Chess will be back on our screens—in a big way, if reports are correct.
Hollywood Reporter, the publication that covers the U.S. film industry, claims that plans are afoot for a new star-studded feature spotlighting the game called Checkmate.
According to the website, the action will center around a controversy very familiar to chess fans: the alleged cheating scandal involving GM Hans Niemann and GM Magnus Carlsen that began after a game between the pair at the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022.
Chess.com was also involved in the fallout of the scandal, being named in a $100 million defamation case launched by Niemann a month later. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed by the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Missouri in June 2023.
This is insane.
The Magnus Carlsen/Hans Niemann scandal is set to become a movie. pic.twitter.com/93WRA56jHJ
— GothamChess (@GothamChess) May 2, 2024
Whether Chess.com will feature, we don’t know. However, it is reported: “The story is not only about the rivalry and the scandal, but the macro backdrop is the rise of a billion-dollar chess industry and so-called ‘collision of tradition and innovation’ in the game.”
Clearly, this is a big production. The deal struck by the production company A24 is said to be in seven figures and the Hollywood star Emma Stone is slated to produce it. Nathan Fielder, who wrote Showtime’s The Curse which starred Stone, is also reported to be lined up to direct.
If it goes ahead, Checkmate will be based on a 12-page book proposal from the acclaimed author Ben Mezrich, whose books were adapted into films such as The Social Network and Dumb Money.
Can chess have another moment like The Queen’s Gambit, which sparked a global chess revival? Whoever is lined up to star and whatever direction the story takes, this will be big.
