Pawn Sacrifice (2014)

Directed by

Edward Zwick

Genre

drama film, biographical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 55m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 1,074 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This biographical drama follows chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer as he prepares for and competes in the 1972 World Chess Championship against Boris Spassky. The film shows Fischer's intense focus and personal struggles during the Cold War era.

tensefocusedpsychologically intensedrivenunderdogperiodbroodingcompetitive

What happens

Pawn Sacrifice is a 2014 American biographical psychological drama film about Bobby Fischer, a chess grandmaster and the eleventh world champion. It follows Fischer's challenge against top Soviet chess grandmasters during the Cold War and culminating in the World Chess Championship 1972 match versus Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was directed by Edward Zwick and written by Steven Knight, and stars Tobey Maguire as Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy. It was released in the United States on September 16, 2015. The film received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising Maguire's performance, but grossed only $5 million worldwide against a budget of $19 million. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• Grandmaster (1973)
• White Snow of Russia (1980)
• Queen of Chess (2026)
• Queen of Katwe (2016)
• The Great Chess Movie (1982)
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
• The Last Game (1982)