A Game Of Passion In Chess (1984)

For the third part of my four-part miniseries about underrated or unknown musicals, I will dive into Chess (1984). Although the show has experienced a bit of a resurgence, it has been underrated by younger audiences, and its short run on Broadway was a flop. Throughout this article, I will focus on the British West End version of this musical, as opposed to the American Broadway version because the original concept album follows the British version.

Chess is very much a product of its time. Written in 1984 in the midst of the Cold War, Chess explores the conflicts between the U.S. and the USSR through the lens of competitive chess tournaments. During the Cold War, any sort of competition between the U.S. and the USSR was not about the competition itself but how a player’s victory or defeat would reflect on their country. To lose a sporting event or, let’s say, a space race, would not only be a loss for the people directly involved, but for the country as a whole.

Therefore, both Freddie Trumper, the American grandmaster, and Anatoly Sergievsky, the Russian grandmaster, have the world watching their every move as they play through the chess tournament. Freddie, being the American capitalist that he is, capitalizes on the media attention he receives by signing contracts with media companies for exclusive stories and interviews. He also intentionally acts out in public in order to create scandals and sell more papers. On the other hand, Anatoly is more concerned with winning due to his fear of failure and the intense pressure from his country to defeat Freddie.

However, throughout the musical, the game of chess is never really about the game. As the games in the tournament unfold, the victor of each game is determined not by his skill at chess, but by his emotional state. The two main characters, Freddie and Anatoly, are incapable of separating themselves and their personal lives from the game of chess itself. This leads to different kinds of losses for both parties as they blame others for their own inability to figure out their issues.

The Love Triangle: Freddie, Anatoly, Florence

On a surface level, the biggest influence of Freddie’s and Anatoly’s ability to win a game is a woman named Florence. At the beginning of the musical, Florence is Freddie’s second (meaning that she helps Freddie prepare for competitions) and close companion, so the press assumes they are lovers. While the status of their intimate relationship is never blatantly stated, Freddie very clearly has romantic feelings for Florence, which Florence does seem to reciprocate a little bit.

However, after becoming fed up with Freddie’s attention-seeking nonsense and falling for Anatoly’s charms, Florence leaves Freddie to be with Anatoly. As a result, Freddie is unable to focus during the chess games, and he loses the tournament to Anatoly. Based on this love triangle the musical presents, one may agree with Freddie and Anatoly that Florence is the main cause of their problems. However, it is the men themselves who are to blame because they don’t take the time to work through their own problems. This laziness leads both men to look to Florence to fix their problems, which just leaves the two men disappointed when she is unsuccessful.

Freddie’s Childhood

Freddie uses Florence due to unresolved childhood trauma. As a child, Freddie’s parents had an unhappy marriage, and they split when Freddie was twelve. Freddie’s mother never gave him attention, which confirmed Freddie’s suspicion that he was to blame for his parents’ unhappiness. As a result, Freddie threw himself into studying chess. He hoped that he would become successful so that he could escape his family, while finally receiving some attention from his mother for his achievements.

However, in the song “Pity the Child,” Freddie is tormented by the idea that despite his success, his mother might not even remember who he was if he were to call her. Therefore, the song praises ambition and self-improvement above all else because Freddie had nothing but himself growing up. He is angry with his mother for failing to care for him, and he tells listeners to not pity him, but “pity instead the careless mother…what she lost when she let [him] go” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Pity the Child.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )).

As a result of his mother’s failings, Freddie believes that when anyone leaves him, it is because of something he cannot control. For example, when Florence leaves Freddie for Anatoly, he tells her, “Once [women] start getting old, they…take it out on the one who supports them” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Florence Quits.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). He blames her abandonment on the fact that she’s a woman and never stops to consider that he might be at least partly to blame.

Freddie And Florence

Based on Florence’s words and actions, it is clear that Freddie is largely to blame for Florence deciding to finally leave him. Freddie’s self-obsession consistently leaves Florence feeling alone and used throughout the musical. She expands on her feelings in the best song of the musical called “Nobody’s Side.” 

In this song, she expresses her dismay with her current situation, and she preaches caution. For example, she sings, “Nobody’s on nobody’s side…Recognize you’re out on your own” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Nobody’s Side.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). Florence argues that no one is ever truly on her side, so she takes what she can from other people, while reminding herself that she will always be alone. Florence believes that she can’t depend on anyone because they will never put her first. She accepts this notion as a fact of life, which is part of the reason she puts up with Freddie for so long because she thinks this is how people treat each other.

Once Florence decides to leave Freddie, she tells him, “You’ll be lost without me to abuse…!” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Florence Quits.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). Therefore, Florence expresses that feels as though Freddie takes advantage of her, and he doesn’t appreciate all that she does for him. Freddie is clearly not blameless as his treatment of Florence does more to push her away than her romantic interest in Anatoly.

Anatoly’s And Florence’s First Meeting

Anatoly’s and Florence’s relationship begins because Freddie fails to show up to a meeting on time. Left to their own devices, Anatoly and Florence realize that the other is not who they thought they were. For example, in the song “Mountain Duet,” they sing, “Why can’t you be what you ought to be?” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Mountain Duet.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). They want to hate each other because they’re on opposite teams, but they don’t.

Anatoly even says that Florence makes him “forget why [he] ever agreed to his farce” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Mountain Duet.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). The farce, of course, being his decision to play chess for the USSR—a country that he wants to leave. One of Anatoly’s defining character traits is that he hates playing chess for the USSR. He thinks that his victories should be his and his alone without having to share them with an entire country. 

Anatoly laments, “Is there no-one in my life who will not claim the right to steal my work, my name…?” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Endgame.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). Anatoly wants to leave the USSR so that he can play chess for himself—not for the USSR or anyone else. He wants his own success to be his and his alone, and Anatoly gets his chance when Florence helps him defect from the USSR to the British Embassy.

The End Of Anatoly And Florence

The beginning of Anatoly’s and Florence’s end is revealed when Anatoly and Florence argue about Anatoly’s obsession with chess. This argument is prompted by news of Anatoly’s and Florence’s affair (Anatoly has a wife in the USSR) reaching the press. Florence wants to talk with Anatoly about what to do, but he has no interest in discussing it with her.

Anatoly is only concerned with winning this new chess tournament. He calls the news report “emotional blackmail,” and he dismisses both the news and Florence’s feelings about it (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Argument.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). In response, Florence retorts, “Looking after number one…What happened to us?” Once again, Florence is in a relationship with a man who values chess and victory over her. 

Florence left Freddie for Anatoly because she thought Anatoly would treat her with more respect than Freddie. However, Anatoly treats Florence as an afterthought, as something disposable. This treatment confirms Florence’s sentiments expressed in “Nobody’s Side” that no one will ever see her as more important than whatever is going on in their own life.

Later in the musical, Florence realizes how much work she’s done for Anatoly—the same type and amount of work that she did for Freddie. She asks herself, “Did I plan on doing all of this for the love of a man?” (( Andersson, Benny, Björn Ulvaeus, Tim Rice. Chess. “Heaven Help My Heart.” RCA/BMG, 1984, compact disc. )). Florence realizes that she is just too swept up with love to really care because her loneliness is so strong. Any reprieve from that loneliness is worth it for her, no matter the cost. Her deep loneliness helps explain why she endures both Freddie and Anatoly for so long—she has nobody else.

Anatoly’s and Florence’s relationship finally ends when Anatoly realizes that he can no longer avoid the USSR and the family he has there. There are other extenuating circumstances that contribute to Anatoly’s decision, but the primary reason is that he realizes he can’t outrun his past. As a result, Florence is left alone at the end of the musical because she couldn’t fix Freddie’s childhood trauma or provide a permanent alternative home for Anatoly.

Why You Should Check Out Chess

In addition to the concept album, there is a concert version of Chess called Chess in Concert (2008) from PBS that features famous singers like Adam Pascal, Josh Groban, and Idina Menzel. While I prefer the concept album, the concert version includes more songs, so it does a better job of explaining the whole story.

Chess has a depth to it that many musicals lack. With complex, flawed characters and a compelling plot, Chess digs into what it meant to represent the U.S. or the USSR in the midst of the Cold War. It’s also worth mentioning that its music was written by members of the pop group ABBA. So, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with the musical’s upbeat music. The music is packed with electric guitar and swells that expertly convey the characters’ turmoil as they try to navigate a confusing and dangerous world. Chess is worth listening to over and over again — even if you were never very good at playing the game.