Chess Fever by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovskii (1925)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVF9JSpud8M]

A charming little early Soviet film about Chess Fever, featuring easily the most dominant champion of the first half of the twentieth century, the Cuban José Raúl Capablanca.  His endgame skills were also purported to be unparalleled.  In speed-chess he was thus perhaps even more feared than he was during longer, official events.

Anyway, this film thus encapsulates two of my favorite things: (1) chess, and (2) early Soviet cinema.  Enjoy!