Bobby Fischer Against the World

Bobby Fischer Against The World

My son was only in town for a few hours. He loves movies as I do. He has never seen my favorite building in the city, TIFF Bell Lightbox. Fortunately we had time to see a film before going for dinner. Bobby Fischer Against The World was a wise choice.

Bobby Fischer was the US Chess Champion at the age of 15. He was different even then and went on to become ‘a crazy man’. I loved looking at he old photos and hearing the interviews. His mother was also a strange person. We learn a lot about his family life throughout the film.

His whole life was the game of chess. He practiced for hours daily and even liked to play against himself. When asked who won he stated,” I always won.” As a child his mother sent him to a psychiatrist because of his excessive chess playing. The psychiatrist assured her that there were worse ways to be obsessive. He once played with 40 different partners at one time and was seen dashing from table to table. Apparently he was paid $5.00 per player.

His great desire was to be the world champion. Throughout the film various chess tournament masters were interviewed. They all clearly talked about his strange behavior.

His biggest challenge was the world championship in Iceland. He was paired against the soviet contender. It actually became a political game and the countries took it very seriously seeing a win in chess as a win for the country against an enemy.

Fischer played 21 games, one being an all nighter. He did win the tournament. After that his behavior became even more bizarre. He started to attack American policy. He was an outspoken anti –Semite.

In the last pictures we see his white hair and beard overgrown. He even looked like a madman. He died at 64 in 2008. His book on chess playing has been a longstanding success and he will always be remembered as the world’s greatest chess player.