Christie, Ian (2000). A "Matter of Life and Death". London: British Film Institute. p. 77. ISBN0-8517-0479-4. A chess game as a metaphor for the struggle for life eleven years before Bergman's The Seventh Seal: to Powell and Pressburger the idea may have been suggested by the death of Alekhine in 1946, the very year in which they made this film.
