In this coming-of-age drama set in the world of chess, Cal Fournier is competing in the Grand International Chess Open in Budapest. At twenty-two, Cal is an old hand at this – he and his coach Viktor have their methods down to a routine. To compete at this level requires fanatical single-mindedness. Not a problem for Cal, who has always lived in his head. In fact, Cal hardly ever leaves the hotels in which the tournaments are staged, and he has the social skills one might expect from such a cloistered life. Even his clothes are tourist merch from airport boutiques. By day, Cal competes, sometimes playing ten opponents at once. By night, he and his girlfriend Lou (Jappeloup’s Lou de Laâge, COLCOA 2013) join his entourage for gambling in the hotel’s casino. Though it’s a brutal tournament, Cal is expected to win as usual. But his system is about to be put in check by an unorthodox 11 year-old Hungarian boy named Max. To defeat this impudent little prodigy, Cal will be forced to re-evaluate more than his game strategy.
