Grandmasters

  • Rated Not Rated
  • 2hr 50m

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Movie Info & Cast

Release Date:

Oct 11, 2026

Runtime:

2hr 50m

Synopsis

The once esoteric and uninspired world of competitive chess is thrown into turmoil when an eccentric German entrepreneur enlists reigning champion Magnus Carlsen to launch a new league that aims to revolutionize the game.
Moviegoers are saying
This chess documentary divides audiences between those who appreciate its humanizing portrayal of chess personalities and those frustrated by its meandering 2+ hour runtime. While some praise director Liza Mandelup's Succession-inspired approach to making chess accessible and engaging, others feel it's a bloated advertisement that lacks focus and clear direction.
Top Mentions
Chess-Drama
Character-Study
Sports-Doc
Personality-Driven
Niche-Appeal
Overlong
Summary generated from the text of Atom User reviews

Letterboxd User Reviews

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RATINGS N/A FANS
  • Oct 11, 2026

    “Grandmasters” is the full length documentary of the boring , but personality driven world of Chess. (Their words, not mine.) If you love NASCAR, the NBA, the NHL, or soccer (football), then you can appreciate the competitive, outrageous, story-driven leagues, with…

    9 Likes
    Chocolaterobot
    Chocolaterobot
    Oct 11, 2026

    This captured the full spectrum of people in the world of chess so beautifully. Even when it had nothing to do with the story at the center of this film, they made sure to feature every idiosyncrasy they captured on camera. Wesley So not knowing how to drive. Magnus taking…

    5 Likes
    collin_holson
    collin_holson
    Oct 11, 2026

    Really sad to say that this one is a total miss!! I heard that they were doing a chess documentary and went on a total whim, not knowing what to expect, and well, what we got was sort of a disaster. It really feels like the documentarians pointed a camera at anything and…

    4 Likes
    Zap_Film
    Zap_Film
  •
    Oct 11, 2026

    Movie of the year, Magnus Carlsen is awesome. I wish they didn’t focus on Wesley So as much, I didn’t find his story super interesting compared to everything else going on.

    3 Likes
    calebron67
    calebron67
    Oct 11, 2026

    lifelong chess player and fan here to say that i'm sincerely considering switching to lichess

    2 Likes
    zach
    zach
    Oct 11, 2026

    Shout out Danny I’m logging this on Letterboxd  Thought this was a really good look at the modern state of the chess world while ALSO exploring the experiences and perspectives of players and organizers in a very humanizing way. Filmmaker Liza Mandelup mentioned Succession…

    2 Likes
    kayak_boat
    kayak_boat
  •
    Oct 12, 2026

    Interesting characters that add dimension the chess world you can’t see in any other media about the sport.

    1 Likes
    leamak
    leamak
    Oct 12, 2026

    Chess? ✔️ Drama? ✔️ THE ROOOOOK!! ✔️

    2 Likes
    HDDragon
    HDDragon
    Oct 11, 2026

    fired my marketing girl for no reason tbh

    2 Likes
    abigail
    abigail

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Frequently Asked Questions

When does Grandmasters come out in theaters?
October 11, 2026 is the release date.
How long is Grandmasters (2026)?
The movie is 2hr 50min long.
What's Grandmasters (2026) about?
The once esoteric and uninspired world of competitive chess is thrown into turmoil when an eccentric German entrepreneur enlists reigning champion Magnus Carlsen to launch a new league that aims to revolutionize the game.
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