A Little Game is a 2014 American family adventure film starring F. Murray Abraham, Ralph Macchio, Janeane Garofalo and Olympia Dukakis.
[1][2][3] The story is about a 10-year-old girl named Max, living in Manhattan, NYC, whose interaction with a retired, fellow New Yorker teaches her about life and chess simultaneously.
They get her into a private school in the upper West Side, far from her home in lower Manhattan with a scholarship, but it means that her mother Sarah has to work many more hours.
Over a series of many days, Norman sends her on seemingly meaningless ‘tasks’, like not taking shortcuts to learn about chess.
Finally, she's in a position where she's told she can win in three moves, but chooses to forfeit the game and essentially return to her old life and school.