A New Documentary on GM Lev Alburt
The extraordinary story of chess grandmaster Lev Alburt has been told, in bits and pieces, in books and podcast interviews. Now, it has been packaged in a documentary on YouTube.
However, the story might be best suited for a Hollywood movie or Netflix mini-series.
Alburt won the national title in Ukraine three times before escaping from the Soviet Union on a trip to Germany for a chess tournament. He then traveled to New York with $70 in his pocket and started his chess career in the United States, where he won the U.S. Chess Championship three times.
In a conversation with the director of the documentary, I found out that the film was almost entirely made during the pandemic. This meant lots of Skype calls, which sometimes buzz and skip in the completed film.
The documentary includes interviews from writers and colleagues of Alburt’s. GM Ben Finegold, NM Bruce Pandolfini, GM Maxim Dlugy, Al Lawrence, and Pete Tamburro all contributed, along with others.
