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July 20th each year is celebrated as International Chess Day, the day the International Chess Federation was founded in 1924. The idea to celebrate the day was proposed by UNESCO and since 1966, the day has been celebrated every year. To honour this day, we bring you a list of exceptional films and TV shows that feature the board game.

The coming-of-age story, which was released in October 2020 on Netflix, got everyone hooked to the game of pawns. Based on Walter Tevis' 1983 book 'The Queen's Gambit', the TV show followed orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, as she becomes the world's top player.

The Steven Zaillian directorial follows seven-year-old Josh Waitzkin, who is a chess prodigy in the making. He receives training under Bruce Pandolfini, a ruthless instructor. But as the boy's skill grows, he becomes disinterested in the game. Max Pomeranc stars as Josh Waitzkin.

The biographical drama revolves around the 1972 World Chess Championship. In the 2014 film, Tobey Maguire stars as Bobby Fischer, an American grandmaster, who challenges the best player in the Soviet Union in a chess championship. Liev Schreiber plays Maguire's Russian counterpart, Boris Spassky.

The Boaz Yakin directorial revolves around a preteen boy named Michael (nicknamed Fresh), who runs drugs for thugs. Inspired by chess lessons given to him by his alcohol speed-chess master father, played by Samuel L Jackson, Fresh comes up with a brilliant plan to extricate himself and his drug-addicted sister from their miserable lives.

The film, which is based on Vladimir Nabokov novel, 'The Luzhin Defence', tells the story of Luzhin (played by John Turturro), an ignorant and unkempt chess grandmaster who is sent to Italy in the 1920s to compete in one of the toughest chess battles of his life.

The documentary, directed by Benjamin Ree, follows Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen, born in 1990, and his journey as he becomes a grandmaster at the age of 13 and world champion in 2013.

This is yet another documentary film about Intermediate School 318, an inner-city public school in Brooklyn, New York. The board game helps transform a New York school into one of the city's best, but recession-driven budget cuts threaten to topple the school's championship chess team.

The 2014 film follows renowned chess player Genesis Potini, who despite several adversities in his life, finds the courage to deal with difficult situations. The film is directed by James Napier Robertson.