Critical Thinking

“Chess is the great equalizer”

Mario Martinez (John Leguizamo) teaches at an underserved Miami high school and believes his students are capable of far more than anyone expects of them. In 1998 he coaches five Latino and Black teenagers, among them Ito Paniagua (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), toward the National Chess Championship. Leguizamo, directing for the first time, keeps the camera on the classroom and the neighborhood, so the team's world is as much the subject as the board.