Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she's competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and...

The film reveals the intertwined lives of international chess heroes: Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani. These four legendary female players from Georgia revolutionized women's chess and became Soviet icons of women's empowerment. The women leave a lasting legacy. They played together on the Soviet Union's Olympic team, but they were also competitive with each other. Now older, they are still important icons...

Terri Miller has married chess champion Bobby Polgar, and now lives in a beautiful home with a view of Puget Sound. When Terri senses something is worrying Bobby, he tells her he's protecting his queen--and she feels he's not talking about chess.

"After years in and out of mental institutions, Genesis is released into the care of his older brother Ariki, a street gang leader. When he volunteers to train a group of disadvantaged Maori children for the upcoming National Chess Championships, it puts him at odds with his brother over Ariki's son Mana, whose interest in the game threatens the teen's imminent initiation into his father's violent gang. Despite all odds, Gen's positivity always leads...