Pawn Sacrifice

Pawn Sacrifice is a 2014 American biographical drama film. It is based on the true story of Bobby Fischer's challenge against top Soviet chess grandmasters during the Cold War and culminating in the 1972 World Chess Championship match versus Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was directed by Edward Zwick and written by Steven Knight. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer, Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky, Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer, and Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy. It was released in the United States on September 16, 2015.

Plot
The film starts with an adult Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) in a paranoid state, worried he is being spied upon by the Soviets. The film flashes back to Brooklyn when Fischer was 6 years old; he is shown even then feeling a general sense of paranoia. His mother, a Russian immigrant, supports his general fears, telling him she thinks a socialist revolution could begin in the U.S. and that they are being spied upon.

He immerses himself in chess study and becomes an expert chess player. His mother, worried that chess is becoming his obsession, takes him to an adult chess club. He impresses the resident chess master and is accepted as a student. His coaching leads him into the world of professional chess championships, and he soon becomes the youngest grandmaster ever. Personal tensions lead to frequent outbursts. He enters a championship match in Bulgaria where he senses that they are trying to isolate him, and alleges collusion, which he feels makes it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win the championship. He quits the tournament and ends his professional career.

When he returns to the U.S., a lawyer says that he will help him modify the tournament rules, offering his services free of cost to give Fischer a fair chance to win future tournaments. Fischer re-enters the world of professional chess. He selects William Lombardy, a former World Junior Chess Champion who was a Catholic priest, as his second. Lombardy tries to calm Fischer's excessive demands, which leads Fischer back to winning tournaments.

He overcomes most of the grandmasters across the world and gets close to the world championship, becoming a celebrity with the American public, which makes him overconfident. He then loses to Boris Spassky, the current world champion.

It is the height of the Cold War era, and the U.S. is desperate to challenge Russian dominance in the world of chess. The White House closely monitors his progress. The pressure to win every game drives Fischer towards psychosis. His sister suspects that he is under severe mental stress, fearing for his life because he might defeat Spassky.

Reporters and fans all assemble at Reykjavík, Iceland to witness the historic World Chess Championship 1972 match between Fischer and Spassky. Fischer is easily distracted by small noises like someone coughing in the audience, rolling cameras, or the pawns on the chess board, which leads him to make extreme demands for silence and fewer distractions. Spassky concedes to all his demands to make sure the match continues so that he can win the 24-game match in the right spirit.

Bobby loses the first game, and doesn't show up for the second, therefore losing by forfeit. Finally, he wins the third game using unconventional tactics. Americans are thrilled with Bobby's victory. Game four is a draw, but Fischer wins game five after Spassky himself begins showing signs of paranoia. With the match now more interesting, experts speculate that the next game will determine the outcome of the tournament. In game six Fischer plays using an opening he has never played before, surprising the audience and winning. Spassky expresses amazed admiration and rises to lead the applause from the gallery. Fischer ultimately goes on to win the match, but his delusions have destroyed him emotionally, and he goes into self-imposed exile.

Cast

 * Tobey Maguire as Bobby Fischer
 * Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick as teenage Bobby Fischer
 * Aiden Lovekamp as young Bobby Fischer
 * Liev Schreiber as Boris Spassky
 * Lily Rabe as Joan Fischer
 * Sophie Nélisse as young Joan
 * Peter Sarsgaard as William Lombardy
 * Michael Stuhlbarg as Paul Marshall
 * Robin Weigert as Regina Fischer
 * Conrad Pla as Carmine Nigro
 * Évelyne Brochu as Donna
 * Katie Nolan as Maria
 * Edward Zinoviev as Efim Geller
 * Brett Watson as Chief Arbiter Lothar Schmid

Title meaning
Director Edward Zwick explained the meaning of the film's title: "You have Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon calling Bobby Fischer; you have Brezhnev and the KGB agents following Boris Spassky. Both of these men were pawns of their nations".

Production
Principal photography began in early October 2013 in Reykjavík, Iceland. In mid-October, the remaining 41 days of shooting began in Montreal, Canada, wrapping in Los Angeles on December 11, 2013.

Release
The film had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2014. On September 10, 2014, Bleecker Street acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film, the company's first acquisition. The film was originally set to be released in the United States on September 18, 2015; however, it was pushed up to September 16, with wide releases in both America and Canada on September 25, 2015.

Box office
Pawn Sacrifice has grossed $2.4 million in North America and $3.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $5.6 million, against a budget of $19 million.

The film grossed $1 million in the opening weekend of its wide release, finishing 12th at the box office.

Critical response
Pawn Sacrifice received generally positive reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 71%, based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Anchored by a sensitive performance from Tobey Maguire, Pawn Sacrifice adds another solidly gripping drama to the list of films inspired by chess wiz Bobby Fischer". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Spassky himself has called the film "weak" and that it has "no intrigue"; he noted that the film misrepresents how and why he agreed to continue the match after Fischer failed to show up for the second game.