I was born and raised in the Soviet Republic of Georgia, at a time of upheaval and historical transformation during the 1970s and 1980s. Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani, the four best female chess players in the world at that time, who are the subject of my film, were my personal role models. Through them chess became for me a symbol of intellectual and personal emancipation and empowerment.

Glory to the Queen is a film about winning and losing on the chessboard and in life. It is a cinematic reflection on how women’s struggle for independence and their rebellion against powerful male systems echoes in individual and collective life stories.

Two of my protagonists Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze held the Women’s World Chess Champion title for almost 30 consecutive years. Nana Alexandria and Nana Ioseliani were hot on their heels. Nona was the first woman in the world to receive the prestigious title of Grandmaster playing successfully against men, followed then by Maia. The Soviet system celebrated them as idols as they achieved great success with so-called ‘male talents’ – such as analytical skills, intellect and combativeness. Having lived abroad in western Europe for the past two decades, I have observed from afar a lot of regressive and reactionary trends developing in Georgia and throughout the whole region especially with regards to the treatment of women.At some point, I started thinking about the heroines of my youth and I wondered what had happened to them. Nona, Maia and the two Nana’s history is largely unknown. Incredibly famous during their active time, nowadays they are only remembered by a few chess specialists. Glory to the Queen counteracts this forgetting, finally giving them the stage they deserve. In the film, they are followed separately in their private and public lives contemplating their past and the present. While they once played together on the same team, they were also competitors. The film shows the ambivalence of their relationship and their dedication to and love of chess. Unique archival Soviet era footage not only documents biographical commonalities and intersections, bonds and ties between the four women, it also reveals an unexpected side of Soviet propaganda.