The film titled “Chess Fever” (original Russian title: Шахматная горячка), directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky, is a 1925 black-and-white Soviet silent short film that humorously satirizes the intense chess mania that swept across the Soviet Union during the mid-1920s. Inspired by the craze following the Moscow International Chess Tournament, the film blends a fictional romantic comedy with real documentary footage. The story centers on a young man so obsessed with chess that he completely neglects his fiancée, leading to a series of comic and increasingly absurd misadventures. Through visual gags and exaggerated scenarios, the film highlights how the game infiltrates daily life and relationships. What makes Chess Fever particularly distinctive is its use of authentic footage from the 1925 tournament, held at the Bolshoi Theatre, which featured some of the most renowned chess players of the era. Among them were José Raúl Capablanca – the reigning World Champion at the time, Emanuel Lasker, Richard Réti, Savielly Tartakower, and Rudolf Spielmann. Capablanca even makes a cameo within the fictional storyline.

“Chess Fever” (original Russian title: Шахматная горячка) title banner (00:08). José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (1888-1942), Cuban chess player who held the title of World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927 (00:21). Audience viewing chess matches between top chess players (00:41). Comedic portrayal of a manic man playing solitaire chess (03:07). The scene shifts to him struggling with a swarm of cats and kittens as he continues to play solitaire chess (03:43) He leaves his house in a frenzy (04:57). He gets into an altercation with a worker outside (05:40). Two seated women (06:01). Two seated women (06:19). Scene depicting the frenzied man irresistibly drawn to a chess shop to portray his addiction (06:34). Scenes show his fiancée growing increasingly frustrated and impatient as she waits for him, while he is continuously distracted by chess related things (07:26). He returns home (08:53). He pleads for his fiancée’s forgiveness, but is sidetracked by a game of chess (09:26). They argue, and she throws his chess-book out the window (10:37). Scenes of random people excitedly catching the book (10:46). The frenzied man and his fiancée continue their argument (13:42). He leaves her for his love of chess (14:26). She visits her grandfather (14:37). He hands her a giant book about chess (15:40). A chess-themes cake is delivered (16:10). Scenes depict her angrily attempting to escape anything related to chess, but is repeatedly confronted by it (16:26). She enters a pharmacy wanting to buy poison for herself, where a game of chess is in play (18:22). The frenzied man is throwing his chess related belongings in a river, except his chess book (19:37). The fiancéeattempts to drink the poison only to realize the bottle is actually a chess piece (21:21). José Capablanca shows up (21:53). She leaves with him (22:43). Her husband comes running, but finds her gone (23:23). He goes to the Champions Match (23:58). He joins the audience viewing chess matches between top chess players (24:11). He finds his fiancée in the audience (24:58). They make up, as she now likes chess too (25:12). “The End” text overlay (26:8).

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