Li Yi Min is the star, while Jack Long ("7 Grand master of Kung Fu") plays his master and Mark Long (also in "7 Grand master of Kung Fu") plays as ghost face killer.

The movie starts in slow Tempo and half of the way through gets fast and ferocious! The highlight of the movie is at the very end! A spectacular fight between Jack and Mark Long first and later Li Yi Min joining his master, Jack Long continues the long fight until the ghost face killer is defeated.

The idea of using chess theory as a part of fighting strategy was fresh and new!

The training sessions are awesome. Mark Long (ghost face killer) is fantastic except for the lack of speed of his kicks which are not compatible with rest of his skill.

Jack Long, the master is phenomenal and Li Yi Min tries his best to be another Jackie Chan, but simply is not. This is one of the many reasons why Jackie Chan is still around, after all these years.

The fighting scenes are fast and furious. Lee Yi Min’s starts out in the film barely able to fight but by the end his master (who is also Ghost Faced Killer’s enemy) has cross-trained him with the Five Element Fist and another style called Chess Boxing. This combination proves too much for the Ghost Face Killer who gets his arms stretched (obviously dummy arms) out in the climax. In one training scene, before the master teaches Lee Yi Min the advanced techniques, he makes him take weeks to master the board game of chess boxing (presumably to get his mental acuity up for training) before physical training begins. In another early scene, at a martial arts school, Lee Yi Min’s character agrees to kowtow to the other students and they assign him cleaning duties, whereupon he performs fantastic martial arts exhibitions with bowls and plates and the like.

The Ghost-Faced Killer kills his victims by:

It centres on one young man's quest to find his father's killer and, to this end, his development as a fighter. Initially he finds himself bullied by all around until he meets an elderly master (Yuen) who teaches him a few tricks. These prove to be adequate for his day-to-day living, but cannot fulfill his deep desire for revenge. This changes when he then encounters a humble chess master and his young daughter. The mysterious chess player later reveals himself to be a former kung-fu chief who held sway over the area with his fellow fighters. Unfortunately he had been forced to go into hiding after being badly injured in a fight and also coming under scrutiny by the dreaded 'Ghostface Killer' - a fearsome warrior who is wiping out all who once opposed him. Coincidentally it is the Ghostface Killer who was responsible for the death of the young avenger's father. Therefore he needs to be trained up to combat the 'Five Elements' style of the formidable foe and strike a blow for justice.

There is nothing original or innovative about the plot, as has already been stated, but this is something which does not affect the entertainment value of 'Mystery Of Chess Boxing'; the strengths of the film outweigh any of these expected weaknesses. The stand-out feature is the abundant fight scenes that are not only exciting, but also have a level of imagination not always seen in independent kung-fu cinema. The mixture of ostentatious styles and acrobatic moves means that this certainly never has a dull moment. Director Kuo also fashioned one of the Jade Screen's most infamous villains - 'Ghostface Killer - and it is this presence that is particularly memorable. Ghostface Killer provides the protagonists with a real challenge and also managed to etch his name in the pages of Hong Kong cinematic history.

The film is too formulaic to be considered among the best that kung-fu cinema has to offer; there have been too many other great productions to allow 'Mystery Of Chess Boxing' to sneak in. While it does not compare to the classier output of Chang Cheh, Liu Chia-Liang et al, there is still much to recommend it. A cult classic that just about lives up to its reputation.

Whatever. No matter what you call it, this film kicks major kungfu ass. Joseph Kuo regular Li Yi-min plays his usual bumpkin character (not unlike early Jackie Chan roles), a guy who wants to learn kungfu to avenge his father's death at the hands of the dastardly Ghost Faced Killer.

At his kungfu school, Li is picked on and bullied by the other students, until the cook (Simon Yuen of Drunken Master fame) takes pity on him and teaches him "cooking," which is, of course, a thinly disguised way of teaching him kungfu. Those old masters can never just teach you kungfu. They always have to get some chores out of you in the process. Learning cooking and kungfu, of course, prepears our hero for a possible future as one of the Iron Chefs.

When the school's master finds the pendant of the Ghost Faced Killer in Li's possession, he mistakenly assumes Li is in cahoots with the villain and throws him out. Li seeks out the cook's brother, who, like the cook, says he can't teach kungfu; only chess playing. Again, the chess playing is how Li learns kungfu. I have tried to learn kungfu by doing lots of other stuff. Vacuuming my carpet. Watching television. Eating burritos. None of this has really made me any better at kungfu, though it always seems to work in the movies. I even tried to create my own style based on my old job at the bookstore, which consisted of lots of lifting and shelving. I think it would have been a pretty good style, but then I quit that job and started building web pages. It's more challenging to develop a kungfu based on sitting on your ass eleven hours a day, typing and clicking on the mouse. But I'm sure one of those old msaters will think of something.

Anyway, the chess master has a past with the Ghost Faced Killer, so you know everyone is going to square off in the end for some great kungfu fighting, which is the one thing Joseph Kuo films always deliver in overflowing abundance. He may not have the budgets or star power of the Shaw Brotehrs or Jackie Chan films, but he does have amazing kungfu fighters and breathtaking action scenes that come at you fast and frequent.

Brilliant fight and training scenes, a decent plot, and superb choreography highlight this grade-A kungfu feature. I like how every single opponent of the murderous Ghost Faced Killer watches him assume the Five Elements (that style again!) stance. They then yell out "Five Elements?!?!" in surprise. Considering that was the style he was famous for, I don't understand why everyone was so shocked. This is among the many older titles recently released by Arena to home video, so check it out. Even without any ninjas jumping around in it, you won't be disappointed.

Lee Yi Min tries a local kung fu school but is bullied by the seniors. The cook of the school (Yuen Siu Tin) takes the boy under his wing and teaches him some moves after some begging. Unfortunately Lee Yi Min is thrown out of the school when he is found in possession of the Ghost Faced Killers' symbol. Still wishing to learn kung fu Lee Yi Min turns to an old chess master, recommended by the cook, for training. The chess master, it transpires, is an old enemy of the Ghost Faced Killer who inevitably turns up in the film's climax.

While this movie may lack the lavish sets and costumes of the Shaw Brothers' films the low production values do not detract in any way from the excellently choreographed fight scenes. The obvious skill of the cast shines through in just about every shot. The leg work of the Ghost Faced Killer (not sure who plays him) is especially dazzling (comparable with Hwang Jang Lee) as are the acrobatics of Lee Yi Min. Jack Long is also excellent as the old chess master which sees his chess boxing technique take on the GFK's mighty five elements technique in a spectacular two on one finale.

A true classic of the genre.