Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011)

Directed by

Liz Garbus

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 34m

Rated

PG

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 125 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary tracks the life of chess champion Bobby Fischer from his rise as a Brooklyn prodigy to his legendary 1972 match against the Soviet champion. Interviews with fellow players and rare archive footage show how Fischer's brilliance and struggles shaped his career.

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What happens

Bobby Fischer Against the World is a 2011 documentary film that explores the life of chess Grandmaster and 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer. It incorporates interviews with chess players Anthony Saidy, Larry Evans, Sam Sloan, Susan Polgar, Garry Kasparov, Asa Hoffmann, Friðrik Ólafsson, Lothar Schmid and others. It includes rare archive footage from the World Chess Championship 1972. Director Liz Garbus began her work on the film after Fischer's death in 2008, at the age of 64. She said of Fischer: "It's hard to imagine that in 1972, all eyes were on a chess match, but it does, in fact, seem to be the case. Bobby Fischer was this self-taught Brooklyn boy who took the New York chess scene and then the national chess scene by storm. And the Russians had been dominating the sport for decades. ... So for an American to have a real chance at beating that [Soviet] machine, this was big stuff. ... The symbolism of the match was enormous." The film is dedicated to editor Karen Schmeer, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while they were already a few months into the editing process. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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