with a hustler named Vinnie who teaches him speed chess. Josh's parents hire a renowned chess coach, Bruce, who teaches Josh the usefulness of measured planning. Along the way Josh becomes tired of Bruce's system and chess in general and purposely throws a match, leaving the prospects of winning a national championship in serious jeopardy.