Searching for Bobby Fischer Movie Review

image from Rotten Tomatoes

Searching for Bobby Fischer is about real life chess prodigy, Josh Waitzkin, who at a young age has a talent for chess. The movie follows his journey to winning the National Chess Championship and his relationship with his dad who seems to be more obsessed with his son's chess career. This has affected their relationship and Josh's play.

Josh has two people who influenced his play. His coach, Bruce Pandolfini and chess hustler Vinnie. Both of them have contrasting approach to chess. Josh was heavily influenced by Vinnie's approach as a chess hustler. His style in blitz games involves tricks that may not work in serious games. This is criticized by Bruce who advised Josh to stop employing such tactics. As a chess player myself, I agree with with this. Cheap tricks and tactics will not work against serious opponents.

The story is about sacrificing happiness to succeed as Josh was not enjoying the way his dad was pushing his career. It was both inspirational but also a cautionary tale on the price of success. Bobby Fischer himself sacrificed a lot (no pun intended) to achieve greatness.

My Dislikes About the Movie
Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Bruce Pandolfini is over the top in my opinion. He made the chess coach so mercurial. In one scene, he swept the chess pieces spilling them on the floor. Chess players are careful with the chess pieces. You can see it in the recent World Chess Championship between Ding Liren and Gukesh D. Players carefully replace the pieces after a game, sweeping them like that will get them damaged or broken. His teaching methods in the movie was also over the top that in one scene he got thrown out of Josh's house.

My most hated part of the movie was the ending scene. First, the players are staring at each other which is not normal. Second, they were talking to each other. Even kids know that you don't talk during the game. Third, Josh saw a winning combination and he offered a draw. That is most unusual that doesn't happen in real games. If you see a win you go through with it. There's absolutely no reason to offer a draw. This scene made an ok movie into a bad one in my opinion.

Josh Waitzkin in Real Life
image from chess.com

Josh stopped playing chess at some point and didn't pursue the grandmaster title.

Bobby Fischer
image from The Guardian

Bobby Fischerwas an American grandmaster in the 70s who singlehandedly demolished the Soviet dominance of the game. He became world champion against insurmountable odds. He is considered one of the best players if not the best who ever played the game.