Ostracized at her posh new uptown school and shaken by the death of her beloved grandmother, a 10 year-old downtown girl finds an unlikely mentor in the form of an irascible chess-master, who uses the game to teach Max lessons in resilience, perseverance, and how to embrace inevitable change.
Ralph Macchio
as Tom Kuftinec
Janeane Garofalo
as Sarah Kuftinec
F. Murray Abraham
as Norman Wallach
Fatima Ptacek
as Isabella Diaz
Kimberly Quinn
as Laura Langer
Rachel Dratch
as Aunt Diane
Olympia Dukakis
as Yaya
Tovah Feldshuh
as Blackstone Head of School
Oona Laurence
as Becky Langer
Makenna Ballard
as Max Kuftinec
Fina Strazza
as Jez Kuftinec
Gabriel Rush
as Jaden
