MovieChat Forums > The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Discussion > Chess Query

Chess Query

posted 13 years ago by finnegansword
2 replies | jump to latest

Here’s a query for all you chess aficionados out there. According to the Director’s cut of the “Thomas Crown Affair”, care was taken to ensure that the moves on the chessboard made sense according to the laws of chess. However, in the “goofs” section on the introductory page about the movie it says, “During the infamous chess scene an overview of the board is shown as Vicki Anderson moves her bishop forward that shows that Crown has already castled, but it is not until later in the scene that he actually performs the move.”

If this statement is correct, how did the error come about? My suspicion is that at the cutting room stage, the sequence of moves got out of kilter. Can anyone with a better knowledge of the game than I explain this?

[–] tricksoftrade01 13 years ago

Vikki uses her feminine ways to sexually distract Crown during the game.

The signifcance of the casetling move is that it is generally considered by chess experts as a defensive move (Crown trying to steel himself from the sexual allure of Vikki and focus on the game).

There is a great quote from Robin Williams "Man has enough blood in their bodies to run both heads, but not at the same time."

[–] Jason_Radley 12 years ago

Sure, the moves are out of kilter, as you put it, but it's clear that whoever oversaw the scene didn't have much knowledge of chess beyond the basics or wasn't particularly bothered. The game starts out as a Ruy Lopez but a few moves later the position is pretty unrecognisable as one typically arising from this opening. Hey, but at least they're doing better than these guys:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/149824

It's something of a standing joke amongst chessplayers that chess on screen is invariably bungled.