On 20 Sep 2003 21:57:28 GMT, (PJDBAD) wrote:


In 1960 a movie, Die Schachnovelle, was made based on Zweig's The
Royal Game.

And a television drama on Omnibus which I saw as a child and would like to see
again.

I too saw the dramatisation, which ran on the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation in the early 1960s. At that time I had been playing chess
for just a couple of years, but even today my memory is quite vivid.

The main part of the action took place on board a ship, where both
Czentovic and Dr. B. were passengers. A group of chess enthusiasts
were playing Czentovic in consultation. Czentovic had his back to the
consultants and was playing bridge at the same time. The consultants
would signal that they had moved by tapping on a glass of water. Dr.
B. came along and gave them some help, and together they managed to
save what had probably been a lost position. The scowl on Czentovic's
face when the draw was achieved was something to behold. Of course
the narrator (one of the consultants) spent most of the rest of the
film trying to set up a game between the two masters. Dr. B. was a
thin, nervous fellow with glasses, whose story of internment was told
in flashbacks. Czentovic was a dark, heavy-set fellow, whom I later
thought might have been modelled after Alekhine. I never forgot this
film, but unfortunately I've never seen it again.

Some time around 1980 a friend of mine was cleaning out his library
and found a copy of the novel. It is well worth reading!

By the way, I think John Turturro's performance in the film "The
Luzhin Defence" was absolutely brilliant. I'm sure that no little
credit goes to the chess consultant for that film, none other than
English GM Jonathan Speelman!