Veteran communist grand master “Akiva” (Michel Piccoli) is in Geneva for the world chess championships against lapsed Soviet “Pavius” (Alexander Arbatt) and it’s quite a grudge match. He won’t even shake his opponent’s hand beforehand. It’s fairly clear that this older man has health issues, but his adversary is not without his own problems as his wife - whom he didn’t defect with - is now seeking a divorce and is soon a pawn of a different kind. With gamesmanship rife inside and outside the press-packed auditorium, this drama follows both men as it fills in some back story and tries to explai…
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