Chess is hitting the big screen. Grandmasters, the new chess film following the dramatic tides and incredible characters of top-level chess, is showing in 90+ AMC theaters across the United States on October 11 and 14. For the first time, you can witness the intrigue and competing ambitions behind the tensest matches and political maneuvering of the chess world.
Grandmasters is a three-episode limited series directed by Liza Mandelup (Jawline) and produced by Boardwalk Pictures, the studio behind hit titles like Welcome to Wrexham, Cheer, and Chef’s Table. The show follows what happens when Jan Henric Buettner, an eccentric German entrepreneur, recruits GM Magnus Carlsen to launch a new league. Their goal: to shake up the chess world, challenge FIDE, and make chess cool for the masses. Along the way, viewers are invited into the lives of the game’s stars, including Carlsen, GM Wesley So, and GM Hans Niemann, and to follow the paradigm-shifting power plays made by chess executives like Buettner, Arkady Dvorkovitch, and IM Danny Rensch.
“I’m constantly drawn to people who have built their lives around a single pursuit,” said Mandelup in a statement for Deadline. “I wanted to get beyond the idea of a chess genius and make something funny, intimate, and deeply human about the people behind the game.”
I wanted to get beyond the idea of a chess genius and make something funny, intimate, and deeply human about the people behind the game.
— Liza Mandelup
The series had a successful world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in June, when the screening attracted a large crowd that packed the SVA Theater in Manhattan.
Now, the theatrical version will be released as a supercut that combines all three episodes into one film. The film is releasing across 90+ AMC theaters nationwide. You can check the theater nearest you and get your tickets below:
Chess.com will be organizing premiere events around the country. Fans in New York can join a special Times Square event on October 11 featuring the world’s biggest chess creator, IM Levy Rozman. The star behind YouTube channel GothamChess will be at AMC Empire 25, the largest AMC theater in the city, for a live Q&A session. Levy, who’s featured in the documentary, will take questions from the audience before the screening.
You know the game. You don’t know the story. Grab your ticket, bring your friends, and enjoy the screening of Grandmasters, in theaters for two days only: October 11 and 14.
