User reviews

"Bobby won't crack, he will explode." Ever since he was a young boy Bobby Fischer (Maguire) has been obsessed with chess. His dream of becoming the youngest world champion ever has been crushed by the Russian's way of playing and he slowly starts to lose his mind. Wanting to prove to everyone, and himself that is is the best in the world he sets up a series of matches with Boris Spassky (Schreiber), the best player in the world. As the match draws closer Fischer begins to descend further into madness and it starts to affect his ability to play. I knew very little about the real story of Bobby Fischer before watching this so most of this was new to me. For a movie about chess I have to say the movie was actually pretty exciting to watch, and Maguire really surprised me with his acting. I'm not sure how historically accurate this is but watching it the tenseness was there and you really felt uncomfortable for and with Bobby. One of the surprise movies of the year that deserves a bigger audience than it will get. I really enjoyed this and recommend it. Overall, great acting and great drama. More movies like this should be made. I give it an A-.

I think I have seen a few movies about chess and like in all movies concerning competitive sports I know that it could be very interesting and inspiring. So don't assume that this is a boring movie because of its theme.

This is based on the real life of chess legend Bobby Fischer who after he became world champion, he lived a secluded, solitary life possibly because of a mental illness which made him paranoid.

I am not a fan of Tobey Maguire (poor choice for Spiderman IMO) but he gives a convincing performance in this. His tantrums and his stares as he is building irrational thoughts about conspiracies and imaginable dangers are s strong plus to the film.

The pace of the film is also good and the music by the veteran James Newton Howard follows the emotions with grace.

Overall: Recommended

This is a nice vehicle for Tobey Maguire who does a good job of portraying a paranoid schizophrenic, but that person is not Robert James Fischer. They got Maguire's hair style right but otherwise any resemblance between the tall, lanky, expansive Bobby Fischer and Maguire is slight. He probably didn't see enough footage of Fischer at that age. He didn't use any of Fischer's mannerisms that I noticed and of course Fischer was several inches taller. Liev Schreiber who played Spassky actually looks a bit like Spassky but is bigger and more robust. So we have in the movie Fischer vs. Spassky at the chess board but Spassky bigger than Fischer! As for games mentioned in some detail I had to go back to the first and sixth games of the match to recall what happened and to compare my perception with that of the commentary in the movie. The sixth game was a brilliant game as almost everybody agrees, but contrary to some popular opinion Fischer did not blunder away his bishop in game one. He and Spassky were in a clearly drawn bishop and pawn ending. He wanted more, but there was nothing he could do, so what he did was sacrifice his bishop for two pawns, not as some people think in an attempt to win the game but to show his confidence and to shake Spassky up a bit. Fischer thought the resulting position after many moves would be a draw. He was wrong but this is an example of Fischer psychology: I will make you play a hundred moves if necessary just to show you how strong I am. You will weaken not me.

Some reviewers pointed out some chessic type errors but there weren't that many and they were minor. Here's one they got right that may surprise some people. Notice that Fischer used the descriptive notation ("P-K4") while most other grandmasters even back in 1972 used algebraic notation ("e4"). And while there were chess clock on analyst boards where they serve no purpose at least the boards were set up right with the white square at the player's right hand, avoiding a common error in movies.

Probably the biggest error had nothing to do with chess but with the fact that Fischer's mental illness at the time of the Spassky match had not developed as much as the movie suggests. His personality was more rounded than displayed. He actually had a charming side. People liked him in spite his bad manners and selfishness. There's a YouTube video of him on TV with Bob Hope filmed sometime shortly after the match with Spassky that shows a very different Fischer than the one Maguire portrayed.

The bit with the girl (sarcastically she says to Fischer: "it was good for me too" as he studies a chess game in bed) was apparently director Edward Zwick's take on the nagging question of Fischer's sexuality, meaning yes he was heterosexual, but chess was just more interesting.

The real disappointment for me was that they did not make clear the really great triumphant of Fischer's preceding the championship match. He destroyed three of the top grandmasters en route to the title match, at one point winning 20 games in a row. Amazing. The greatest streak in grandmaster history. So he was a clear favorite although Spassky was the World Champion. That's why he wanted so much to win the first game and confirm immediately that he was clearly superior.

I was also disappointed that Fischer's life after winning the championship was not explored. I had hoped for a cinematic take on what happened to "The Wandering King" (the title of a book about his life by Hans Bohm and Kees Jongkind). Perhaps that material would be better presented in a documentary than in a popular flick.

Bottom line: worth seeing but not as good as I had hoped.

--Dennis Littrell, author of "The World Is Not as We Think It Is"

Greetings again from the darkness. Being such a fan of the expert documentary film BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD (2011), I found it a bit challenging to clear my head and accept a dramatized approach to the story. This was after all, one of the most fascinating reluctant public figure during one of the most energizing signature events of the Cold War between Russia and the United States … it was even described as World War III on a chess board.

Director Edward Zwick (Glory, Blood Diamond) and writer Steven Knight (Locke, "Peaky Blinders") wisely focus the story on the infamous World Chess Championship match in 1972 between American Bobby Fischer and Russian Boris Spassky. This was 8 years prior to the "Miracle on Ice" when the USA Olympic hockey team upset the powerhouse Russian hockey team, but this chess match caused every bit as much media frenzy and national pride as that day in Lake Placid. This international attention is as important to the story as the psychological state of Bobby Fischer and his genius-level chess skill. And it's the media and citizenry reactions that provide the contemporary comparison to what we see too often these days thanks to social media … icons are born, chewed up, and forgotten.

Tobey Maguire plays Fischer, and despite lacking the height and physical presence of the real chess champion, he expertly conveys the paranoia, fear, and arrogance that burdened the man and created even more suspense for those of us keeping a watchful eye at the time. Liev Schreiber ("Ray Donovan") plays Boris Spassky, and even speaks his lines in Russian. Schreiber captures the iciness for which the Russians were known, but also interjects subtle personality and insight in a story where his adversary is constantly over-the-top. Chess strategy isn't so much the story here, as are these two men from different worlds forced together on a stage in Iceland – with the full attention of the world.

Supporting work is varied, but exceptionally strong. Robin Weigert plays Bobby's mother, and we get glimpses of why he later suffered from Mommy issues – in no small part to her intimate gatherings of Communist friends. Lily Rabe is touching as Bobby's sister and possibly the only person who ever had his best interest at heart. However, the real intrigue comes in the form of Peter Sarsgaard as Father Bill Lombardy, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Paul Marshall. Lombardy was Fischer's coach and confidant, and seemed to be the only one who grasped the severity of Bobby's mental state. Marshall, a well known attorney in the Music industry, is a shady fellow who seems connected to the government, and is really the driving force behind getting Fischer to play Spassky. More background and the motivation for these two gentlemen would have been welcome and filled a gap.

The story of the tortured genius always makes entertaining fodder – think Van Gogh, Mozart, and John Nash. Bobby Fischer certainly fits that description, but his story is frustrating because we just don't understand the mental issues that caused him to evolve from teenage chess prodigy to World Champion to literal anti-social outcast spewing hateful words (watch the end credit film clips). This film is a worthy primer for the man and the times, and a reminder that we are always searching for the next hero … the next person to hoist up on the pedestal, only to be replaced soon after with another, and then another. Perhaps the film says as much as about us as a people, as it does about Bobby Fischer as a person.

Tobey Maguire is a very fine actor. Regrettably, he is not cast very frequently and since the failure of "Spider-Man 3" in 2007, his fans have not seen very much of him. With "Pawn Sacrifice", however, he once again showed his talent, depicting American chess genius and grandmaster Bobby Fischer from his childhood years up to the famous World Chess Championship in Reykjavík, Iceland in 1972. Co-starring Liev Schreiber, Peter Sarsgaard and Michael Stuhlbarg, the film has no lack of good acting.

"Pawn Sacrifice" is a drama movie based on the life of chess prodigy Bobby Fischer who during Cold War tries to win and become the number one chess player in the world (World Chess Champion). In his journey faces many difficulties not only from the Soviet Unions players but also from his owns demons.

I have to say that I expected more from this movie because I am always fascinated from biography movies.Despite the good directing made by Edward Zwick, Tobey Maguire makes a poor performance as Bobby Fischer. I liked the interpretations of Liev Schreiber who plays as Boris Spassky and he is very good at it, Peter Sarsgaard who plays as Father Bill Lombardy and Michael Stuhlbarg who plays as Paul Marshall. I believe that these three interpretations saved this movie and I cannot even imagine what would have happened if they wouldn't be there.

Finally I believe that "Pawn Sacrifice" is a medium movie, don't have high expectations and you won't be disappointed. It's just a simple movie for your spare time and nothing more.

When I was a kid, Bobby Fischer was a big deal. He was a brilliant chess player known for his eccentricities. And I was perplexed as to how chess had become a big deal.

Turns out it was another cold war proxy fight in which the U.S. and Russia were trying to prove their inherent superiority. This was not Bobby Fischer's idea; he just wanted to be a chess champ. In the movie, he's fairly oblivious to the tides of history, at least until he gets caught up in paranoid theories.

This is a very interesting movie with a terrific performance by Tobey Maguire that manages to make chess riveting even if, like me, you have to real idea what's going on. The story it tells is clear and concise, as a mercurial Fischer descends into paranoia while those around him push him forward at any cost.

In fact, the story is a little too neat. The movie feels very much like the movie you'd expect to see if you remember Bobby's weird demands and celebrity. But usually life is a little more complicated than a movie. Reading about Fischer on wikipedia, I saw things that didn't fit in with the movie's view. For example, Fischer was unusually athletic for a chess player, working out regularly during the World Championship, and his love life went beyond hooking up with a prostitute; he later married, which is hard to imagine of Maguire's version.

Still, this is a fascinating, well paced movie that is constantly engaging. This is one of these movies, like All the President's Men, that has figured out how to bring intense drama to hard work and tedious thoroughness.

It also makes me wish I'd actually read some of those chess books my dad bought me; I always just sort of stumbled through without ever understanding the complexities of the game.

I was bit skeptic on whether I should watch this movie or not.There has been so much of slamming of this movie.It did not even have a wide release.But thank God, I dared to watch.It is one of most intense movies of recent times.From the beginning,your eyes remain glued to the screen.The historic match between Spassky and Fisher has been depicted so vividly, that at times you forget that you are watching a movie.Tobey Maguire has been criticized a lot for his portrayal of the legendary chess player.But I found him too good.His acting was as intense as this movie.The frowning, the clenching, the swing of mood everything was made so much believable.Liev Shreiber, too has done a commendable job as Spassky.The cinematography is excellent.The close shots deserve to be mentioned in particular.Finally, a good film from a brilliant director like Zwick after a pause.Do not miss this movie.

The story of Bobby Fischer is a fascinating one, with personal as well as global implications, and it occurred at one of the most interesting times in recent history. How then could you go wrong?

Start with a superficial biography of Fischer, especially his early years. Try to give us no clues as to how his obsessive disorder developed, or how his paranoia slowly took over his persona. By doing that you leave us adrift, simply observers watching a "crazy" man do all kinds of self-defeating things.

Then ignore the game of chess. Treat it like it was any other competition. Don't delve into the intricacies of the game - its demands - the strategies that people develop - their characteristic approaches to the game. Just give us close ups of chess pieces and people thinking. That will surely dull us to sleep.

Now ignore the other central character in the drama so there is no one to root for. Not the crazy man nor the strong silent one.

This is a tragic waste of talent and a sad attempt to tell a truly fascinating story.

There are Three Things at Play in this Film.

1. Genius-Mental Illness Link

2. The Cold War

3. World Championship Chess

The Movie, Unfortunately, does not Enlighten or Inform on Any of These Things. It just Shows them on the Screen. It's Superficial and Exploitative using the aforementioned as nothing more than Filling Space like a Cable News Channel with Talking Heads and Fancy Pictorials, that are Entertaining to a Point but Pointless in the Big Picture.

Pick 1 of those 3, Any 1, and Do Something with it, Anything.

Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer and Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky go through the "Talking Points" of the Script with Professionalism and bring Their Acting Chops to the Proceedings and Proceed to Project Clichés and Go through Meaningless Moves, as does the Writer and Director. But the Underlying Motivations behind the Three Parts of the Story are Virtually Absent.

All of this is Nothing more than a Pedestrian Picture with very Little Interest and very little Heart other than Regurgitating Headlines and Culling Pop Chart Timelines.

A Major Disappointment, Uninspired, and Mundane Movie Making reduced to Claptrap.

The basics of a sports movie as Bobby Fischer, the underdog from Brooklyn, takes on the Giants behind the iron certain, but no competition was bigger than the one he faced with his own mind.

Tobey McGuire gives a decent performance of Fisher, a man tormented by his own genius. Liev Schreiber was fascinating as the ultimate opponent, a man whose reputation is more menacing than the man himself. Peter Sarsgaard was a great supporting actor as a priest and coach to fisher.

Edward Zwick crafted a quiet movie that showcased the loudness in fisher's mind. Pawn Sacrifice really captures the time in which Bobby Fisher was to chess what Floyd Mayweather is to boxing now.

It was a great movie about the life of a great athlete.

Well, the reviewer before me absolutely trashed this film for its dramatic license, so now I don't know what to say.

This is the highly fictionalized story of Bobby Fischer, a chess fanatic and genius who rose to the very top of his field. He was part of a Russia vs. U.S. superiority struggle when he played Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber), the world champion back then, in the '70s. It's unlikely he understood that; he didn't have a broad or worldly focus. The chess was all he cared about, that and money.

Biopics sometimes take a lot of liberties. Characters are made up, time is shortened, incidents are moved around, elements are put in for dramatic emphasis. That's why you can't take a biographical film as factual. It's better if you become interested in the person and read about him, as I did about Fischer, though I remember him.

Toby Maguire does a fantastic job as Fischer. Yes, Fischer was tall and Maguire is short. Frankly I wasn't made aware of Maguire's height while watching the film.

I believe the filmmakers were trying to give us a psychological story -- a complete genius with an IQ of 181 but one who also had mental problems. Lots of so-called geniuses are strange, I suppose, but Fischer was a real study in opposites.

He often made unreasonable, last-minute demands, made anti-Semite remarks, and accused the Russians of colluding against him. In the second game of his world championship against Spassky, he didn't show up. Nevertheless, his achievements in chess were remarkable, and many consider him the greatest chess player who ever lived.

His later life was a mess; he became reclusive; his passport was revoked and finally, Iceland took him in. By then he was off the wall completely.

Edward Zwick directed this film with a lot of zip and made it an intense and absorbing experience, as did the actors.

Look at this as the psychological story of a phenomenal talent whose emotional/mental problems interfered with his life and career. Don't take it as the detailed life of Bobby Fischer, his relationship with his mother, and who taught him what. The most interesting thing about him was his incredible talent.

A magnificent, barnstorming performance from Tobey Maguire is the mainstay of this interesting movie about chess champion Bobby Fischer. Maguire's technique runs the gamut, from tiny eye movements to full-scale harangues, from the subtlest of gestures to the wildest.He builds Bobby on a bedrock of self-confidence while also managing to suggest that same confidence is a massive defence against vulnerability. The film makes a parallel between Fischer's paranoia and that of America in the Cold War, but what could merely have been an idea is made vivid by Maguire's stupendous acting.

He is very well supported by Michael Stulhbarg, Peter Sarsgaard and Liev Schreiber. Women don't get much of a look-in, unfortunately, but of the three who emerge from the male fog Robin Weigert makes a strong impression as Fischer's beleaguered mother.

Edward Zwick keeps the pace going admirably, aided by Steven Rosenblum's deft editing. I'm less sure about the overall look of the film, and uneasy about its shift to a finale of patriotic triumphalism that it had managed so hard to avoid - even to the extent of satire - up to that point.

Unmissable for Maguire.

Much of this film is tragic. Bobby FIscher could have been the greatest chess champion in the history of the world. But due to his paranoid mental illness, he left the champion seat after only a few years.

Despite that, he left his mark on chess and the world for the foreseeable future. His brilliance and daring creativity have been unmatched in chess annals.

Tobey Maguire gives a solid performance as the idiosyncratic chessmaster. He captures the essence of a period of history I personally lived through. I took up chess because of FIscher. The supporting cast is effective and the direction is right on, as is the editing. We get the feel of the actual atmostphere of the period, Recommended.

Pawn Sacrifice is an engaging and well made biopic that is a rich work of cinema.

This flick takes place during the cold war, where America legend Bobby Fischer finds himself in the middle of a political crisis between America and the Soviet Empire. The movie starts out by showing Bobby Fischer( played by Tobey Maguire) towards the beginning of his life, and portrays the struggles he endured which affected him later on in his life. The movie later shows him as a rising chess star and before you know it, he is an adult; and one of the best chess players in the world. He soon finds himself as a pawn in Americas Cold War, and has to take on the number one chess player in the world, Boris Spassky.

This movie is brilliantly directed (Edward Zwick), and gives you an emotional feel for Fischer, and the cinematography is excellent. The supporting cast was good, but Tobey Mcguire stole the show,giving one of the best performances of the year.

Pawn Sacrifice is an engaging and well-made biopic with solid performances.

The artist previously known as Spiderman is playing games now. Well I guess that would be one (very wrong) way of describing this. While he comes off as a bit of a brat (to put it mildly) and I can't confirm how close to the truth this is based on, the overall story is pretty strong and the tension is there, even if you can figure out where this is going very early on.

So if this was game of chess, you would feel like you know which pieces would be moved next and who would win in the end. Does it actually all happen like you imagine? Maybe not, but overall you can trust your feeling. Which does not take away too much from the movie, because it still works ...