Chess (?) in the Stream: The Informant (Updated with Some Chess!)

The eight-episode Hungarian drama A besúgó, or The Informant, is streaming on HBO Max and is described on the site this way: "A chess champion’s college year is upended when he’s blackmailed into spying on a pro-democracy rebel leader in 1985’s Communist Hungary."

We're five episodes in, and the series is excellent, filled with intrigue and plots within plots as a group of students try to build a movement under the watchful eyes of the communist authorities.

The main character, Geri Demeter, is so involved in this intrigue that, apparently, he no longer has time for chess.

There are no scenes of him playing chess, studying chess, or even doing much talking about chess. The most we get is this conversation in the second episode:

Kata: "What is your advice against a more aggressive player?"

Geri: "You make him feel stupid for being aggressive. Then he'll try to prove how smart he is. But he's not smart. You are."

Uh, okay. Somehow I don't think that's going to help me in my next match.

Still, highly recommended, especially if you like your Cold War dramas with a bit of youth and humor.

UPDATE: Episode 6 contained some chess, albeit in a flashback.

Geri is about to play the final match in a big tournament. His family is there to cheer him on. As he is about to approach the board, he is intercepted by a Hungarian official, who informs him he is throw the match to his Soviet opponent. If he does not, his application to university will be denied.

We don't get a view of the whole board, but Geri does tank the match by "leaving his flank open."

The whole sequence takes about a minute, and then we're back to spy stuff.