Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder Reuniting for Chess Cheating Scandal Film

Back in 2022, world champion chess player Magnus Carlsen quit the Sinquefield Cup pro tournament in St. Louis, Missouri, after a surprising loss to a 19-year-old, Hans Niemann. What started as a speculative drama about why Carlsen quit or how Niemann won in the first place quickly spiraled into accusations of cheating, an unsuccessful legal battle, and what’s considered to be the biggest scandal in chess history. Now, that story is receiving the film treatment at A24.

Emma Stone will produce the cheating scandal film alongside Dave McCary, her husband and production partner. Nathan Fielder will join as director. The film will be based on Ben Mezrich’s book proposal Checkmate, similar to his non-fiction books The Accidental Billionaires and The Antisocial Network, which were respectively adapted into Dumb Money (2023) and The Social Network (2010).

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The feature package, secured by A24 over top streamers and studios, will revisit Carlsen and Niemann’s feud, in which the younger player was accused of cheating, leading to a $100 million defamation lawsuit that was ultimately dismissed in 2023. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mezrich’s proposal aims to shape their rivalry in the broader context of the chess industry as it navigates a “collision of tradition and innovation.”

The scandal encompassed not just Carlsen and Niemann but also Niemann’s coach, Maxim Dlugy, who has been banned twice for breaking fair-play rules on Chess.com and receiving help from outside sources, including one student who was assumed to be utilizing an AI program. A24’s battle for the film puts it in a position to be the most popular chess drama since Anya Taylor-Joy dominated Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit in a sickening red bob.

Stone and Fielder last worked together as lead characters on Showtime’s dark comedy series The Curse, on which Fielder also served as writer and director.

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