How the Chess Was Won

How the Chess Was Won is a creative recreation of the famous chess game between legendary world champion chess player Magnus Carlson and philanthropist Bill Gates. Here the game is embellished with the trappings of a classic Spaghetti Western which enhances the drama of the original game.

This animation was created using Autodesk Maya 2020, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Premiere Pro with music and sound effects licensed for use through the creative commons and public domain. The original story was developed by Katya Farinsky and refined over production. Sierra O’Neal modeled the Western environment with additions from Jakeob Maygra (set dressing, texturing), Katya Farinsky (all chess pieces except knights, sound design), and Mitchell Torres (knight chess pieces, set dressing). Each team member contributed to the animation and rendering process with final postproduction editing completed by Mitchell Torres.