Who would win?

Death. That was one the points of the movie.

How do I win at chess?

Install stockfish on phone

kill the king

you memorize a chess textbook about chess openings, you'll win 90% of your games that way

its a solved game
play yu-gi-oh instead

the Soviets were funded by the state to become masterclass chess players, Beth had to finance her own hobby then turn it into a profession despite not having any financial security, that takes a lot more to pull off than some schmuck who doesn't need to worry about putting food on the table because the commies got him covered.

Death can’t lose unless he wants to, and even then he’s just waiting for the next game.
Trying to earnestly beat him is a fool’s errand, while accepting your inevitable loss and enjoying the game is what might grant you a stay.

Death was literally retarded, he had to cheat to get advantage over the knight

But chess allows for draws, and those happens a lot when two high level players face each other. How does that work?

Yugioh is solved as well. Just spend the most money.

They'd give her a Melvin and give me a smellvin