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For UK chess fans 'Pawn Sacrifice ' is on BBC2 tonight ... late - I've set the recorder!

Thanks for the tip, Tyke, I’ll also record it. Don’t think I’ve seen it before.

Film 'Pawn Sacrifice'. I was somewhat put off by this review on the English Chess Forum in 2020.




I have just watched the film "Pawn Sacrifice" shown on BBC2 yesterday evening, 16th May, and presumably still viewable on the BBC I player. I had not seen it before and was only vaguely aware of it, so was pleasantly surprised to find it being screened. To those unfamiliar with it I should say that it is a bio-pic of Bobby Fischer, centring chiefly on the 1972 Reykjavik match, and depicting his childhood and upbringing in New York and his growth as a player through the 1950s and 1960s. However, in common with most films and fictional representations of chess, it left a great deal to be desired. In fact I found it a horrible mess of a film. I wonder if others have seen it and what their impressions are?

For one thing Tobey Maguire seemed wrong for the part of Bobby Fischer, both phyically and otherwise, being too small and slight, and lacking the dominating presence and charisma of Fischer. We do not really get any sense of a great, if very wayward, intellect on display here, but merely a petulant and obsessive individual. There is no light or shade in his performance. Other characters are equally underdrawn. Bill Lombardy (American GM turned Catholic priest) gets a very large role, though surely greatly exaggerated, since he was a rather peripheral figure in Bobby's life and did not act as Bobby's second, certainly not in Rejkjavik as is suggested, whilst the other major character in the film, Paul Marshall, is so far as I am aware a complete invention, and it is never clear precisely what his role is. The portrayal of chess tournaments and the chess scene generally is predictably unrealistic, and goofs of one sort or another abound. So far, so predictable.

But more seriously the script is just all over the place and seems unable to settle on a theme or point of view. It sort of argues, reasonably enough, that Bobby's whole life had been geared to winning the world championship, and to challenge the Soviet hegemony which had been maintained, as he saw it by cheating, as at Curacao, but too many plotlines are taken up or hinted at but then discarded or discontinued. In the very first scene Bobby's mother appears to be talking of how she is the subject of FBI attentions because of her Communist associations, and I thought that this might be a thread running through the film, but it is never developed. His mother more or less disappears from the film therafter. His sister, Joan, suddenly emerges halfway through to take a more central role, particularly as regards Bobby's mental condition, but this too is not developed. The filmakers cannot seem to settle on whether Bobby is utterly deranged (which he was surely not at that stage of his life) or entirely rational albeit obsessed.

There is much prominence given throughout to Boris Spassky as his ultimate opponent, and though one can see this as a dramatic ploy (and Fischer did indeed foresee early in his career that Spassky would emerge as a great player) but too much weight is given to him. Spassky is depicted as a very glamorous figure, and identified as reigning champion long before he actually gained the title. There is no mention of Botvinnik or Petrosian or Tal, who loomed much larger in the chess world in the earlier part of Fischer's career. Of course the film understandably doesn't want to clutter the stage with too many characters but surely in a biopic one cannot ignore them completely. And the film stops abruptly with Fischer's victory at Reykjavik, with only some documentary footage of the older Fischer expounding on the game. No explanation of what happened after the match or why and how he went off the rails. Was it being suggested (as per the title) that he was being used by the American government to score a sporting victory against the Russians to try to offset American failures elsewhere, particularly in Vietnam, and was then discarded when he had served his purpose? But that is completely contradicted by what we know of Fischer as a man engaged in a personal quest, rejecting any sort of outside, governmental assistance. A much better film could surely have been made of this subject matter.

Hi Paul,

I haven't seen it but, like you say, the review is so off-putting that I don't feel like I want to. After reading this I went over to IMDB to see what others say but, as you might expect, the reviews are all over the place - some saying how great Toby is and how the realistic it all is and others with the exact opposite viewpoint.

If you haven't seen it already, The Queen's Gambit with Anya Taylor-Joy is very enjoyable - It's pure fiction but well acted and there is a scene where her opponent applauds her .... I wonder where they got that from 😀

I agree 'The Queen's Gambit ' is very much worth watching. I did watch 'Pawn Sacrifice' and have to say it could have been so much better!
I wonder if it is possible to make a 'Chess' movie which appeals to chess players and 'normal' people - only joking!

If the film has flaws, may I suggest a book I have called Bobby Fischer Goes to War? I don't know how accurately it portrays the man and the chess scene but I enjoyed reading it and don't let the sensational title put you off.

One drawback, though, is that it was published in 2004, four years before Fischer died, so it doesn't tell the whole story.

I wish reporters (and others) would check what "begs the question" actually means. I've just seen a reporter on the BBC news use the expression twice in his report to mean "requires the question" (or similar).

The subtitles on BBC get worse...


On Trooping the Colour this morning, " the Irish Guards are proud to have the Princess of Wales as their KERNEL !

From the BBC News website this morning:

"The British Geological Survey (BGS) said the tremor's epicentre was 7.3km (4.5 miles) below Tean."

Surely the BGS should be able to get the meaning of "epicentre" right?

Tyke

I hope you enjoyed your trip to Worcester. The weather saved us and I liked the ploy of the last wicket pair opening in the second innings.

I was at Blackpool for the last day of the Lancs - Essex match. Good finish. On the way home we stopped at a service station, and was surprised to see Sir Alastair Cook come in and order a burger. We had a quick chat about the game. I dont think I have spoken to a knight before.