The short 28-minute film, Chess Fever (Shakhmatnaya goryachka), finishes Kino Video's trio of Soviet silent classics with a delightful flourish. Chess enthusiasts will especially enjoy this little gem since it features actual footage from the 1925 Moscow international tournament with a number of legendary grandmasters: Richard Reti, Ernst Grunfeld, Carlos Torre, and Frank Marshall (former U.S. champion). But highlighting the silent is a crucial cameo role by one of the greatest world champions of all time, José Raul Capablanca!

The abundantly talented Capablanca possessed such a deep understanding of positional play and supreme endgame technique that he appeared to consistently win games effortlessly, like he came from another planet. Never seen working hard at his game, Capablanca held quite a reputation as a charismatic ladies man, who enjoyed an active "party" lifestyle. This all plays well in the film, and the world champion comes across as a very relaxed and experienced movie star in his brief appearance (it's the only movie listed on his resume, however).

The film's premise is very simple. The hero (Vladimir Fogel) has become completely addicted to chess, to the point that his fiancée (Anna Zemtsova) decides to break off their pending marriage. She is convinced that the game breaks up families, and the film goes to great humorous lengths to illustrate the point--not too far-fetched an idea in Moscow, where chess has long reigned supreme as the national pastime.

After a prologue shows game action from the 1925 Moscow tournament with intensely interested fans, the story opens with the hero inside his one-room apartment, preparing to meet his beloved. He is distracted, however, by his chess set in the middle of the room (and a throng of small kittens that continually get in the way). He plays a game with himself, switching from the white to black side, and studies the position from afar. Glancing at the clock, he discovers that it's now noon--two hours later than his appointed time to meet his girlfriend. But that's still not enough to spark him into immediate action, as he continues to move the chess pieces and later feeds his obsession by stopping at a chess shop on the way and then becoming engrossed with a poster about an upcoming tournament.

All seems forgiven when bending down on his knee to sweet-talk his girlfriend, but that abruptly ends when she realizes that he's now engrossed with another chessboard placed under her feet. Breaking off the engagement, she flings his various travel and miniature chess sets out the window, yet can never rid herself of chess influences. Someone brings a celebratory cake topped with chess pieces, and she runs into two toddlers playing the royal game as their nanny exclaims how proud she is that they are playing a Queen's Gambit.

She decides that Life isn't worth living anymore, only to find that the poison she plans to use is encased in a chess king figurine. Meanwhile, the hero pines for his lost love and begins tossing his remaining chess boards and pieces into the river.

The heroine loudly declares how she hates chess, and that's where Capablanca makes his grand entrance. Smiling, the world's greatest chess master tells her that he also hates chess whenever he sees a beautiful woman. Directors Pudovkin and Shpikovsky play this like grandmasters, and all ends well with a very clever denouement. The film's swift pace and brevity make for a pleasing romantic comedy that works for a variety of audiences, but chess aficionados inevitably will appreciate this light little drama, only wishing that filmmakers had focused more on the actual positions (and had avoided having the hero make such ridiculous rook/pawn opening moves).

The premise definitely is relatable to anyone that has been involved with serious chess playing. I once met a regular tournament player from New Mexico, who told how his former wife had given him an ultimatum a few years before--that he must choose between her and chess. His presence automatically made his choice obvious, and he wasn't even a high level player!