Chess novel The Knight of New Orleans now in paperback with 15% off!

1837. Paul Morphy was born into a wealthy Creole family in the French Quarter of New Orleans and became infamous for his fast and positional chess game. At twenty-one he was knighted world champion after defeating the great European masters-the English and Germans-in New York at the First American Chess Congress. In a short-lived blaze of glory, he defeated opponents in an atmosphere that encouraged gambling, drinking and often led to duels for honor. Soon no one dared play the boy from New Orleans-he even offered Pawn and Move to the world!

As a young gentleman, Paul embarked on a Grand Tour of Paris and London with his manager-servant, Fred Edge. Part proud spectacle and part reluctant circus act, Paul performed feats of memory and blindfold chess, making records that stand today. He even played Emperor Napoleon III (at croquet and chess) and was praised by Queen Victoria. He returned to New Orleans lionized by high society, but misunderstood....

Morphy was in love with the lights down on Basin Street. Returning home, he developed an obsession for 'crib-girl' Clara Young, a professional working girl from an area off Basin Street known as 'The Swamp.' Clara needed money and excitement. Living in a dangerous world of brothels and barrelhouses, is she just playing with Paul for her ticket out? Who is the social misfit, the chess boy or the trick girl? Who is playing whom?

Based on a true story, The Knight of New Orleans shows you all the honest and brutal moves in a gamble of love and survival. Let the best player win!

Paul Morphy is today remembered as the pride and sorrow of chess. After conquering the chess world so young, he became a recluse, a failed lawyer and sanitarium patient, a dark twist on the American Dream. Paul was a strict amateur playing for honor, Clara a professional working for survival. Was Clara's world too different from Paul's, his background too bourgeois, hers too dangerous? Or will love triumph even when the pieces are checkmate? The Mississippi and the Vieux Carré are calling....

Let the games begin!

Title and ISBN	Book Website	Author Website	Publication Date	Buy now!
K 9781937056001 The Knight of New Orleans: The Pride and the Sorrow of Paul Morphy (UK hardcover)	The Knight of New Orleans (Homepage)	Matt Fullerty (Website)	28 September 2011 (Parkgate Originals)
K 9781937056025 The Knight of New Orleans: The Pride and the Sorrow of Paul Morphy (US hardcover)	The Knight of New Orleans (Homepage)	Matt Fullerty (Website)	28 September 2011 (Parkgate Originals)
K 9781937056018 The Knight of New Orleans: The Pride and the Sorrow of Paul Morphy (UK paperback)	The Knight of New Orleans (Homepage)	Matt Fullerty (Website)	1 December 2011 (Dionysus Books)
K 9781937056001 The Knight of New Orleans: The Pride and the Sorrow of Paul Morphy (UK hardcover)	The Knight of New Orleans (Homepage)	Matt Fullerty (Website)	28 September 2011 (Parkgate Originals)

PAUL MORPHY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CHESS THEORY by Macon Shibut

Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory

Two-time Virginia chess champion Macon Shibut's PAUL MORPHY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CHESS THEORY is a great introduction to both Morphy's life and chess games. Paul Morphy was undoubtedly the greatest player of the 19th century, but his reign as a fast and highly developed positional player was brief, his flame burned brightly and short, yet the games remain!

A book for the student as much as the casual admirer, here are more than four hundred of Morphy's best games. PAUL MORPHY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CHESS THEORY includes all the young champion's serious tournament games and 'special games' such as simultaneous and blindfold play. Morphy's games were full of risks and clarity, making them great examples of science and art combined - attacking play but with a purposeful exactitude. Mr. Shibut's book is a testament that Morphy has been forgotten by history, and yet the wonder of his chess games survive. Here is a revelation to any student of Morphy or examiner of chess history and the personality behind the board.

Click here to buy PAUL MORPHY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CHESS THEORY on Amazon.

From Gambit: Where was the Paul Morphy Chess Club?

WHERE WAS THE PAUL MORPHY CHESS CLUB?

Blake Pontchartrain

Hey Blake,

Ronnie Virgets wrote a wonderful column on the history of Paul Morphy. My question is: where was the Paul Morphy Chess Club? I can remember an uncle of mine speaking of it often as a place where men met for lunch, cards and cigars.

Kenny Mayer

Dear Kenny,

Virgets' story ("Chairman of the Board," News Views, May 6, 2008) about our local chess genius who died in 1884 at age 47 was excellent.

Morphy was the first great American-born chess player. He traveled to Europe in the 1850s, defeating all challengers except the English champion of the time, Howard Staunton, who refused to play him. Morphy, however, still was hailed as the chess champion of the world.

Paul Morphy Chess Club in New Orleans had several locations, the first in the Balter Building, in the block surrounded by Commercial Place, Camp Street, and St. Charles and Poydras avenues. The last was at 316 St. Charles Ave.

The club was organized in May 1928, when several chess-playing gentlemen agreed to form a new club devoted exclusively to the game. Members were solicited, and the club soon had officers and a charter. New members decided to name the club after the local chess master they so revered. The club opened its doors to members for play on June 22, 1928, Paul Morphy's birthday. There is no longer a chess club by this name in New Orleans, but there are several in America, and there's even a Paul Morphy Chess Club in Sri Lanka.

An earlier group called New Orleans Chess Club was founded in 1841, but it languished due to lack of interest. Later, many New Orleanians became interested in the game when young Paul Morphy burst on the scene. By the mid-1850s, the club sponsored weekly tournaments and membership increased rapidly. Morphy himself was elected president of the club in 1865. Earlier, when Morphy went to Europe in June 1858, the New Orleans Chess Club offered to pay his way. Morphy declined because he did not want to be considered a professional chess player.

Another famous club in the Crescent City was the New Orleans Chess, Checkers and Whist Club. This organization was founded in 1880, shortly before Morphy's death. The club first met in July in a room at 128 Gravier St. There were 27 members. It was an immediate success and membership grew rapidly. New quarters had to be found, so the group relocated to Common Street and then to a three-story building at the corner of Canal and Baronne streets.

Then disaster struck: A fire in 1890 burned the building to the ground. Lost in the fire was invaluable Morphy memorabilia. The owner of the structure agreed to rebuild, and soon the club was re-established in comfortable surroundings on the third floor. At this point, there were more than 1,100 members.

In 1920, another move brought the club to 120 Baronne St., where the men played various games in splendor. It occupied four floors in a large building, which had many rooms for games, as well as dining rooms, a billiard hall, a library and bedrooms for men who lived at the club.

It was after the death of Judge Leon Labatt - a strong supporter and member of the New Orleans Chess, Checkers and Whist Club - and a number of resignations that the members decided to form a new group: the Paul Morphy Chess Club.

Morphy retired from chess long before his death. He played absolutely no games of chess with anyone after 1869.

--

To read my chess novel about Paul Morphy's life, please see this link.

Chess Book of the Year, Part 3

Ronan Bennett & Daniel King
Tuesday October 13 2009
The Guardian

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Gligoric-Nikolic, Novi Sad 1982. Black to play. Who stands better?

RB Our third shortlisted book for the Guardian Chess Book of the Year award is Winning Chess Middlegames by Ivan Sokolov (New in Chess, GBP 24.95). Like our first shortlisted title, Chess Strategy for Club Players by Herman Grooten, Sokolov's book focuses on the middlegame, but whereas Grooten emphasises the dynamic aspects of the game, here the stress is on pawn structure. In an introduction Michael Adams makes the point that we often learn opening lines without giving serious thought to the kind of pawn structures they create.

Sokolov arranges his material into four different types of pawn structure: doubled pawns; isolated pawns; parallel hanging pawns in the centre; and pawn majority in the centre, further dividing these into subgroups. He then analyses the structures with reference to the opening. Chapter 1, for example, deals with doubled pawns arising mainly from the Nimzo. Chapter 2, on isolated pawns, looks predominantly at lines in the Queen's Gambit Declined. The essential point - but one often overlooked - is that from the opening we should be able to anticipate the structure of the middlegame.

The diagram position arose out of a Nimzo (H?bner Variation), with the characteristic doubled pawns on c3 and c4. White has tried to exploit the semi-open b-file to create threats against the enemy king. His rooks are doubled, the bishop is on b5, and the queen lurks on a3. On the other wing, Black's pawns are advancing, supported by the rooks. Who stands better?

Fritz assesses the position as roughly equal. But Sokolov is unequivocal: "A sorry sight. On the queenside White is not able to create a single threat, while on the other side of the board the battle is lost." The computer is wrong. White is dead lost. After Black's simple defensive expedient 1...Na6-b8, the game continued 2 Nf1 g4 3 f4 exf4 4 Bxf4 Ng6 5 Rf2 h4 and the pawns quickly smashed the white king's position.

--

guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2009

Karpov-Kasparov, KK2 16th match game, 1985

Ronan Bennett
Thursday November 13 2008
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/nov/13/chess-karpov-kasparov

Karpov-Kasparov, KK2 16th match game, 1985. Black to play and win.

Four titles made it to our chess book of the year shortlist: 100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus de la Villa; Forcing Chess Moves by Charles Hertan; From London to Elista by Evgeny Bareev and Ilya Levitov; and Modern Chess: Part 2 Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985 by Garry Kasparov. Once again we drafted in Guardian chess club stalwarts Sean Ingle and Stephen Moss to help with the judging.

We all admired 100 Endgames for its clarity and practical value but, in Ingle's estimation, it lacked pizzazz (which, to be fair, is asking a lot of a manual on endgames). Forcing Chess Moves, which has featured in this column several times, was also well liked, but in the end it was also considered a little too much like a workbook.

From London to Elista is definitely a book rather than a manual, and Bareev's contributions are particularly impressive. But even this fine book has to give way to our winner ? Modern Chess: Part 2. As Moss observed: "Kasparov had a monumental career and with this series of books he is creating a monument to it." Some will balk at the ?30 price, but the great games, detailed analysis, compelling narrative and the insights into the psychological and political dimension to the struggle over the board make it an outstanding contribution to chess literature.

This week's position is from the brilliant 16th match game of Kasparov and Karpov's second titanic encounter. Kasparov's play is, interestingly, more like Karpov's in that it is positional and tight. On move 16, he succeeds in planting a knight on d3, dominating Karpov's position. Move by move, Kasparov gradually restricts his great opponent, bringing him in the middlegame to virtual zugzwang, quite an achievement with so many pieces on the board. On move 34, to get rid of the terrible knight, Karpov is forced to give up his queen for three minor pieces ? not a terrible exchange in strictly material terms, except that Black now played 37...Rc1, and after 38 Nb2 Qf2 39 Nd2 Rxd1+ 40 Nxd1 Re1+ Karpov resigned because of 41 Nf1 Rxf1 42 Bxf1 Qxf1 mate.

--

guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2009

Ronan Bennett and Daniel King on chess: how to find the best square for a threatened piece

Ronan Bennett, Daniel King
Tuesday September 15 2009
The Guardian
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We thought that with our latest relocation it was time to reintroduce ourselves and to remind readers that this is a different kind of chess column. We don't bring you the latest tournaments (the internet does that a lot better), or annotate games by the greats (better left to anthologies and magazines). Instead, we try to provide the enthusiast and the club player, those for whom chess is a hobby rather than a profession, with useful advice and exercises in the form of a "master-student" dialogue between an average player (RB) and a grandmaster (DK).

Some of the positions we look at involve fairly high levels of chess understanding, but we also like to explore the kind of things ordinary players might encounter. Today's position falls into the latter category, and kicks off a series of columns themed around the question of finding the best square for a threatened piece. So where should the queen move to?

RB This looks rash, but since the queen is out we might as well go for it: 1 Qxc5. I'm expecting either 1...Nxe4 or 1...e6.

DK If you play the queen out so early, you are either very good or very bad. It's a beginner's ploy, vainly hoping for a quick checkmate. But if your opponent has an ounce of nous, the queen will be beaten back and you will have merely lost time. Ronan decides that he may as well grab a pawn, but Black recaptures, 1?Nxe4, and attacks the queen again. If 2 Qe3, Black plays 2?d5, staking a claim in the centre, and already has the more promising position.

However, if one is very careful, it is possible to play so outlandishly. The rising American star Hikaru Nakamura has made a speciality out of this shock tactic. Instead of taking the pawn, he has tried 1 Qh4. Now it is harder for Black to push the queen around, and if he castles on the kingside, the king could come directly under fire. But perhaps one needs to have the talent of a prodigy to make this work. The old rule of developing knights and bishops before anything else should still apply to most of us.

--

guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2009

Tribeca Film Festival: Review of "Queen to Play"!

In a world where a chess game is equivalent to a night of steamy passion, you have to be a little skeptical. In Caroline Bottaro's first feature, chess is played up to the extreme, turning the game into an excruciatingly obvious motif throughout the film.

Set in the ever-scenic French Riviera, Queen to Play tells the story of a maid, Hélene (Sandrine Bonnaire), who becomes obsessed with the idea of learning chess—and soon does, with the help of her client (Kevin Kline), a snobby retired doctor. As she spends more of her time "checkmating" the Doctor, she drifts away from her cleaning duties... and her husband. In a way, her chess-playing indulgence is like an affair—and, frankly, it could rightfully be one. According to Bottaro, her film depicts "a real romance" between the mentor and the student, and their chess matches are equivalent to love scenes.

Meanwhile, the idea of the game of chess completely engulfs Hélene's world, rendering her a one-track-minded pawn. Everything from checkered tiles to square tablecloths transforms into a chessboard in her subjectivity—and thus ours too. The problem, besides the fact that this sort of imagery is entirely too obvious and forced, is that at the film's core, it's nearly impossible to connect with this woman. Our leading lady is constantly sullen, mostly expressionless, and uncommunicative. She appears to desire her husband, but then rejects his affection and empathy. But yet, she's consistent in her rendez-vous with the doctor, who (in a pretentious "I'm Kevin Kline but playing a smart doctor who's speaking only in French hah!" kind of way) plays the part of the reluctant teacher who soon falls in love with the soft spoken working class maid in a strange condescending (and maybe metaphorical?) way.

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In fact, this marks Kline's first role performed entirely in French, which is apparently depreciating his English skills—at the Q&A after the film screened, he sometimes couldn't find words to verbalize in his native tongue.

You can basically guess how Queen to Play will conclude within the first 20 minutes of the film. You just have to sit through the next hour of hit-you-over-the-head chess metaphors and aloof characters. The film is not an unpleasant experience on the whole—it just doesn't illustrate anything extraordinarily fresh to really care about.

Recommended: Maybe, with reservations

Look out for: Chess pieces thrown in your face...so to speak

Check out Tribeca Film Festival schedule to find the next screening.

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		Chess, Film, tribeca film festival, tribeca, Matt Fullerty, Paul Morphy, The Pride and the Sorrow, F Street Review

Chess on film - the history of chess in movies!

Chess on Film

By Dylan Loeb McClain

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As one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of games, chess has appeared in movies almost since people started making them. While there have been some movies where the game played a central role, even advancing the plot, the game is usually a bit player.

When chess appears in films or on television, it often gives the actors something to do while they talk, and the subtext seems to be that their characters must be intelligent if they can play the game. Of course, it is a proxy for strategy and conflict, so it appears in advertising, sometimes in surprising places, as in this recent advertisement for the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Often chess is included in a film because it is a favorite past time of one of the principals making the movie, as for example in the films of Stanley Kubrick, who loved the game and sometimes popped into the Marshall Chess Club on West 10th Street in Manhattan.

Now an Italian man named Lucio Etruscus has put together four compilations of clips from films and television shows in which chess appeared. The compilations are set to music and can be found here, here, here and here.

Chess also seems to be fertile ground for people who want to try their hands at animation. There are quite a few animated clips on YouTube that use chess pieces, but this one is particularly remarkable.

14 Comments

1. 1. May 23, 2009 10:32 am Link

   Interesting entry, I enjoyed the four "Chess Rhapsodies" with some of my favorites: "Searching for Bobby Fischer", "The Luzhin Defence", etc. But I didn't see one, "2001: A Space Odyssey" with HAL beating the human crew member. Here is the game:

   http://www.chess.com/article/view/2001-a-chess-space-odyssey

   As an amateur animator, I also enjoyed the claymation. Here's another modern show with a chess sequence, "The Wire" (caution, some bad language):

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1HUlTKvDUI

   "The King stay the King" - D'Angelo

   — Steve Kennedy
2. 2. May 23, 2009 6:26 pm Link

   can anyone shed any light on two questions of chess and movie history? the character james bond was created by ian fleming. long after fleming died in 1964, it became widely known that during the second world war he was a very successful british intelligence operative who was well aware of the breaking of the german enigma codes by british codebreakers building on the efforts of the poles. this was one of the most important allied secrets during the war. fleming worked with the codebreakers and conceived operation ruthless. this was a plan to obtain an enigma machine that was not actually carried out for technical reasons, but very likely contributed to the plot for the movie U-571. it is surely no coincidence that a number of james bond plots revolve around equipment for breaking codes.

   the british codebreakers included cho'd(hugh) alexander, harry golombek, stuart milner-barry and many other chess players. alexander was a legend in british intelligence and after WW II he headed their codebreaking unit for decades. it is widely believed that he was not allowed to play chess in eastern europe because of fears that the russians would kidnap him.

   some years ago i read in an earlier edition of david kahn's codebreakers that while playing in a tournament somewhere alexander learnt that bronstein was also a codebreaker. bronstein was spelt differently in kahn's influential book, but i have to believe that he meant david bronstein.

   which gets us to my questions of chess and movie history. in the 1963 bond movie 'from russia with love' one of the villains is the GM kronsteen, smashing a hapless opponent in a tournament game. this is a miniscule part of one of the clips referred to above, but can also be seen here.
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoGFj_NH36c&feature=PlayList&p=34572FC90076E847&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12

   it turns out that kronsteen's win is based on spassky-bronstein, USSR championship 1960.
   http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1034110&kpage=4

   my questions:
   - was david bronstein a codebreaker for the soviets?
   - was the spassky-bronstein game chosen with this knowledge, with the loser on the opposite side of alexander?

   — L
3. 3. May 24, 2009 4:22 am Link

   "The Seventh Seal," by Ingmar Bergman (1957) has scenes of Max von Sydow playing against the Grim Reaper.

   — Dan
4. 4. May 24, 2009 9:50 am Link

   One of Satyajit Ray's film is titled `Chess-Players'. Its two protagonists are chess-addicts, who do not realise that British are playing another game of chess, to acquire the north-Indian state of Awadh.

   — Kapil
5. 5. May 24, 2009 11:17 am Link

   chess the "game" is for retards…chess is actually a simple BINARY SCHEMATIC which shows in 3 dimensions the formation of numbers and letters.
   because of the limitations of a 2 dimensional surface, the flat board 99% of people miss the realization that chess is far more than a "game"which it is not.

   here is the equation…
   wave pulse by the square root of N to the 6thpwr denoting the movement of an electron in PI around a line of concentric force,56 radians persecond.
   for math purposes the line of concentric force is shown down the middle.
   here are some clues for you..the king moves one space each direction thus making a mathamatical arc of 180 degrees…the queen moves any number of spaces any direction….
   in engineering male is sending female is recieving since the electron moves in PI the line of concentric force is a receiving force thus the female or queen can appear ANYWHERE within PI potentIally..hence any number of spaces any direction……………………………………

   ever READ ABOUT a so called CHAKRA this equation explains it and the origin of chess/the SQUARE OF MERCURY

   an old cathode ray tube uses the same basic equation to produce an electron beam
   .
   CHESS IS TV…………………………………..

   — judge alan
6. 6. May 24, 2009 11:32 am Link

   Chess, which was invented in India, has been intrinsic to the country's literature as well as films for a very long time. One of the most compelling examples of the game as a literary device as well as a movie theme is "The Chess Players" or 'Shatranj ke Khlidai' based on the book by the great Hindi writer Munshi Premchand and made into a film by the redoubtable Satyajit Ray.

   The game here is both a metaphor as well as an actual act of apathy and indifference by the two players in the face of the British confiscation of a a major king's domain.

   — Mayank Chhaya
7. 7. May 24, 2009 3:05 pm Link

   I forgot to mention a good resource, the book "Chess in the Movies" by Bob Basalla. Wtih over 2000 movies summarized in about 400 pages of small print, it is pretty much the "Oxford Companion to Chess", except for movies. An example of what you can find is "Chess Fever", a 1925 Soviet silent comedy about the 1925 International Chess Tournament in Moscow. I haven't seen it yet, but with a star turn by Capablanca himself, it sounds pretty funny.

   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015673/

   Amazon has it as part of a three movie collection of Soviet silent films.

   — Steve Kennedy
8. 8. May 25, 2009 5:35 am Link

   see this, one of the best animations using 'chess' - my favourite!

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgg9Dn2ahlM

   — frodolk
9. 9. May 25, 2009 2:57 pm Link

   if you've ever tried to write a film script by yourself, it is very much like playing chess against yourself…

   — eve shebang
10. 10. May 28, 2009 10:11 am Link

    Thanks for quoted me! It's an honor for me that my little videos are cited here ;-) Greetings from Italy!

    — Lucio Etruscus
11. 11. June 4, 2009 10:17 am Link

    Another great chess video on YouTube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0U-WnfPhWU

    — Catbus
12. 12. August 24, 2009 2:51 pm Link

    I do not know if this is in Etruscus's collection, but a novella in which chess was absolutely central is Schachnovelle by Arnold Zweig, which has been translated into English as The Royal Game. This book was the basis of the 1960 movie Schachnovelle (German title), Brainwashed (English title), with Kurt Juergens and Claire Bloom.

    — Steve W
13. 13. September 2, 2009 7:21 pm Link

    I really liked your article on how chess is used in the movies and also in advertisement. I love the game of chess, since the day my great grandmother taught me how to play. I have a blog on collectible chess set, if you would like to read it and give me your opinion on it. "collectiblechesssets.blogspot.com"
    thank you on agreat article

    — brian conn
14. 14. September 7, 2009 9:26 pm Link

    I really liked your article on how chess is used in the movies and also in advertisement. I love the game of chess, since the day my great grandmother taught me how to play. I have a blog on collectible chess set, if you would like to read it and give me your opinion on it. "collectiblechesssets.blogspot.com"
    thank you on agreat article…

    — Asner

About Gambit

In its 1,500-year history, chess has imbedded itself in the world's culture and vocabulary. Ideas, terms and images from the game have long been used as proxies for intelligence and complexity. But chess is more than a diversion. Thousands worldwide play professionally or earn a living by teaching it to children. The Internet has transformed the game, making it easy for players anywhere to find an opponent day or night. Chess computers, originally developed to test the bounds of artificial intelligence, now play better than grandmasters. This blog will cover tournaments and events, trends and developments. Reader comments and questions will be more than welcome.

--

Archive

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Chess of the Times

They're No Fun to Learn, but Endgames Lead to Wins

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

Serious players must master basic endgames. Figuring them out during a game is difficult, if not impossible.

Age Showdown Where Players Are Considered 'Older' at 33

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

At the NH Hoteles tournament's generational battle, the older team won for the first time in four tries, but three of its members were in their 30s.

200 Years of Charging Knights and Kings in Check in Zurich

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

This month, Schachgesellschaft commemorated its anniversary with a series of events including two open tournaments and a round-robin, rapid chess competition.

Once a Prodigy, a 44-Year-Old Englishman Is Still the Standard-Bearer for His Country

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

Thirty years after making his debut on the international tournament scene, Nigel Short is one of the top two players in England.

Highly Skilled Competitors in Real-Life Mating Games

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

As more women enter the top tier, there are more marriages among ranked players.

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"Queen to Play" - film review - checkmate!

Film Reviews

Queen to Play -- Film Review

By Frank Scheck, April 27, 2009 05:39 ET

Bottom Line: Some good moves, but no cinematic checkmate.

More Tribeca reviews

NEW YORK -- Chess as metaphor for life is the theme of Caroline Bottaro's French drama starring Sandrine Bonnaire as a maid who rediscovers herself thanks to her newfound love for the game and Kevin Kline as the misanthropic recluse who teaches her. While "Queen to Play" boasts an admirable dramatic subtlety and several strong performances, its overly familiar ideas and lugubrious pacing, as well as the fact that chess is not exactly the most cinematic of subjects, will make it a tough sit even for dedicated art house audiences. It recently received its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Bonnaire plays Helene, a chambermaid at an upper-class Corsican hotel who's dealing with financial problems, a rebellious daughter and a less than ideal marriage to a handsome but not particularly sensitive blue-collar worker (Francis Renaud).

When she sees a glamorous, barely clothed couple (including Jennifer Beals in a cameo) intensely playing chess on their balcony, it stirs something within her. She promptly buys a set, but her husband proves to be an unwilling player. Spotting a board in the home of Dr. Kroger (Kline), for whom she moonlights as a cleaning person, she implores him to tutor her in its intricacies.

Kroger, who has barely spoken to her in all the time she's worked for him, initially rebuffs. But sensing her passion, he eventually agrees, and the two begin weekly sessions in which the pupil soon starts overshadowing her teacher. By the time she's allowed to participate -- in underdog "Rocky" fashion -- in a local tournament, all the principal characters have undergone life-enhancing emotional changes.

That the film works to the degree that it does is largely due to the sensitive performances. Bonnaire delivers a beautifully modulated turn, delineating Helene's liberating transformation in quietly powerful and convincing fashion. Kline, in his first entirely French-speaking role, intriguingly underplays as the mysterious Kroger, and Francis Renaud strongly conveys the husband's complicated feelings of disdain for his wife's new obsession and concern for his marriage.

Production: Mon Voison Prods
Cast: Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Francis Renaud, Jennifer Beals, Valerie Lagrange
Director: Caroline Bottaro
Screenwriters: Caroline Bottaro, Caroline Maly, Jeanne Le Guillou
Producers: Dominique Besnehard, Micher Feller, Amelie Latscha
Director of photography: Jean-Claude Larrieu
Editor: Tina Baz
Production designer: Emmanuel de Chavigny
Music: Nicola Piovani
No MPAA rating, 96 minutes

Queen to Play -- Film Review

By Frank Scheck, April 27, 2009 05:39 ET

Paul Morphy, Chess Player, World Champion!

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The Ballad of Paul Morphy!

Check out the video below, the Ballad of Paul Morphy, a strange and haunting tribute to the famous chess player!

"This video is a tribute to the great chess genius Paul Morphy (1837-1884). The accompanying song is in the style of the old parlor songs of the Stephen Foster era and is delivered by Anchor Méjans. Some images are taken from "public domain" films at Prelinger Archive."

I discovered this video on YouTube and was struck by the uncanny similarities - especially the lines "retreating into dreams was his release." Yes, we're definitely dealing with the same Morphy!
Here are the lyrics:

Paul Morphy lived his life in black and white
For him there was no gray
No wrong nor right
Just strategy
Nights and days -
Confined by notes in squares upon a page

No friends to adore
Only royals and pawns
And there was no way out of his sad fate
No there was no way out of his sad fate
Alas alas alas for him -
checkmate

Paul Morphy wanted peace
But peace was scarce
Retreating into dreams was his release
Paul Morphy lived his life in black and white
For him there was no gray
No wrong nor right

No friends to adore
Only royals and pawns
And there was no way out of his sad fate
No there was no way out of his sad fate
Alas alas alas for him -
checkmate

Sing along!

Life of Paul Morphy!

You can read more about Morphy's life in my novel The Pride and the Sorrow.

The Knight of New Orleans - world chess in the crescent city!

The Knight of New Orleans on Facebook

Matt Fullerty - author fan site!

Matt Fullerty on Facebook

Faulkner-Wisdom Competition - I am "Almost Finalist"!

I'm pleased to say The Pride and the Sorrow is an "Almost Finalist" in the 2008 Faulkner- Wisdom Competition. The competition is run by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, and was judged by former Random House VP, Michael Murphy.

Thanks Faulkner Society!

Chess Gladiator - those who are about to die, salute you!

Dear England, after a long wait the World Chess Championship began on October 14th between chess titans Viswanathan Anand of India and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. Even to non-believers, chess never got so exciting! And that's saying something. The website is http://www.uep-chess.com/cms_english where previously played games are free to watch, and you can pay to watch the games live - if you have time!

In the meantime, check out the above image which allows you to play chess for real money against other competitors, and you can decide your own level of ability and risk. See http://www.chessgladiator.com/ or click on the above gladiator pic!

Let the best Paul Morphy win!

Matt wins Unpublished Novel Competition!

Bookhabit.com is pleased to announce the winner of the inaugural Bookhabit Unpublished Competition is Matt Fullerty's The Pride and the Sorrow. Matt receives a US$5000 prize and is "thrilled" about winning the first Bookhabit competition. We will be posting an interview with Matt on Bookhabit.com shortly. Congratulations from Bookhabit! You can see full details with an endorsement of the novel at http://www.bookhabit.com/newsdetail.php?nid=48

The Pride and the Sorrow is the story of Paul Morphy (1837-1884), born in New Orleans as a chess prodigy, his famous journey through Europe and his ultimate downfall on and off the chessboard. He is celebrated in fashionable European society, honored by Napoleon III of France and Queen Victoria of England and returns to New Orleans a local celebrity, only to find Civil War looming, a storm brewing in his family and his own mind coming apart ...

The novel itself is available at http://bookhabit.com/book_details.php?book_id=459

Novel's first interview - thanks Clare!

A 23-minute interview with Matt is now available through http://www.reviewyak.com/ with Clare Tanner of the Bookhabit Show. "Every month over 20,000 listeners download our podcasts for The Bookhabit Show where we tell the author's story behind the story."

You will be punished!

Last weekend, I went with Katie to the newly opened National Museum of Crime and Punishment located in DC's Chinatown. While it's $18 to go round (compared to the free Smithsonian museums including the zoo), this new addition to DC's landscape of museums is well worth it!

The museum is impressive mainly because it combines the history of crime, mostly the state torture that passed as punishment, while profiling modern criminals up to the present. Naturally, England, this means the museum includes sophisticated ballistics and CSI-style techniques! But the best bits were the stories of human arrogance and folly in criminals causing their own downfall!

One case that still puzzles today is that of D. B. Cooper who hijacked and ransomed a Boeing 727 in the seventies, only to leap from the back with the money and never be seen again! Check out Cooper's story here! His tale suits the strain of consiracy running through American culture - was he a genius who escpaed the Feds? Or was he too smart for himself and was probably killed on landing or shortly afterwards?

Check out my novel The Murderess and the Hangman about a maid who kills her landlady for a few pieces of furniture here!