Hans Niemann, a 22-year-old American, has enormous talent for chess; but his volatile and arrogant temperament rubs almost everyone up the wrong way. Magnus Carlsen, a 35-year-old Norwegian, is one of the best chess players in history; generally even-tempered, but sometimes he explodes and borders on arrogance himself. Niemann beat Carlsen at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis in September 2022. The Scandinavian accused his rival of cheating, without any proof, and Niemann sued him for $100 million; they reached an out-of-court settlement. The documentary Untold: Chess Mates recounts the huge scandal — even Elon Musk got involved — without a single word of apology from Carlsen.

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Since the Spanish cleric Ruy López de Segura became the first unofficial world chess champion in the 16th century, only one woman, Judit Polgár, has been among the world’s top 10 players while there are few among the top 100. Having retired from playing tournaments in 2014, the 49-year-old Hungarian has intelligence, sympathy, and culture in spades. No one would guess she had never been to school, except for exams. The Netflix documentary Queen of Chess focuses on her success on the chess board but does not say much about this. Nor does it flag up the scarcity of women in a sport where physical strength is irrelevant.

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Queen of Chess

Director: Rory Kennedy

Genre: Documentary. U.S., 2026.

Running time: 95 minutes.

Platform: Netflix

Premiere: February 6.