Where do you want to sit? asked the ticket seller of the cinema. Where there are not many other people, I said prudently. He laughed and handed me my ticket and a large glass of water, because old people often drink too little.
I had come for a French chess film called Fahim. When it had finished and the lights went on in the hall, I saw that there were only four other people. Apparently with a chess movie there is little danger attending a super-spreader event.
It was a Wednesday, which in the Netherlands is the last day of the movie week, and I wondered if I had experienced the death throes of a nice film that was only allowed to run for a week. It would turn out that this was too pessimistic. It would still run for some weeks in several cities throughout the country.
It is a real life story about Fahim Mohammad, a boy who fled Bangladesh together with his father. In Paris, they end up living on the streets after their asylum application has been rejected. The father sells roses and miniature Eiffel Towers to the tourists and has to run whenever he sees a policeman, to avoid arrest.
But there is a chance of salvation: Fahim’s chess talent. The club where he signed up lovingly embraces him. The chess coach, played by Gérard Depardieu, is a real chess lover, but also a grumpy and hardened man. Delighted by Fahim’s talent, he mellows so much that there is even some hope for his love life. And when Fahim wins the French U-12 championship in 2012, the Prime Minister is provoked to say on the radio that Fahim’s and his father’s refugee status will be re-evaluated. So all ends well. All the clichés of the feel-good story were poured out, but I must confess: I was moved.
The main character Fahim Mohammad does really exist. He was born in 2000 and his life course is quite similar to that in the film. The grumpy coach with a big heart also really existed. Fahim actually won that U-12 championship and the French Prime Minister Fillon did say on the radio more or less what he says in the film.
There is of course also a lot in which the movie differs from reality, as for example four chess years of Fahim are compressed to one. In the film, Fahim made the draw he needed in the last round against an extremely unpleasant boy that he had already met earlier in Paris.
In real life, Fahim also drew in that last round, against a boy who probably didn’t do anything wrong. I wondered what that innocent kid, who now must be 19 or 20 years old, should be thinking when he sees the film and the slimy creep playing him. And of course there was another sobering thought: what would have become of the highly sympathetic father and son if Fahim had come only second in that championship, or if he hadn’t played chess at all?
About a week after I had seen the film, I learned about another young chess talent whose life story had great similarities with that of Fahim.
One of the guest commentators at the final tournament of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour was Tani Adewumi, a nine-year-old boy who three years ago came with his parents from Nigeria to the United States, where they received religious asylum. Tani wants to become the youngest chess grandmaster in history and pursuing this lofty aim he has already generated a lot of attention in the U.S.
There was an article about him and his family in the New York Times, he was invited by Bill Clinton to visit him in his office in Harlem and the movie rights to his life story, as described in the book My Name is Tani ... and I Believe in Miracles, have been acquired by Paramount Pictures. From homeless shelters to Clinton and Paramount, thanks to chess.
As a guest at the Carlsen Tour, Tani had a thoroughly modern piece of advice: “When you see a good move, don’t worry about finding a better one, but save time and make that move.” The reverse of the famous advice attributed to Emanuel Lasker: “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” Thus, the evolution of chess over a century is condensed in two quotes.
Nine-year-old Tani also had a piece of advice for online tournament organizers who want to protect themselves against cheaters: “Don’t aim the cameras at the faces of the players, because there is not much to see there. Point them at their keyboard and at their screen and you’ll see what they are doing.” Wise words, well-suited to the modern age.
The game viewer shows a game by Fahim Mohammad that was played when he was already well-settled in France. I wonder if he still plays, as his FIDE profile shows very little activity after 2018.
Click here to view Mohammad-Kambrath, Paris 2016