Music by: Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus Book (Broadway) by: Richard Nelson

Lyrics and Book (London) by: Tim Rice Directed by: Trevor Nunn

The story of this show is quite different depending on which version you're looking at! But basically, it's the Cold War, and a Russian and an American are battling for the world chess championship, as well as for the pride of their countries. Caught in the middle is Florence, whose loyalties on several levels are called into question. Read the London synopsis, or the Broadway synopsis to see how the show has changed. To get an even better picture of what happens in the show, browse through the London lyrics or the Broadway lyrics.

Despite the title, this show really has very little to do with the game of chess. :-) However, if you're interested, you can learn a little more about the game. The show has much more to do with the animosity between the United States and Russia in the period after the second World War until the fall of communism - take a quick look at the Cold War, or read about some of the history of the musical.

I own four different recordings of this show, and because I really love this score, I enjoy them all, but I do also have a definite favourite. :-) Take a look at my reviews of the CDs, or listen to a clip from one of my favourite songs. There's also a DVD available of the Swedish production - read my review of that recording.

The only time I've seen this show so far was an amateur production, by Sock 'n' Buskin Theatre Company at Carleton University. It was really, really well done, and made me even more anxious to see a large-scale version of the show. Hopefully I'll get a chance to soon, and I'll be sure to add my thoughts here when I do.

There are some really great performers who have been in this show - here are my thoughts on a few of them. Once you're done looking around here, check out some of the other Chess websites that are out there!