''Chess Fever'' (russian: Шахматная горячка, Shakhmatnaya goryachka) is a 1925

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

silent comedy Silent comedy is a style of film, related to but distinct from mime, invented to bring comedy into the medium of film in the silent film era (1900s–1920s) before a synchronized soundtrack which could include talking was technologically ava ...

film directed by

Vsevolod Pudovkin Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter ...

and Nikolai Shpikovsky. ''Chess Fever'' is a comedy about the

Moscow 1925 chess tournament This international super-tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held at Moscow in the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. There were eleven foreign stars and ten Sov ...

, made by Pudovkin during the pause in the filming of ''

Mechanics of the Brain ''Mechanics of the Brain'' (russian: Механика головного мозга, Myekhanika golovnogo mozga) is a 1926 Soviet documentary film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin, a popularization of Ivan Pavlov's studies in classical conditioning ...

''. The film combines acted parts with actual footage from the tournament.

Plot

In Moscow during the international chess tournament of 1925, the hero ( Vladimir Fogel) and heroine ( Anna Zemtsova) of the story are engaged to be married. Caught up in a society-wide chess fever, the hero forgets about his marital obligations and must beg for her forgiveness. As he kneels before his dismayed fiancée on a checkered cloth, the hero becomes distracted and starts to play chess. Enraged, the heroine throws his chess themed belongings out of the window and forces him to leave. Now separated, the heroine finds herself at a pharmacy, intending to obtain poison to kill herself. Meanwhile, the hero dejectedly sits on a bridge above a river, throwing what's left of his chess possessions into the water. Rather than throwing himself off the bridge as well, he realizes the importance of love and resolves to find the heroine and apologize. It is at this time that the heroine raises what she thinks is a vial of poison to her lips. However, she is stopped when she realizes that she was mistakenly given a chess piece by the distracted chemist. The heroine's distress is interrupted by

World Chess Champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capabla ...

, who tells her that, in the company of a beautiful woman, he too hates chess. The two become friends and drive off as the hero arrives. The hero, with nothing left to do but return to chess, attends the tournament. Looking into the crowd, he is shocked to find his fiancée excitedly watching the game. He runs to her and the two embrace, united by their love for chess, and the film ends with them playing the game together.

Cast

– the World Champion * Vladimir Fogel – the hero * Anna Zemtsova – the heroine * Natalya Glan * Zakhar Darevsky * Boris Barnet * Frank Marshall – himself (cameo) *

Richard Réti Richard Selig Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exce ...

– himself (cameo) *

Carlos Torre Repetto Carlos Jesús Torre Repetto (29 November 1904Carlos Torre's birth certificate ...

– himself (cameo) * Frederick Yates – himself (cameo) *

Ernst Grünfeld ---- Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893 – April 3, 1962) was an Austrian chess player and writer, mainly on opening theory. He was among the inaugural recipients of the grandmaster title in 1950. Life and career Grünfeld was bo ...

– himself (cameo) *

Mikhail Zharov Mikhail Ivanovich Zharov (russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Жа́ров; 27 October 1899 – 15 December 1981) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor and director. People's Artist of the USSR (1949) and Hero of Socialist Labour ...

– house painter * Anatoly Ktorov – tram passenger *

Yakov Protazanov Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (russian: Яков Александрович Протазанов; 4 February ( O.S. 23 January ) 1881 – 8 August 1945) was a Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of ...

– chemist * Yuli Raizman – chemist's assistant *

Ivan Koval-Samborsky Ivan Koval-Samborsky ( Ukrainian: Іван Коваль-Самборський; 16 September 1893 – 10 January 1962) was a Ukrainian stage and film actor. After establishing himself in the Soviet film industry in the 1920s, he briefly went to w ...

– policeman *

Konstantin Eggert Konstantin Vladimorovich Eggert (russian: Константин Владимирович Эггерт; 9 October 1883 – 24 October 1955) was a Russian actor and film director. He co-directed the 1925 film ''The Marriage of the Bear''. Selected f ...

– chess shop owner *

Fedor Ozep Fedor Ozep or Fyodor Otsep (russian: Фёдор Алекса́ндрович О́цеп, ''Fyodor Aleksandrovich Otsep''; February 9, 1895 – June 20, 1949) was a Russian-American film director and screenwriter, born in Moscow. An important earl ...

– game spectator (uncredited) * Sergei Komarov – grandfather (uncredited)

Production

Development

''Chess Fever'' is the directorial debut of

, who had previously worked as a screenwriter, actor, and art director, and as an assistant to

Lev Kuleshov Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov (russian: Лев Владимирович Кулешов; – 29 March 1970) was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Moscow Film School. He ...

. Pudovkin and Shpikovsky made this short silent comedy film in less than a month. It combines acted scenes with actual footage from the chess tournament occurring at this time and includes many cameos from Chess Champions and grandmasters. The film also features many Russian and Soviet film directors, such as Boris Barnet,

, Yuli Raizman, and

Cultural influence

''Chess Fever'' influenced author

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...

's 1930 novel ''The Luzhin Defence'', published in the United States as ''

The Defense ''The Defense'' is the third novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or ...

''. There are parallels within the two works, such as the main characters' inward and outward dispositions and the central love story present in both. The hero in ''Chess Fever'' is similar to Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, the protagonist in Nabokov's novel; both are oblivious and idiosyncratic in nature, with a similar attire of checkered clothing and high degree of self-absorption. They are overcome with their obsession of chess and have difficulty merging their romantic relationships with their love for chess. Pudovkin's short film is the basis for Nabokov's novel, which went on to be made into a film.

Footnotes

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1920s sports comedy films 1925 comedy films 1925 films 1926 comedy films 1926 films Articles containing video clips Chess in the Soviet Union Films about chess Films directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin Gorky Film Studio films Russian black-and-white films Russian silent short films Russian sports comedy films Soviet black-and-white films Soviet silent short films Soviet sports comedy films Silent comedy films