Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
And cardinals' Mark mcgwire
hit the record breaker last night.
Homer number 62 to continue his hot streak.
We got our own hot streak here in Miami. It's gonna hit 95...
Yo, Jason.
Yo, Lou, I gotta bounce.
- I gotta go to Lamar. - I got you.
Yo. Hey, yo!
Yo, yo, yo!
Hey, you ain't seen me running back there? Come on now.
You got a pass?
You're not really gonna try and give me
a used lunchtime pass this early in the morning now?
That's fuckin' cold.
- And no eating on the jitney! - Mmm-hmm.
What's up, sed?
Same old.
How's your pops?
Same old.
Anything I could do?
I'll take a piece of that sandwich if you're offering, shit.
You see, I would though, but ray already skimped me on the platanos, dawg,
so I can't even be going that way.
I got these pythons to feed.
Fat-ass. Whatever, man. All right, man.
Yo, ito, wait up, man.
- Speed up, sed. - Wait up.
Drag your fat ass through. You hear me?
Man, slow down.
What?
Nothing, just don't look at the board.
- Huh? - Just don't look at the board.
Come on, who's the wise guy? Who's the wise guy?
Are you guys ever gonna grow up?
- Nope. Not this year. - Yeah, I didn't think so.
All right, now, people, this is gonna be very basic for some of you,
but for the fish, or the newbies as I like to call you,
this is gonna be eye-opening
because what you've got is 64 squares,
32 pieces, it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are,
what Ivy league school you may go or you may not go to,
what prison you hopefully never set foot in,
because chess is the great equalizer.
Okay, now in the opening, white always moves first.
Now, I wonder what old white guy thought of that rule, right?
I know you hear me.
So, white has multiple openings,
depending on his opponent's strength.
Then black is gonna counter with a choice of defenses,
- and then you're off to the races, my friends. - Oi, oi, oi.
Hear what I said?
Hey, Mr. Medina. Nice of you to show up, my man.
- You are so very welcome, Mr. t. - Where were you?
I was in the yard.
I was playing a couple of fishies for their lunch money.
Come on, man. Please don't tell me you're gambling.
The last thing I need is for kestel to come in
and give me grief for that too. Come on!
My bad. Check me out.
Look, these underrated matches ain't getting us nowhere, Mr. t.
- "Aren't." aren't getting us anywhere, roddy. - Aren't.
And since when are you too good to play your peers, huh, man?
- They aren't our peers anymore. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
So, now... now you think you can go up against people
who've been playing since they were in diapers? Okay, okay.
Hold on, hold on. Check me out.
Ain't no diapers here, Mr. t. Don't do me like that.
Please, please sit down, sit down.
Good to know. Just sit down, please. Sit down.
I'll never be able to unsee that. That's...
All right, people, so the first proof today is gonna be
the Scandinavian defense.
And it goes a little something like this, all right?
So, white plays e4, black attacks aggressively to d5.
And then black pawn down. Okay?
So, the queen violently takes.
Now, this breaks all the rules for beginners
because you never bring out your queen too early.
Roddy, what's the other rule?
Um, you never move the same piece twice in an opening.
- Duh. - Thank you, thank you. Beautiful.
And now, let's do it over again.
And what do you make of that, Mr. paniagua?
- Yo, get the fuck outta here. - Did you wake up?
He's ordering platanos in his dreams and shit.
Oh, hey. Hey, watch the mouth, watch the mouth.
Mr. t, please, just cut me some slack.
I was working mad late the whole night.
If I was your boss, I would, but I'm your teacher
in the easiest elective in the history of electives.
How much more slack would you like, Mr. paniagua?
Huh? Just show up, stay awake and you pass, man.
- Little more? - No, come here, come here, come here.
Come up and show me your best opening. Come on, stud, crush me.
Come on, big shot.
- This is why I was sleeping. - Come on, big shot.
This is why I was sleeping 'cause I was saving it for this.
- Watch what's gonna happen. - I'll call you out next so don't play. Don't play.
- E, v4. Boom. - Very basic.
So, I'm gonna call you out on little basics as well.
- Basic to basic. - Oh. Okay, okay.
- That's fancy. You wanna see some defense? - Oh, look at that.
Developing a bishop instead of the knight. Somebody's paying attention.
- I should be teaching actually. - So, I'm gonna counter with this little defensive move.
- What you got? What you got? - Okay, that's good.
- But I already got this. - Oh, no, no, no, no.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
- Why no? - No, he's trying to scholar's mate me.
Hey, come on. Trying to scholar's mate me?
You do that, and I'll chase your queen all over the damn board, man.
- Oh, okay. - Save that for some fish. All right, guys, guys.
Hey, hey, can you go over the legal's mate again for me, please?
- Can you do that? - I got you, Mr. Martinez.
All right, so, uh, what do we have here?
Rivera here refused to answer Mr. Rochelle, then he took a swing at him.
Oh, whoa, whoa, Mr. trouble.
Come on, go inside and wait by my desk, all right? Come on.
- Hey, that new kid look weird. - Go, go.
- Thank you. - What's good.
Come on, man. Come on.
My class is not detention, miss kestel.
- No? - No.
No, I'm running a legitimate elective here, okay?
These kids have real potential.
Hello?
Okay, well, they're not what you think they are.
I mean... Well, maybe that one is.
- Oh. - Come on, come on.
Guys, guys, please, a little respect.
Man. Whatever, man.
As long as their ranking and our g.R. Goes up,
you can have them playing marbles for all I care.
And I got you this elective.
So, if I need a babysitter because some kid is messing
with another kid's chances of actually graduating,
I expect you'll accommodate me.
I do, I do. I got your back.
- 1 do. - Great.
And as attendance has been your one area of true greatness,
I'd suggest you focus more on the fact
that it's dipped this past month.
Well, a student was deported.
I'm sorry, but immigration has a way of messing with attendance numbers.
Just keep the bodies in the seats.
Well, look, if you hired me just to fill up bilingual quota,
you're underestimating me, okay?
And more importantly, them.
Just keep the bodies in the seats.
You know, I'm a good teacher.
I am a good teacher.
- Paniagua. - Here.
So, Rivera?
Well, remaining silent, I mean, it certainly is your prerogative.
Again, t droppin' some Bobby brown.
Can you not?
Oh, yeah, okay.
That makes sense.
Cool?
Now, Michael, you got two choices here, okay?
One, do nothing,
or play chess.
I swear. I swear there's gonna be one day
one student says, "yes, Mr. Martinez, chess!"
Of course, yeah.
All right, guys. Hey, guys, guys.
I want you to review scholar's mate for me
- on your own, all right? - Shit.
What, I have to listen to ito's Haitian music to be cool?
- I'm Dominican, jit. - Dominican, whatever.
Hey, yo, can you pass my queen?
Yo. Yo, jungle book, I'm talking to you.
Hey, you don't hear me talking to you?
- Pick up the queen, jit. - Yo, ito, I got it, man. I got it.
No, it's all good, it's all good. So, you know what?
'Cause I was telling jungle book over here to pick up my queen
from the fucking floor like I told him to.
- Bro, leave the kid alone. - Shut up, bitch.
- Sit down. - I'm talking to him.
Come on, come on. Hey, hey.
Come on. Come on. Come on, man.
You're going to hit somebody because they won't pick up your plastic queen?
- Come on, ito. - If that's what it takes.
- Come on, man. - You see, it was right there on the floor.
Ito, ito, I don't want to be judgmental, man,
but when you talk garbage like that
you sound straight up ignoramus, my man.
Oh, snap!
Hey, Cornelia and roddy, one more outburst, and I swear...
Come on, man, straight up.
You're gonna start a fight, you're gonna put a beat down on your classmate
'cause he won't pick up your queen?
Come on, ito, man.
Come on, think it through, buddy.
Think it through, okay?
Best case scenario, he picks it up for you.
Worst case scenario, he gets a black eye
and he picks a vendetta against you
for the rest of your life, man.
And the rest is consequences, okay?
Like chess, a game of consequences.
How about that, huh?
Come on, ito, overtown is not a place
you want to bring out consequences, buddy.
You're a smart kid. Come on, man, seriously.
All right? All right, people, come on, come on.
Set up, reset your pieces for me, okay?
And I got a little bit of homework for you.
I want you to look up the definition
of "zugzwang" for me tomorrow, okay?
All right, you're dismissed. Get out of my class. Get out.
Let's go, come on. I am out of here.
X or would you really jump on my return x
x just to hear me say how much I miss you k
x would you accept me back? X
x baby x
x or would you turn your back on me? X
x would you forgive this... x
Yo! Dumbass!
My shit better not be broke.
Yo, pick it up!
You're buying me a new walkman, you skinny piece of shit.
Man, speak english, Cuban!
Yo, you may not speak english,
but you buying me a new walkman.
Yo, lawanda.
What, you got a problem?
Man, yeah, I got a problem, this motherfucker right here.
No, no problem. Sorry, sorry.
- Sorry. - No, ain't no sorry.
Ain't no problem no more.
It's like a war out there.
Yeah. Except this was a kid just walking home from school.
We'll have counselling available for your students if requested.
Well, thank you. Thank you for that.
I will say, well, unfortunately,
it's not a total shock anymore.
Hey, do you guys know, um, about Pablo neruda?
- Mmm-mmm. - Um, from family matters?
No, no, no, that's urkel.
And how I know that's what you meant is... Is beyond me.
But no, um...
Every time a young person is killed around here...
It makes me think of the words of, of Mr. neruda...
Who wrote,
"I do not know how or when,
"but from a street, I was summoned."
And, um... I don't know.
I think the poem is about, you know, being liberated
and just breaking loose,
and finding that thing, you know.
And now, there's so many times I think about it
with its relation to the violence around here.
I don't know, but it helps me...
I mean, the class is almost over.
I mean, what's the point?
Hey, I'm sorry, Mr. t. You know, I...
I just had a rough night. You know how work can get.
You were working overtime again?
Yeah.
Yeah, go.
All right, people, listen up, listen up.
We got a tournament coming up in a couple of days.
We need four players to qualify.
So, we need to start really considering
if we're serious about what we're doing here or not.
We're serious, Mr. t.
Then we start by showing up. Right, Mr. paniagua?
Can you come here for a second, please?
Look, my man, if you oversleep again,
you're gonna have to find another elective, okay?
I'm sorry.
I just... I just can't do it anymore.
Yo. Don't give up on him, Mr. t. He'll come around.
I've always liked your attitude, man.
But we need a fourth player.
No offence to jaren, but he ain't gonna be of much value to the team.
Oh, come on, Cornelia.
Why does she tag all my boards like that?
Come on.
Listen, I was thinking maybe I could go talk to Gil
about coming back to the class.
You mean the guy who quit when you punched him in the face
after he stepped on your brand-new sneakers.
You mean that guy?
Hmm. Yeah.
I was still gonna ask him anyway.
Go give it a shot, Mr. roundtree.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Later, hater.
You've got to, uh...
You can't shoot the pedestrians, you have to shoot the aliens.
And the giant alien in the background,
we got to shoot, like, 50 times before he dies.
Relax. All right?
Why are we playing with the star team?
I just shoot aliens and people, man. I don't know.
Get that gun in.
- You got it. - 1 got it, I got it. Okay. I got, it, I got it.
Watch out, watch out. Watch your back, watch your back.
Yo, I didn't mean to step on your foot, all right?
I know.
I was an ass so I overreacted.
- I was just... - Get him! Get him!
I was dealing with some stuff at home.
I just wanted to say I'm sorry.
- Good shot. - Thanks.
It's not like they were Jordans.
Yo, Nike air's moving up tempo and shit. Watch.
- Let's go. - Look, Gil...
What are you doing? Let's go, man. Let's go.
Look, we need you back.
I'm serious, man.
Look, me, you, ro, ito, we can be something special.
All four of us, that's a team.
All right. But can you not punch me, please?
Promise. It won't happen again.
- Look, see that one. - That was your fault.
- That was entirely your fault, man. - Okay, okay.
Are you kidding me?
- Watch him! What are you doing? - Okay.
You suck.
I'm gonna take your rook because you suck.
You should have been paying attention.
Look, I'm gonna let my clock run down.
Gonna take it home. Where you gonna go?
I'm gonna take that, I'm gonna go here.
And it's done. That's checkmate.
That's mate in four.
Good game.
Checkmate.
- Good one. - Thank you.
- That was good. - Yes, thank you, sir.
- Good game. Yeah. - He's back!
Uh... really?
Uh... okay.
X man, I'm back on the scene if you know what I mean kx
x and I can show you how to mate x
x with just a king and a queen x
oh, that was wrong. You didn't have to do him like that, Gil.
You didn't have to do him like that, Gil.
That was nasty, bro. You nasty.
Your butt's itchy.
Please fucking do, man.
Yo, stop!
Would you please? Would you please?
Hey, that's dumb.
That's why I love him, 'cause he does dumb shit.
Unbelievable.
Okay.
All right, class,
today, we're going to look at the most beautiful game in chess history,
and it's called the opera game,
authored by Paul morphy.
Now, morphy was an American,
born in New Orleans in the 1800s,
who once said...
Hey, we're twins. We're twins.
Who said, "if the chess board superseded the poker table,
"then all Americans' morals would change like that."
And Paul morphy played this game in 1858
in a real opera, watching a real opera,
against two opponents, a Duke and a count.
And he played white,
and Paul morphy played e4.
The Duke countered with e5.
- You never want to play your games, do you? - Then morphy attacked the pawn
with the knight.
So, the Duke counters with dé,
and you get the philidor defense,
which opens up this corridor nicely.
Who the hell is that?
"Who the hell is that?"
Yeah. Who the hell is that?
Only... only one of the greatest
French creators of modern chess,
who said, "I like... I like the pawn
"because the pawn is the soul of chess."
And he plays that pawn to e4,
and so he's occupying the center.
So, the Duke then moves down the bishop to g4
with the old routine of pinning the knight to the queen.
So, morphy pawn takes, bishop takes, morphy takes.
And then, the Duke recaptures.
How about that, huh?
So, white bishop goes to c4.
And this is very interesting. What is happening here, people?
What is happening here? What is this? What is this?
What is morphy threatening here?
What is he threatening here?
Cornelia, you want to come up?
No, I'm good, but thanks, though. No.
Cornelia, how am I gonna get you out
of the 500-rated club if you don't come up?
Okay, it's up to you, girl.
It's up to you. Like, I can't do it for you.
All right, who's gonna come? Gil, is that you?
You wanna comment on why morphy would do this?
Uh, threatening checkmate on f7.
That's right, my man. Very good.
And so what is black's only option here?
Uh, I think it would be the g-knight to f6,
blocking checkmate, blocking the queen.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I like...
- Ooh! I like your style, my man. - Thank you.
So, morphy now counters very interestingly
'cause nobody would have done this except Paul.
He moves the knight to ¢3.
Now, that was a brilliant move.
But steinitz,
the great Austrian chess master, went off on morphy.
He was like...
What a shmuck. What a putz.
That is the stupidest mistake ever
'cause he should have played right here
for the strongest move ever.
But why didn't he, guys?
Why didn't he?
Why didn't he, ito?
That was a killer move, no doubt,
but I just feel like morphy was more of, like, a finesse player.
- You feel me? - That's right, that's right.
Man, that's right. 'Cause he was an artist.
Morphy was an artist, not a butcher.
He was more interested in development
than he was in material gain.
I forgot to put the queen back.
All right, so bishop plays g5,
developing and communicating the back rank.
Then the Duke plays pawn to b5,
threatening the bishop,
and this starts a freaking blitz.
Because now, morphy brilliantly plays the knight and takes.
Duke takes, morphy takes again.
And we got the old checkaroonie.
So, the Duke plays the knight to d7 to block that check.
And white long castles queenside
and attacks that knight.
Black rook doubles down on the forces.
And what about this rook here?
What about this rook doing nothing here?
Huh? Cornelia?
Cornelia, what about this rook right here?
I don't know, bro. Stop asking me.
All right, all right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Ito, ito, come up, come up.
Show me... show me what we should do with that rook
- to get it involved. - I mean...
You can move the rook up to e...
Oh, no, no, no.
- Oh, my... - That's horrible. That's garbage.
I don't wanna look. I don't wanna look.
Please tell me that's not what he's doing.
- I don't want to look. - Oh, no, look.
Rook to d7, taking off the knight. Bada-bing.
- Another sacrifice. Another sacrifice. - Oh, yes, yes!
Another sacrifice.
That's right. That's right, sed.
Very smart, my man.
So, rook takes.
Right? Black rook takes d7.
And now, finally, the only piece not doing anything in this game,
the white rook, moves to d1,
bringing the last of the resources into the game.
So, black queen goes down on e6
to relieve the pressure.
Morphy's tried to do a little queen-on-queen action right here.
- Gil? - He could, but not when you're pressing your opponent,
so morphy wouldn't do that.
Yes! So, what did morphy do then?
What did morphy do then? Do you know? Do you know?
- Yeah. - Then come up.
I think what he'd do is...
Bishop takes the rook
on d7.
Checkaroonie.
- Up down. Downtown. - Whoo!
All right. Really good. Really good, my man.
Now, roddy for the counter.
I got you. Step aside. Step aside.
The black knight to d7.
And just like that.
Nice. Nice, my man.
So, this is the beauty...
This is the beauty of morphy's game
that is recognized by all the chess masters.
This is where his brilliance comes in.
Because who else would have thought of this move?
But to move the queen here for the check.
Hold on. Time out. No, no, no, time out.
- What are you doing? What are you doing? - Boo!
Why? Why "boo"? Why "boo"?
- What's wrong with you? - That is whack.
Why is it a whack move, sedrick?
Don't just talk to me, man. Show me.
That's a free queen!
Free queen! The knight just takes it.
I don't know how you're playing chess,
but you're off today, Mr. t.
That's official. This move is whack.
You're right, you're right. It'll be a whack move, smartass.
It would be.
No, no, it would be a whack move,
it would be the stupidest thing ever.
That would be the unthinkable
because we never give up a free queen, right?
Never. Not a good player gives up a free queen.
Unless...
Unless you know?
You know?
Unless it's for a checkmate.
Hal
I didn't even see that.
So, you see, morphy sacrificed all his pieces
and still won against a whole entire army
because material advantage is not everything, people,
and certainly not in chess.
That morphy dude is a genius.
He sure was, man. He sure was.
But you know what? This is that whole thing I keep telling you guys
about history. That thing in history, man.
Written by winners.
Or the people with the means.
Oh snap. Mr. t about to drop some vitamin k, huh.
Oh, you best believe.
Because, you know, there was this great Latin chess player,
Raul capablanca,
known to be the greatest chess player by all chess players.
And yet, how come we don't know about him?
How come we know that chess was invented in India,
perfected in persia,
but not know that it was modernized
by a Spanish guy named maura?
Yo, Mr. t, can I ask you something?
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, roddy.
How come they always paint us out and rewrite us?
Okay, I'm only allowed to give you so much Latin and black history
because our contributions into the making of America
is dictated by the board of ed,
whose books are made and controlled in the state of Texas,
but... but who's counting, right?
That whenever you don't see a familiar image
that you feel like you can relate to,
and whatever it is that you're moved by,
that you dig deeper than your dusty, old britannica encyclopedia.
Word, Mr. t. For real.
Because we, people of color, have been everywhere since time immemorial.
And if you pick up one of these bad boys and you open it up
and you don't recognize yourself,
I hope you realize that this was their oversight,
that this was their mistake to paint you out.
I need to see you and Mr. paniagua in my office, please.
- Yeah? What about? - Just need to ask him a couple of questions.
[To, ito.
Hey, sed. Sed and roddy, can you...
Can you start a practice game for me?
Yeah, I got it, Mr. Martinez. I got it. Martinez: Come on, buddy.
We gotta go.
- Ooh! What you did now? - You're in trouble.
I didn't do nothing.
It was you! What you snitch at?
Me? I don't snitch. You just get caught, big dawg.
Shut up!
- It's okay, man. - Just wanna talk to you.
Your, uh, principal said that the two of you had a beef.
No beef, no beef.
It was in my class, and I was there, okay?
All right, put those things away.
It got resolved.
Hey, we're not interested in you anyway, man.
We're interested in the neighbor of yours,
that Andre Lamar.
You know who I'm talking about?
Listen, man, I...
Ito, ito, look, if you know something, speak up, son.
Again, we're not interested in you, man.
- Until we are. - All right, I think we're done here, gentlemen.
Hey, look,
if you could just help us out and point him out to us.
Okay.
Well...
If you think of anything that might bring justice to your friend,
- all you gotta do is call. - Gentlemen, it's time to leave.
We'll be the guys with the mirrored shades on.
Thank you.
Ito, I'm sorry you had to go through all that. You okay?
Ain't nothing new for me, Mr. t.
Don't worry about it. We'll take care of this.
The board's rejected our bid to pay for the regionals.
"Our bid"?
Your bid.
So, the board is fine spending $400 on footballs,
but not with sending kids on a road trip
to improve their minds?
Right?
It's not a question... I just wanted
to hear it out loud, that's all.
We host tournaments here, in case you've forgotten.
Yeah, but this is...
This is team regionals.
I mean, kids like this from places like dade county
don't ever make it to team regionals.
Then it shouldn't be too hard for them to swallow.
Really?
Really? What the fuck's the matter with you, huh?
You know, one of these days something's gonna happen
that's gonna make me feel like
maybe I don't need this bullshit job.
And you know what? That day is gonna really suck for you, okay?
Is that a threat, Mario?
No. No, it's not.
We have chocolates.
Chocolates?
You could start a drive.
I see kids outside the supermarket
- doing this sort of thing all the time. - Wait, wait. You're serious?
You're serious? I mean, these kids just had a deported player,
another kid murdered this semester,
and you're giving them fucking chocolates?
This is what I have.
Well, fine. You know what?
Give up on them, let their parents give up on them,
let the whole system give up on them.
But you know what? I sure as shit ain't, okay?
Aren't.
You're done?
Not with them.
Good.
Then don't be.
'Cause once that fire goes out, it never comes back.
Two of them were asking questions about homeboy and shit.
Fuck all that though.
So, um, the regionals are coming in two weeks,
so it's gonna be $25 to register each one of the players.
Then, on top of that, we've got gas, food, a chaperone.
So, I think it's gonna be about $300 each.
And, um, luckily, school has donated
these 300 chocolate bars to help us raise the funds.
Come on. Get the fuck out of here, Mr. t.
Hey, come on. What did I tell you about your mouth, man?
I'm sorry, but nobody is gonna buy chocolates
from a bunch of hood rats.
I'd buy it from a hood rat like you.
I mean, look at your pathetic little face.
I'd buy a ton off of you.
Now, let's do the math. Come on, let's do the math.
Do a little learning today, huh? What have we got?
Four of you who qualified
times $300
equals what, roddy?
- That's, um... - That's $1,200, okay?
Total, right? Divided by 300 chocolate bars
is what, sedrick?
- Exactly. - %$4...
Shut up.
A bar, okay?
You raise that and we'll be golden.
Well, Mr. t, that's crazy.
You can get them down for a quarter at publix.
Well, therein lies your hurdle, huh?
Um, I'm gonna get more.
- My god! - No, this is for the arcade.
- What? - Hey, hey, hey.
- Don't freaking touch me. - You want one?
- Hey! - Not on my shoes!
- Yo, chanayah. - What now?
Your mom better have some seriously backed up sinuses
if she comes home and doesn't realize what's going on.
No shit.
Yo, you guys really think people are gonna buy cookies for $4?
Yo, it's a charity event.
You eat 'em and you get high.
- It's not rocket science. - Hey.
Don't use up the rest of my stash now.
Too late for that.
Oh, man. We're gonna be here all day.
- Oh, god. - Okay, okay.
- Come on. - That's just...
That's the good stuff.
I know. But they've been under my watch for 24/7.
- Uh-huh. - They were selling pot cookies
outside the supermarket.
Well, no, I didn't hear about that.
- They're your responsibility, Mario. - Okay.
- Keep them in line. - Will, 1 will, 1 will.
Okay.
- 1 gotit, I got it. - It's on you.
Okay.
- Mr. t... - So, now... now, I'm lying for you.
Mr. t, I understand and I take full responsibility.
And what? What, that makes it okay?
That makes it okay? You were dealing drugs. Are you fucking kidding me?
Huh?
That's my boss. She's not just your principal,
but obviously, you don't care.
We didn't say that.
But that's exactly what you said when you went out like that.
I mean, you know, in all fairness,
all there was was some cookies, and your chocolate,
and a little bit of pot.
That's funny to you guys. That's funny.
Listen to me, okay?
There is a rainbow of colors at this table, myself included,
that need no help having the police
come knocking at our doors. You hear me?
First of all, it was just weed, all right?
It's an illegal substance that could get you a lot of serious jailtime, my friend.
Yo! You need to shut the fuck up already.
That's... that's what you want?
Is that what you want, guys?
You want to end up like that poor sucker
that nobody gave a half shit to set his ass straight?
Huh?
Tell me, tell me, tell me 'cause I'll just stop wasting my time on you.
We're sorry. We messed up.
It was a mistake.
Yeah, we was just a little fucked up.
The mouth.
Sorry, sir.
All right.
All right, guys, look, look, look,
I've saved up some money for a rainy day.
Let's call this tournament a rainy day
and your last chance, all right?
Pick you all up Saturday morning 6:00 A.M. sharp.
Anybody doesn't show up on time, they stay behind.
X okay, hey x
x running that shit look at me, running concrete k
x that's like the roadrunner or that's the... x
x with the dude... x
hey, guys, guys, I just want you to know,
when you play an official tournament,
there's not gonna be any communicating with each other.
No talking to your coach during the game.
So, there's no verbal, no signals, no nods.
Nada. You hear me?
Especially no physical contact with your opponent.
Got it. All right. What about incidental contact?
I didn't say anything about incidental.
I don't even know what that would be.
You're just trying to use big words.
Yeah, you are. Yeah.
If I was trying to use big words,
I would say it was putrescent back here.
Wow!
What that mean, though? What that mean, though? What that mean, though?
- What that mean, though? - The smell of decaying flesh.
- That's what it is? - What? What?
Oh, my god. Yo, I tell you what, though,
it smell like straight up open ass back here.
Come on. We gonna die, Mr. t. Please, bro.
- Please, bro. - Open a window then.
Open a window? I'm go flying out, Mr. t.
- Don't open a window then. - Oh, my god.
Oh, guys, I'm done with your whining.
I'm really done with it. I'm gonna drown you out.
Next stop is south regionals.
Jump on the beat, jump on the beat.
X ah, ah kx
x steady on the mic I get tight x
x don't mess with me 'cause chess is life x
x got to do your thing x
yeah.
Xuhnx
X got to do your thing x
uh, I called a couple of days ago
to register for Miami Jackson.
This is a chess tournament.
Right. Mario Martinez registering for Miami Jackson.
Right there.
It's a $100 registration. No refunds.
Absolutely.
- Here you go. - Everything you need to know is on there.
The matches are over there.
And the minute that you lose, you leave the tournament area.
- Tournament policy. - Not a problem.
And we won't be losing.
I can see this is your first time.
Come on, fellas, let's go.
Hey, come here, come here.
Hey, fellas, fellas, come here, come here.
Come here, come here, come here, come here.
Look, if you're feeling uncomfortable,
just remember that your mind can be your weapon. Okay?
And if you're still feeling uncomfortable,
just remember that at some point in the game
your boy Dustin diamond over there
is going to be sitting no more than two feet across
from gangster-ass ito over here.
So you tell me who you're gonna put your money on.
That's right. So, let's...
Let's go up there and teach these punk chumps how to push some wood.
- Come on, let's go. - Yeah, go, go, go, go.
Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Good game, man.
Checkmate.
Hmm.
Ooh.
And now, we have a team of grafters to deal with.
Yeah, but how many ghost tournaments
did your dad pad your ratings with?
'Cause I looked up those tournaments and they don't exist.
Let's hope you don't get disqualified. Take care.
Draw?
Do I want to draw?
Yeah, take this draw, man.
Take one for the team, ito.
Ito, you get half a point. Take it.
Take it.
Take it. Take it, take it.
Nah. Yo, we came to win.
Excuse me. Absolutely no communicating with either team.
Gentlemen, behind the ropes, please.
Can I ask if my team needs a draw?
Yes, but you can only ask that.
Can I get up just to stretch my legs real quick?
You don't have to ask permission.
Perfect.
Ouch!
Was that legal?
Incidental contact. Unintentional.
Thank you.
Sorry about that, man. My bad.
Okay, that's enough.
Hmm.
Check your clock.
Ito got zugzwanged.
- Zugzwang? - Mmm-hmm.
No matter where he moves, ito's gonna lose.
It's on me, guys. I told him not to take the draw.
What are you sweating it for? We're up by half a point.
Just got zugzwanged.
- [To. - I know. I know, I know.
- No, pine crest got 16.5, we got 17. - What?
We won. That's right, that's right. We won.
I won the first round, though. You seen what I did?
- That's what I'm saying. - That's what I'm saying.
I still pulled... I pulled my shit together.
Come here. I'm proud of you, bro.
You was doing your thing today.
- Oh, you're proud of me? So you should be. - Yeah, big dawg.
- You should be proud of me. - Yeah, man, you was doing your thing.
You was doing your thing. Doing your...
- Get your ass... - Ew!
- Oh! That's disgusting! - Ew!
Ew!
This is some contaminated shit.
No shit. And you're swimming in it, dawg.
But now it's celebration time.
- Celebration? - Pizza, pizza!
- We got the pizza hot and delicious. - Here you go.
- Yes. - Okay.
Come on, guys. Oh, my god. It smells so good.
Look at that. Whoo! Come on, help yourself.
Come on. Come out and get some pizza.
- I don't know. - Mmm. That's good.
Come on.
Come on, Godzilla.
Oh, Jesus! Oh, man!
Come on, come on, come on.
You got a problem, man. You're always naked.
- You got into that swamp thing, yo. - Oh, my god, you got a problem.
He is a swamp thing, yo.
Hey, check me out, though.
Watch out, world, we're coming for you.
Radioactive style.
- Nah? - I'm gonna have to get my lead blanket.
- That's for sure. - Get me one.
Get me one.
Hey, don't break that trophy.
- I'm not breaking it. - How come you're not celebrating?
I'll celebrate when we win state.
That's when I'll celebrate.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
All right.
Well, that's one way of avoiding a tie, huh?
Draw is for people who are too weak to go for it.
Gotta control your own world, Mr. t.
Whoa! Where did you hear that from?
It's something my pops would say.
Look, I don't want
to contradict your dad or anything, but I think...
I think draws can be underrated
'cause, for one thing, they guarantee you don't lose.
I just want you to know I hear you.
All your inspirational moments and stuff,
corny as shit for sure, but...
I appreciate where you're coming from.
Don't tell me you're getting all sensitivo on me now.
Nah.
Inspired, maybe.
I mean, it's the dumb shit you say sometimes.
"The dumb shit"?
Just being out here,
it's messing with my head.
What do you mean?
I lost my mom when I was six.
Right in front of me.
A hit and run.
Pops has been in a shell ever since.
Negative.
- It gets hard, you know? - Yeah, I'm sure.
And confusing.
When you're younger, everybody feels bad, even the cops.
Eighteen now...
People are not sure what to make of you anymore.
They forgot you got frozen back there.
So, you find something you're good at, work hard at it...
Yeah.
Take back your universe and say, "fuck you, universe."
Shit.
I lost my son, uh...
About five years and two months ago.
John Wayne Martinez was his name.
"John Wayne"? For real?
You're really on to this American dream.
No, no, it was...
It was much more than a dream.
Well, at least he was anyway.
How did it happen?
Stray bullet.
You know? One inch to the left or one inch to the right
and, uh...
Maybe he would've...
I don't know. The universe, man...
The universe is too big and hard to control sometimes.
From a street they were summoned.
Look at you.
Look at you, quoting poetry and everything.
I pay attention.
Where you been?
Chess tournament, fort Myers.
We won.
Won what?
Tournament.
Took first place, too.
I taught you better than that. How much?
I mean, just enough to cover our costs.
Plus, a trophy
for the school to display up with the old football ones when you went there.
So, you come in here bragging 'cause you broke even and, what, won a trophy?
You know who won the heisman?
Huh?
Charlie ward.
Who's that?
Exactly.
This book...
This book ain't gonna teach you nothing
but how to play like a pussy.
It's about intimidation, all right?
Play to win. Everything else is bullshit!
All right. So, let's play
for all the sodas in the fridge.
Boy, sit your ass down.
And you put no soda in the fridge.
I put the damn soda.
Papi, it is hot as hell in here.
You don't got the ac on?
I understand you're trying keep the couches new and shit,
but I'm gonna have to peel my legs off the plastic.
My nuts are sticking to my thigh.
What did he say? What did he say?
Put some ice in your ass, bro.
You got anything else you want to complain about?
Yo, sed? What the fuck, bro?
- Well, what happened? - I lost my job, my mom threw me out.
I lost my job listening to your ass.
- Listening to you, homie. - At the garage?
Yeah, no shit at the fucking garage.
Where the fuck else will I work, huh?
Let's go outside. Let's go outside.
Let's take it outside.
I went to that dumb-ass tournament, dawg.
'Cause of you, bro, for chess.
A fucking waste of time.
Yo, but... but check me out, we won, though.
Nigga, won what?
What did we win, huh?
Stop it. You sound like my pops, man.
Nigga, I work hard for my money every day, man.
Day-to-day for those 70 cents to get to that school bus.
You gonna compare me to your dad, nigga?
Look, ito, I feel you, but, yo,
our team is being taken seriously now, man.
- Come on. - This is serious.
Our bullshit world is serious.
- It's wake-up time. - Man, wake up to what?
Fucking getting my shit in order.
- Chess is... - What "shit," bro?
Fucking money in my pocket shit, roddy.
What? You don't know about that, huh?
- 1 don't know about... - No, you don't know about that.
- Bro, you don't work every fucking night... - Everybody here knows
- about that, man. - Getting into that shit, bro.
You don't know about that, man. What am I gonna do, huh?
What am I gonna do?
- Calm down, man. - Ask for help.
Ask for help.
It's bullshit.
We here, man.
Come on.
It's about all I could take for this night, all right?
Nerves can't take much more of this.
I'm out.
- Come on. - I'm out too.
Look, ito, ito. Listen, listen.
We're here for you.
We're brothers.
Just don't stress, man.
I got you.
Your little club, right?
Yeah, little club, man.
Paniagua!
Oelmy paniagua.
Yeah, that's me.
Apartment 2b. Parents divorced.
Pops went back to d.R., your mom's moved in with her boyfriend.
She pays the rent, though.
And you and your brother basically live for free,
trying get yourself through high school.
It's a common story.
How the fuck do you afford yourself?
What, you're stalking me now?
Something like that.
Hit me up, paniagua.
Come on, you need the money.
X oh, let me paniagua k
okay. Okay, people.
Look at all the new fish here.
I guess you guys like chess, huh?
Who would've thunk?
Look at that. Anyway...
People, I wanna... I wanna get your attention please, everyone.
Yeah, let's give out some congratulations here,
for our four prodigies who beat pinecrest.
Thank you. How 'bout that.
How 'bout that.
Hey, the trophy's out front too in the case.
Check it out at your own convenience, okay? Front and center.
There's gonna be another one there soon when we take states.
- States? - No way, no way. Oh.
Hey, guys, guys.
I know you deserve to be at that competition,
but I don't think the school is going to be able to afford it.
I just don't think so. We got... We're $1,300 short, man.
It's just not... It's not gonna be possible.
- What? - Yo, did you let them know
that's the first trophy this school has won
- in the last four years? - I know.
- Thank you. - I know.
I know, but with all these registration fees
and this being a two-day tournament,
you got... it's like, $450 each.
- I mean, that's a lot to ask. - Come on, Mr. t,
- it's a lot to ask. - It's not even that much.
They spend more on these bullshit "just say no" programs no one listens to.
- Right, but... - If we were preps
over at pinecrest, they got to stay at a four star marriott.
- No, don't get bitter. - Where we stayed
our shitty little pool had formaldehyde in it.
Yeah, and we still won.
- Exactly. - Come on, guys.
Champions adjust, okay?
We don't give away our power and we move on. We just move on.
Now that's bullshit, Mr. t.
- Is it? - Mr. t, no one cares.
And you know what this self-help is getting real tired and you know it.
Okay, all right. You're right, you're right.
The self-help is done. So, you know what, you take matters into your own hands.
Find a way to bridge that gap with the cash
'cause I am totally out of funds.
I'm out. Seriously.
So, good luck,
keep it legal, please, and find a way.
- Dude looks broke. - Cornelia, you present?
- No. - Thank you.
Coming forward. George, what you got?
Go ahead, go ahead.
You wanna come attack? I'll defend with that knight all day.
Hey, fellas,
what time is it?
Money time.
I love it, baby. I love it, baby.
You guys all come down to the park to experience chess, right?
Well, experience it,
with real champions. Real champions.
How we... how we doing, Gil? How we doing? How we doing?
Close to checkmate so not bad.
My people come here to have a good time,
and you take their money?
How you doing?
I haven't seen you in a minute.
Thank you for coming.
No, you can't do that. Who the fuck is this...
Bro, bro. Bro, fall back. It's good.
- This is a cubano park. - Yeah.
You wanna play with your peoples.
You know what part of town that is.
Hey, we're just here to make some money.
So, you're a hustler now.
- I mean, yeah, as long as they... - Okay, okay.
How much you wanna play for?
Who? You? Oh, hell, no.
I'm not here to take your money, Alberto.
No, no, no. I know I can't beat you.
But my friend, Marcel, who just came from Cuba,
I mean, he plays a little. Over there.
Oh, word?
Wanna call him over?
Marcel.
I'm gonna take his money for sure.
You ready, my friend? Check this out, check this out.
We gonna go right here.
Taking too long.
Move, move.
Are you watching the same game?
What game are you watching, dude?
Right there, baby. Come on, baby. Back up.
Adios, Alberto.
Back up, back... Yo, I'm gonna take all your pieces, bro.
I will take all your pieces, bro.
- I'm gonna take all your pieces, bro. - He doesn't know how to play.
All your pieces bro. I'm gonna take all your... every single on.
Every single one.
Nah.
See?
No, no, no. My money.
I beat you. You lost. You have to pay me now.
Hold on, hold on. I thought you said you didn't speak english, my friend.
That doesn't matter, bro. You lost, you have to pay me.
- Yeah, it does matter, bro. - Give me my money.
You just hustled us, bro. Get the money then.
- Alberto! - Come get it.
That's my homie too, bro. That's my homie too.
Just give him the money.
Where do you go to school?
I don't go to school yet, man. I'm new here.
- How old are you? - Eighteen.
What's your chess rating?
Twenty-three hundred.
- Yo. - You know what, man?
It was just one move, bro.
Double or nothing.
- No. - Double or nothing.
I'm ready.
- Let's go. - I can beat him. I can beat him.
- I can beat him. - Let's go.
All right, 2,300.
All right.
How much do you have?
27.75.
- It's not so bad. - Total.
I knew it was a setup.
That kid's probably a pro.
He wasn't pro, they just got lucky, I promise.
Why risk it? We went in there...
- We would've made more. - No, we would not.
- Yes, we were. - We need...
What's this? A drug deal?
- How you doing, Mr. roundtree? - No, sir.
Not at all, no. We were just pooling out money for the next tournament.
Pooling your money for next tournament, huh?
Yes, sir.
So how is sedrick pooling?
'Cause he damn sure ain't pooling for this household.
Four teenagers counting money at my damn living room table.
Don't. Don't touch our money, all right?
You better get out of my way
before I give you an ass whooping your mama would approve of.
Give us our fucking money!
Oh, so you man enough to talk to me like this in my own house, huh?
- That's it? - Mr. roundtree, please.
All right. Look. Look, girl.
Just 'cause you're giving up your ass to my son in my house
don't give you the authority to talk to me in my house.
Yo, watch you mouth, man.
- Or else what? - Watch your fucking mouth.
What you gonna do? You better get this chick out of my house.
- Chanayah, enough. - I was agreeing with you.
Just go the fuck home. Yo, man, everybody get the fuck out.
I'm sorry.
Fuckin' bullshit.
Oh, I sure would love to see what you gonna do now...
Fuck this house.
- Boo! - Whoa!
Hey, chanayah.
Um... I was just, uh...
Camping?
Yeah. Just for the... Just for the night.
Um...
I just wanna say I'm sorry.
I got caught up with the bullshit.
Pops and...
You ain't deserve that.
I'm sorry.
You know, when we were little whenever there was a problem,
your mama used to say, "oh, you know, he ran up on the roof again.
"With his flashlights."
And you would be like...
"Yeah, well...
"As soon il... I'm allowed on my block, I'ma keep going."
You're an asshole, sed.
And if you ever raise your voice to me like that again,
I will beat that ass, not a question.
A statement.
Is that clear?
Clear.
Okay.
It's like, when you're a kid, you wanna do something great.
And then you're just hoping for a job
just so you can be like everybody else.
My mom used to always tell me
to be done with this place.
Put it behind me.
Make something of myself.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Well...
I mean, we made it to the top.
Right?
I'm sorry. That was a fucking stupid joke.
I just... you were talking about living on the roof, so...
Nah, nah, I get it.
- That was stupid, I'm sorry. - L... I get it.
It's... it's funny.
Uh, kind of.
Well, I'm gonna stay with you tonight. So...
What, here?
I was... I was... I was gonna get, uh, a hotel.
Oh?
With all of that money, huh?
Well, I'd like to stay with you.
You know, like when we were kids, so...
Look, I'll even let you leave your flashlights on.
Are you gonna join me or what?
I love you.
I love you a lot.
I know.
Yo.
Paniagua!
Yo, paniagua.
They got you out here working the corners now, man?
I'm doing my thing, Donny.
Shit, man.
Looks like your thing is working this corner.
What's up, man. Look out for me, man.
Come on, dawg. Take care of me, man. What's up?
I may be new, but I know it's a 20.
Come on, man. I know it's 20, too. But goddamn, man,
I've been watching you since you was fuckin'
chasing fucking ice cream trucks and all kind of shit, man.
- Come on, man. Just one time. - This is the last one.
Yo, ito, we're good?
Yo, we was just talkin' out here.
Ain't nobody talkin' to you.
You bein' a nice guy? Givin' old junkies deals?
Motherfucker, we dealin' drugs here.
We're here to make money. You hear?
We ain't doing no favors for nobody, you feel me?
This shit we do here kills people.
Fuck 'em.
- Pickle! - Come on, man. Goddamn, man!
Get your ass up, Donny!
Don't fuck up my spot.
Eye on the prize.
Stay focused.
Feel me?
I got you.
Good.
So come on down
to hialeah park for the bahama stakes January, 6th...
Get your car clean, Jackson chess team!
- Get your car clean, Jackson chess team! - Look at you guys.
Get your car clean, Jackson chess team!
You guys are so entrepreneurial.
Hey. It's fantastic. What you guys...
Hey, uh, where's ito?
Yo, he's dealing with some personal shit.
What kind of personal shit?
Nothin...
Nothin'? Come on. Come on. You guys would tell me if you needed help, right?
You'd tell me?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Okay, so... - Oh, no.
What's roddy doin' over there?
Entering what's normally a tournament for more
academic-type schools?
Hmm. You mean more choggy.
Holy hell.
Chanayabh, you got change for a 10?
Oh, my goodness. Oh, my god. All right.
So, we are here to do, um, what exactly?
We're here to raise $1,300
to offset our cheap public school system that's a little broke.
Oh, so you're funding this yourselves?
Like I said, we were hoping
our principal kestel at Miami Jackson...
So much for our low profile.
We were hoping she was gonna hook us up and get some school funding,
but I don't know, she probably needs like
a fresh new pair of rims or something.
Hey, roddy. Roddy, hey. Hey.
What did you just say?
I told them you're a great human being.
Oh, you're such a liar.
Everybody, we're at $325 per kid.
$325? Seriously?
I can't believe you guys were able to do that.
Least we could do is hit a red lobster or something.
That's the universal web for success right there.
Well, I'll tell you what. Tell you what.
You guys win state and I promise you
I will take you to an all-you-can-eat red lobster dinner on me.
- Oh... - Now that's what I'm talking about!
Thank you.
Hey, yo, domino park.
You done registering?
Yeah. I am.
Okay, good.
Let me show you around.
What, you better... That better do something
'cause that's embarrassing.
You're embarrassing.
Yo, Mr. Martinez.
Look.
This is the guy. Um...
Looks like homeboy got his ass beat.
Marcel.
Yeah. This is the Cuban I recruited over at domino park.
Hey, bro, Gil, look who it is.
You know, I see him. What's he doing here? You go to school here now?
Yeah. Now he does.
Okay, now that everybody knows who he is, can somebody please tell me
why he's in my class?
Mr. Martinez, this is the guy who rode rodelay's butt at domino park.
Looks to me like he got his own butt whipped.
No offence, ro, but it was a masteration.
Yo, it's not a thing, 'cause my game was off.
You got masterated.
- I don't know what that means. - Exactly. Nobody does.
Mr. t, look, he's here to join the team.
- For real? - Yeah. Come on.
Um, I have been playing since I am little.
And I have learnt all the moves and learnt from the chess masters in Cuba.
I have written down all my moves and, um...
Because in Cuba, you know, we don't have many books
and no computers.
But... I would like to join the team.
If you can share what you know...
I can share maybe the little that I know...
You know, with them.
D5 takes e4.
- Wait, what? - Wow.
Pawn, g6.
Bishop, bé.
King...
King takes d8.
Oh, he checked me.
Pawn takes queen at gé6.
Damn.
Uh... d pawn takes knight.
I can't play.
- Unbelievable, man. - That's amazing.
Mr. t, we're serious now.
I know. I know. I know.
I'm gonna call you "Marcel duchamp"
'cause he was a great painter, and your stroke is genius, little...
Incredible. Amazing. Come on.
Everybody, welcome Marcel to the team, please.
Yo.
We come in peace.
What up?
What's up?
You got the chain on.
Yeah, I got it.
You look good.
Who is this guy?
That's our new star.
This is Marcel.
He's like Bobby fischer with a busted lip.
I was gonna say, we'll get you this shit, man.
Actually, Stanley Cruz kinda style, man.
Come on, man. More like Willy chirino, you know?
Hey...
Yo, who is this fucking guy?
Look, look, look. We can go five deep now.
We gonna need all hands on deck.
Come on.
Come on, man.
I'm good homie. I'm good.
Right. But check it out, we got the money to do the tournament.
- Yeah. - Come with us.
Yeah, but it's like I said,
I gotta start thinking about my future this year.
Who the fuck is these little niggas, dre?
Fuck y'all doin'?
Uh, they were just stoppin' by. They're on...
They're on their way out right now.
Leavin' right now. Ain't y'all leavin' right now? Let's go.
- We just got here. - Hold on, hold on. These are your boys?
- No. No. No. - Hey, yo. Don't talk to my boy like that.
What you doin'? Let's go. Let's...
- Are you for real, bro? - Let's go, bro. Bounce.
Nah, man. Ito...
Go, man!
Go!
This is not what friends do, man.
That looks mad wrong on you, ito.
Keep that in there.
I'm not fuckin' with you, ito.
I like the way you do things.
This ain't no fuckin' birthday party.
Pick that shit up and go back outside.
Oelmy paniagua.
So now you're dealing for him?
We got a lot of these, bro.
Y'all do this for a living? Hmm?
Do this for a living.
For a living? For a living.
For a living, we lock people up.
Particularly people that do what you do.
I ain't seen anything and I'm not doing anything illegal
in those pictures. I don't know what you guys are talkin' about.
- Oh, sol... - I don't know.
So I guess he's declining, huh?
Yeah, looks like he declined.
Oh, well, we'll see you around.
See you soon, papi.
Miss kestel, look, I know you wanted to talk to me,
but I really gotta get on the road.
I'll walk with you, Mario.
- One more... - Look, it's not necessary.
Everybody ready?
Oh, yeah, pretty much. Packing up the car and what not.
Oelmy there? Paniagua?
I don't even know what I'm going to do with that kid, miss kestel.
Those detectives came by to see him yesterday.
They said if he's not in their station house on Saturday,
they'd issue a warrant for his arrest.
Yeah, but the tournament's Saturday. If he misses it, we're gonna be out.
- Exactly. - We'll have to freakin' forfeit.
That's why I told them,
if they came within a football field of screwing up our tournament,
I'd ruin their fucking lives
faster than they can say "policemen's ball."
Pardon my French.
On the bright side, it appears your car wash fundraiser
got some great coverage on the local news here.
About that, look, I was there. I told the kids, I said,
"be careful what you say to the press, 'cause..."
I didn't see it, but...
An official at a major airline did.
They've offered to sponsor your flights to nationals if you win state.
Wait, wait. You're serious?
Corporate America actually gives a goddamn about our kids?
Apparently so.
And I can't help but be impressed myself.
Okay, thank you.
You're a decent teacher, Mario,
is what you are.
Now go kick some preppy ass.
To you too.
- Shouldn't you guys be in class? - Put the bags in the car.
Oh, come on, guys.
Come on. I told you to pack up the wagon. Come on, seriously?
- My bad. - Forget it. We're going to be late.
Thanks a lot.
- All right. - Go ahead. Go ahead. Get in. Get in.
- I gotit. I got it. I got it. - All right.
Yo, but a field trip on a school day, though.
- That's what I'm talkin' about. - Yeah.
Yeah. We gonna do this.
Sure.
I thought you said we're gonna win this.
We're gonna do both.
And damned if we ain't!
Ito!
Yo, so you back?
Hey, I'm just here to make sure your newbie can handle himself.
He been practicing.
Yeah, you know, just 'cause I want to feel
like I earned my stay at this weekend safari,
you know, I got my part.
It's all good.
We got it covered.
- Right here. - Hey, ito, ito.
Come on.
- Hey, guys, you mind? - Yeah.
I got it. I got it, Marcel.
Hey, uh...
I just don't want you throwing away all your potential
on that stupid gamble, okay?
I know... I know... I know you think I'm corny, I know.
But behind this square guy, is somebody who hit rock bottom several times, man.
I just want you to know it's a tough climb, but...
But it can be done.
So, uh...
When you talk to these cops, I hope you do the right thing,
otherwise you're going to be fucked.
Mr. t, I'm fucked if I do and I'm fucked it I don't.
Oh, no. No. You're fucked if you don't.
You understand?
You're zugzwanged.
Stuck between two bad moves.
And there's always a move, right, Mr. t?
Until there's not.
All right, everybody. Load up! Come on.
We got an extra body here, so I need somebody to be the sacrificial lamb.
Who's that gonna be?
I guess... hey, roddy, I guess that means you. Come on.
Nah. Can Marcel do it? He didn't... he's a newbie.
Well, he's already in the car. Come on. You're here.
- For real? - 'Cause you're smaller.
You're more compact. You're potable.
Come on.
Yeah. Just get in there. You'll be comfortable.
And you can sleep the whole ride.
- You good? - No.
Enjoy the ride, rodito.
Win or lose. Red lobster's on you.
What? I can't hear you.
I can't hear you.
Right, guys, you ready?
Guys.
Guys, guys, I know some of you are allergic to a draw,
but a draw earns us a half point. Okay?
A loss if gonna get us nothing, nada...
Okay? Seriously. This is a marathon.
Every half point and point matters.
Choices and consequences, man.
And when life gives you a shit sandwich,
don't say, "why me?"
Say, "try Mel"
yes, sir!
Whoo!
Shit.
That's a good move.
Kaitlyn, right?
Sike.
Excuse me. Behind the line.
- I'm sorry. - Thank you.
Good draw, good draw.
Oh, you again.
Get there.
Yeah.
How's Marcel doing?
Check.
Oh...
Yo, Florida state champions, are you kidding me?
Yeah, incredible, man. Amazing.
- Yeah. - And all because of those two draws, you know.
Look, I know how hard that was for you, man.
- Thank you for that. - Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.
Hey, guys. Look, I know hugs are kinda lame in the hood,
I know. But in the real world, they're kinda nice.
So, come on, what do you say? Can you humor me, please?
Mr. t, Mr. t, we did it.
Come on. Would you just please? For me?
Huddle, guys. It's not gonna hurt. Come on.
Close your eyes, roddy.
We want to thank our higher power
for not only making us the first team from day to rank,
but the first team from Miami to ever be state champions.
Mmm-hmm - and, um...
Oh, yeah. I almost forgot...
We want to thank our higher power for getting us sponsors
who are donating
six round trip tickets to sunny los Angeles, California for the nationals.
Another round of lobsters, we're going to Cali!
Yo. Yo. Yo.
Crazy, huh?
Yeah, so I'm gonna be straight with you, just 'cause of the love I got for you
and everybody else.
I think this moment right here
is the happiest I ever been in my life.
No, for real, man, for real. I mean, red lobster, state champs?
I'm goin' out on top, baby.
- Goin' out. - Yeah.
Yeah.
You know...
It's about seeing the whole thing, right?
If chess gave us one thing, it was that.
And how's it working out for you workin' for this Andre guy?
Come on, dawg. Everybody knows the deal.
Look, man, I'm just trying to do my king's gambit
in real life. Get in, get out.
Real quick. Just for the temporary, all right?
Temporary.
Yeah.
Ito, you're my brother...
But this is a mistake.
You know it.
Maybe so. But it's mine to make.
Go out there, man. Do your thing. All right, go get it.
I'll look out for chanayah for you, all right?
Yes, I'm very proud to...
To be here with a bunch of kids that nobody would have expected
to be going to the national chess tournament.
And, uh, they're going to be representing the, uh...
Sunshine state of Florida.
Oh, my god. Look at Martinez.
Did he just put his finger in his ear?
So much better when people ain't scoping this shit.
Where you think they went? Hmm?
- Who? - Who?
- Yeah, who? - Motherfucker...
Something's off here.
You feel that shit?
Shit. I don't know.
Nah. Some shit don't feel right in this motherfucker.
Why the fuck you laughing so much, Don?
Donny. Shut the fuck up, Donny.
This motherfucker got a walkman on here, no music playin'?
Shit.
The fuck is that about, ito?
Ladies and gentlemen,
in just a few minutes we'll reach our cruising altitude
and it's about five hours, 17 minutes to Los Angeles.
Oh, yeah, Marcel's gonna be back there.
You got your seatbelt on, bro?
- Yes? - Um, is my seat...
- Is my seat really a raft? - A life preserver.
I'm sure you'll be fine.
Oh, no.
In the ocean? On this?
- Is this your first flight? - Yeah.
It's all of ours.
Then how about I give you all free headphones for the movie to celebrate?
- Yeah. - All right, okay.
- Welcome aboard, gentlemen. - Thank you.
You think that waitress was hitting on me, bro?
Bro, not even in your dreams, man.
- But just relax. - Yo,
you know she's not a waitress, right?
I don't know, man.
I just know I'm in love.
What is that? For you?
It could be my friend's girl. I'm looking after her while...
Oh, word?
One of your checker buddies?
Have a seat, kid.
Who's that? Sedrick? Huh?
Ooh.
Sedrick's got that fire puerto rican bitch.
What?
You mad?
Ain't like your boy's rolling with an exuberant amount of fillies.
I mean, it's the motherfucking checkers team,
- you know what I'm saying? - It's chess, nigga.
What the fuck were you doing talking with two dt's
outside my spot, motherfucker?
It's chess, motherfucker. It's chess.
- Oh. - Oh, I want to see you, man.
Now let me welcome everybody
to super Cali swagilistic sexy Ella dopeness.
Hold on, guys. Guys, let's be serious. Look.
There's some good teams here.
- Oh, yes, there are. - He's right.
Julia masterman, Dalton from New York.
- That's some private school. - The best.
- Look, and all the players are averaging in the high 2000s. - Mmm-hmm.
- Never mind akopyan, Mr. t. - Who's that?
Harutyun akopyan. Dude's unbeatable.
- Won the last three years in a row. - Unbeatable.
But don't worry. Don't worry.
'Cause you're not playing him in individuals, all right?
That's all he plays. Got it?
Come on, guys.
We can beat any punk ass fish we need to.
Yeah, look at you getting all gangster on us, huh?
That is right, homie.
That's right, man. He's right. We can do this.
We can do this. Okay?
- All right, boys, what's the plan? - Kick some ass.
That's right. That's right.
So hold your head up high and take in a deep breath,
'cause you already got the knowledge
and the moves and the strategy,
now it's just about that thing.
That intangible.
That part of you that you bring to the game.
Like roddy, that class clown
that's always covering up that intelligent, thoughtful guy
that the teachers and parents always complain about.
Gil, that guy that never really fit in,
but fucking he's here, man.
And duchamp,
those impeccable manners and that handshake,
odd as it may seem, I know your daddy instilled it in you.
The need to rise above.
Then there's sedrick.
Against all odds,
buster Douglas, February 11, 1990 round motherfucking 10, roundtree.
Okay, guys.
So just bring you to this game.
And I promise you...
I promise you these kids are in
for something they've never seen.
Okay?
So now we just gotta use that thing.
Okay, go, go, go.
Guys, go.
Players, please take your seat.
Shake your opponent's hand...
And white, make your first move.
Checkmate.
Good match.
Yo, what are you doing?
It's okay. It's okay.
We need the half point.
He knows.
Let it go. Let it go.
He's gotta take the draw.
You had to, man. Thank you.
I know...
Come on, guys.
Hey, guys. Guys.
Come here. Psst!
Hey, just so you understand,
Julia masterman's got 19 team points,
we got 18 and a half.
Marcel...
If you win this,
you're going to be United States national champion.
You got that?
If you don't win,
we're not going to make it to team championship,
- but, hey, then we got next time. Don't worry. - It's the team, chill.
We got this. Marcel's a definite win.
- Who's he playing? - Hmm.
Harutyun akopyan.
- Wait, what? - Yeah.
- I thought you said he was in the individual? - I know.
But we are now,
because Marcel here got the highest score.
Right. The top two highest individuals play each other.
Yeah, but nobody's beaten akopyan.
Yeah, well, he's never come face-to-face with Marcel duchamp.
You got this.
Maybe.
Hey, that wasn't a question.
Duchamp, you think you can win this?
Yeah. I can beat him.
This is your time to shine, man.
- The final individual match... - All right.
Will feature newcomer, Marcel Martinez...
Right, go, go. Get out of here.
And returning champion...
Here, you hold this. Why am I holding this?
- Seriously, me? - Yeah, you.
Players, please take you seat.
- Take him out. Aggressive. - We got this.
Good, 'cause he's using the ruy Lopez just like I taught him.
Akopyan's all book. I knew it.
- He's got that knight pegged. - Hmm.
- May I use the restroom? - Yes, you may.
You should as well.
- What's this about? - No idea.
- Where they going? On a date or something? - Shut up.
Tough position?
Maybe for you.
I like your confidence,
- but you know where this game is going. - Yeah.
To my win column.
We come from the same Soviet school.
Cuba comes from the Soviet school.
Yeah.
But we don't have the same style.
Ah, don't be stupid.
In a tie, there's a point to share.
We will be champions.
You will be linked to me
and most certainly be offered a scholarship.
Are you asking me to draw?
There's no shame in a draw.
My team needs a full point.
Half a point does nothing for us.
Then you've made a decision.
- How're you holding up? - I'm good.
My clock, it wasn't stopped properly before the break.
Do you think we could wind it back?
I'm sorry.
First, it's your clock,
and second it was your mistake for not stopping the time correctly.
It wasn't set the way I intended.
They were set the same for both of you
from the very start of the match.
And lastly, the match is well under way.
- It can't be changed now. - Ah!
Sorry.
You didn't stop the clock.
He's done. He's done, yo.
What is he doing?
Yo, why isn't he moving?
He's up on time and he's letting his advantage go.
What the fuck is he doing, man?
Intangibles.
He's bringing Marcel to the game.
Yo, they're bringing in the firepower.
Marcel, rook.
Check.
- They're blitzing. Perfect endgame. - Mmm.
Down to 65 moves,
Marcel Martinez defeats reigning champion harutyun...
Oh, my god, this is great.
Marcel. Marcel, we won!
Mr. Martinez.
God, look at this.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
We did it, Mr. t.
- We did it. - Yes, we did.
My father was the one who gave me my first chessboard.
But I remember, it was my mom who used to say,
"the universe is like one huge street
"full of things we can never explain."
One day you're walking down thinking the shit you're in is never gonna pass.
And the next... it does.
I remember, she would say,
"we are born into things that we don't have to become."
But I believe this is something, we here,
are born to become.
From the streets we were summoned.
I know for a fact that in my daily life,
I see the impact of chess one way or another.
And sometimes I do earn a lot of money,
but then I realize why I did it,
and I know it has to do with that. There's no doubt.
It's a special type of bond.
Most of my chess friends have been my friends for life. So...
I think that I showed people in my neighborhood,
in the projects that
there's another way to get out than selling drugs or football.
To us, that was the only way to get out.
That was it.
To me, I showed them a different way to get out.
I enjoyed seeing the drive that they all had.
So I had to make sure that they all had the tools,
things they needed,
because I knew what it would take
to get them from the level they were at
to the level they needed to go.