The movie Little Man Tate highlights what it is about chess that’s never sat well with me. It’s supposed to be some test of smarts, yet the player who’s studied more usually has the advantage. No matter how gifted a chess mind you might have, if you go up against someone who’s memorized the first 8 moves of all the popular openers, you’re going to lose.

At the end of the movie, Tate only wins because he finally solves the chess puzzle he was too dumb to figure out much earlier on. He just happens to find himself in exactly the same setup in the final game against the villain, and then is celebrated as the best/smartest when he wins, even though he’d had months or so to solve the puzzle. I say he got lucky!