Dangerous Moves (La Diagonale du fou)

Ok...

Go...

That goes...

The 32?

Send...

EXTRACT OF THE REGULATION.

The World Chess Championship...

...will oppose Grand Master Liebskind, World Champion...

...to grand master Fromm, winner of the candidate tournament.

There is no limit to the number of games.

Draws will not be counted.

Each competitor will be...

allowed to adjourn one game.

The world champion will receive a $100,000 prize

and his opponent $50,000.

The world champion will be...

...the first player who wins six games.

Ok, that is all.

LA DIAGONAL DU FOU

How do you feel?

Fine.

I'll feel even better once the game has started.

You're talking like a positive hero, Akiva Israelovitch.

The tracings are excellent. Forget about them.

You have a heart like a cosmonaut. You'll live to 120.

I've put together your case notes.

Don't forget them.

And these,

always keep some on you.

I don't think you'll need them.

Anton, you promised to come.

They refused me an exit visa.

I knew it.

It will be repaired.

Put sound-proofing everywhere.

It will be done.

The pieces aren't heavy enough.

And I want more light.

They can be changed.

Jean?

And the lights?

They can be turned up.

Go ahead...

Grand Master Fromm will stop you.

That's fine.

Mark that setting. What's the grade?

Eighty lux.

Thank you.

What are they up to?

Moscow confirmed that they are on this flight.

What's going on?

You're just replaying the game you won from him in Erevan in '69.

You're lazy.

Talented, but lazy.

Go on, beat me.

Queen to G7.

If the rook takes B3,

...black bishop takes pawn C4...,

...knight takes the bishop...

...Unavoidable...

...Then the blacks push the rook to G8 and it's all over.

The whites have had it.

If you want to beat your opponent...

...study the games he lost.

Tac-Tac.

Excuse me.

What are you doing here?

You've been in Geneva for half an hour.

Then, let's get off. What are we waiting for?

They're here.

His cardiologist, Heller?

No.

I was right.

Liebskind is not ill.

His heart attack is phoney.

Your information is rotten.

My information is correct. The proof is Tac-tac.

You think they sent him to Geneva because of his talent at chess?

How many threatening letters?

Twelve. Two threaten to kill you.

Pavius, I have the contract.

I've already said no. Twice.

You work 3 days,

pay off your debts, and get an income for life.

I won't do it.

You know how much you owe me? Give me something to sell!

Listen carefully, Foldes.

Fromm is Fromm...

...a professional chess player.

Have him play against a hundred, a thousand guys.

Blindfolded, standing on one leg, at the bottom of the ocean, but...

...I play chess, me...

...not some machines with my name on them. Get it?

I'm going into town.

You weren't tailed?

No way.

Who's your man in my group?

No one.

I don't believe you.

Good.

You're an opportunist.

Everybody can't be a dissident superstar.

How's the hero doing?

They let him out without his cardiologist now?

He doesn't need one.

He'll put you to shame, superstar.

You know damn well that I'm going to beat him.

Me, the renegade, the traitor...

...the petit-bourgeois idealist!

You'll see...

...when I'm the world champion,

Pravda will call it one more victory for Soviet chess.

You wanted to see me just to say all that crap?

Have you seen Marina?

Yes.

How is she?

Fine, I think.

Didn't she say anything to you?

Why doesn't she answer my letters any more?

What have you done to her?

Pavius... Marina wants a divorce.

Tell her to wait until the match is over.

Did they answer?

Yes.

He won't hold out his hand?

No.

Neither will he shake my hand?

Absolutely.

I don't believe you.

They accepted to pay the $10,000 guarantee.

Are you happy?

Is wrong... Something is wrong.

Calm, Pavius, the war hasn't begun.

It has been lasting for five years, since I went West.

Listen, Pavius, everything has been negotiated for months.

The world is watching, they have to behave.

They can do anything. It's more sophisticated...

...you believe something is coming, you get excited...

...and Liebskind has already won.

They will never allow a renegade to win over Liebskind.

I'm going to raise hell.

That's what they're waiting for.

I don't care.

Order a press conference for tomorrow, 10 a.m.

What's going on?

You've seen Tac-tac?

Did you talk about Marina?

Put your cigarette away, Gennadi lvanovitch.

But I'm not smoking, Akiva Israelovitch.

You're threatening to smoke.

In chess, threats are more serious than deeds.

You still enjoy beating me?

I savour victory's sweetness,

as you savour the bitterness of defeat.

Why did you come?

I obey orders.

Check!

Really, now!

What's wrong?

We have to inspect the theatre at eleven.

You go, I trust you.

Make sure everything conforms to the protocol you negotiated.

But... he...

He increased the lights to 80, I'll decrease them if they dazzle me.

He wants heavier pieces.

He won't play any better with them.

But the cameras..., the setting-up...

Totally unimportant.

I'm deaf.

Incredible! Incredible! I do not accept your conduct!

I am incapable to understand to you!

What do you live on?

My friends' generosity.

You've been called an American agent...

How much does an American agent earn?

You consider yourself a dissident?

No. I'm an exile.

Weren't you a political activist?

Of course. Since the cradle.

As a pioneer I was censured for glorifying Stalin.

During Khruschev's time I was already a prankster.

What is a prankster?

A free man.

Where I come from, some jokes are called "2 by 4".

Two years in jail for listening, four years for telling them.

Seriously,

you were a Communist Party member, Liebskind never was.

The party itself decides who joins and who doesn't.

In Lithuania you have to join. That's how it is. Everyone knows.

What about Liebskind?

Ask him, but you'll have to shout, because he's deaf.

Why don't you shake his hand?

Are you sure he wasn't ordered not to shake mine?

Have you heard from your wife?

I'd rather not talk about her.

I don't know anything.

I've had no news.

I fear the worst.

Let me go!

No, comrade Protanazov. Stay.