Movies Similar to Mikhail Tal. From a Far

Bobby Fischer Against the World(2011)

The first documentary feature to explore the tragic and bizarre life of the late chess master Bobby Fischer.

Brooklyn Castle(2012)

Brooklyn Castle is a documentary about I.S. 318 – an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level – that also happens to have the best, most winning junior high school chess team in the country. (If Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team, he’d only rank fifth best.) Chess has transformed the school from one cited in 2003 as a “school in need of improvement” to one of New York City’s best. But a series of recession-driven public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.

Kasparov: Chess Rebel(2024)

The extraordinary life and career of the Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, a brilliant and charismatic, but also rebellious, favorite son of the Soviet Union.

Magnus(2016)

From a young age Magnus Carlsen had aspirations of becoming a champion chess player. While many players seek out an intensely rigid environment to hone their skills, Magnus’ brilliance shines brightest when surrounded by his loving and supportive family. Through an extensive amount of archival footage and home movies, director Benjamin Ree reveals this young man’s unusual and rapid trajectory to the pinnacle of the chess world. This film allows the audience to not only peek inside this isolated community but also witness the maturation of a modern genius.

Glory to the Queen(2020)

Against the backdrop of Cold War, Glory to the Queen reveals stories of four legendary female chess players from Georgia who revolutionized women’s chess across the globe and became Soviet icons of female emancipation.

Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versus Karpov and the Kremlin(2018)

The story of the 1978 World Chess Championship between the Soviet Communist Party's protege, Anatoly Karpov and the traitor and Soviet defector, Viktor Korchnoi. One of those instances in life where truth is stranger than fiction.

Rey Ardid: La gran partida(2013)

Knight Moves(1992)

A chess grandmaster is in a big tournament, and when his lover is found painted up and the blood drained out of her body he becomes a chief suspect. After he gets a call from the killer urging him to try and figure out the game, he cooperates with police and a psychologist to try and catch the killer, but doubts linger about the grandmaster's innocence as the string of grisly murders continues.

Searching for Bobby Fischer(1993)

A seven-year-old chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.

Once Upon a Spy(1980)

Computer genius and chess champion Ted Danson is lured into service by secret agent Eleanor Parker and becomes a reluctant hero thanks to a number of exploits with villainous Christopher Lee and his army of lethal blue-eyed blonde women.

The World Champion(2021)

Some sporting victories are about more than just claiming a title. Some of them go down in history. The film follows the most dramatic and legendary showdown in the history of chess – the match between Anatoly Karpov, then world champion, and Viktor Korchnoi, a recent emigrant from the USSR. In this battle between two outstanding chess players, a duel of personalities under immense psychological pressure, the stakes are incomprehensibly high.

Pawn Sacrifice(2015)

American chess champion Bobby Fischer prepares for a legendary match-up against Russian Boris Spassky.

Dabaru(2024)

Dabaru is a melodramatic tale about a young chess player named Surya who rose from the alleys of North Kolkata to become a grand master.

Make Your Move(2018)

Two chess champions have a secret match to decide once and for all which of them is the better player.

Evan's Gambit(2019)

Two brothers, raised by a chess master, must battle head to head in the world's most competitive chess tournament.

Saved from the Titanic(1912)

A young woman tells her parents and fiance (in flashback) about the recent sinking of the Titanic and her experiences as a passenger during the disaster. Her intended marriage now faces a new hazard because her fiance is a sailor and her parents have just been reminded of the dangers of the sea. Premiering in the United States just 29 days after the event, it is the earliest dramatization about the tragedy.

The Day We Walked on the Moon(2019)

On July 16, 1969, hundreds of thousands of spectators and an army of reporters gathered at Cape Kennedy to witness one of the great spectacles of the century: the launch of Apollo 11. Over the next few days, the world watched on with wonder and rapture as humankind prepared for its "one giant leap" onto the moon--and into history. Witness this incredible day, presented through stunning, remastered footage and interviews that takes you behind-the-scenes and inside the spacecraft, Mission Control, and the homes of the astronaut's families.

Tattoo Uprising(2019)

An examination of the artistic and historical roots of today's tattoo explosion.

Defend, Conserve, Protect(2019)

Narrated by Dan Aykroyd, Defend, Conserve, Protect, pits the marine conservation group, Sea Shepherd, against the Japanese whaling fleet, in an epic battle to defend the majestic Minke whales.

BBC Imagine: The Divine Miss M(2014)

For five decades the woman they call the Divine Miss M has forged a path which has taken her from a pineapple-canning factory in Honolulu to becoming a Hollywood legend. Alan Yentob joins Bette Midler on a journey through the chorus lines of Broadway and the bathhouses and nightclubs of the 1970s to the very top of the film industry. Her combination of a soulful voice and the raucous wit of Mae West has made her name as an outrageous, but always captivating, all-round entertainer.