A true story of a chess grandmaster played out like a chess game in real life.

A Czech Gambit, by Hamilton playwright Russell Armitage, was commissioned by the Prague International Chess Festival and performed at there in 2023. It is based on the true story of Czech Chess Grandmaster, Lubomir Kavalek, beginning in his early years when his father defected to Germany. It is full of drama, struggle, persecution, successes, match-fixing, political intrigue, and finally, escape to freedom in the West in 1968.

It was possibly the first play by a New Zealander to be performed in the Czech Republic, and now Hamilton audiences will be the first in New Zealand to see it.

If you liked the film Queen’s Gambit you will love A Czech Gambit.

Directed by Lorna Ashton