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Mar 19, 2018akirakato rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Directed by Edward Zwick in 2014, this American docudrama depicts Bobby Fischer's challenge against top Soviet chess grandmasters during the Cold War, which culminates in the 1972 World Chess Championship match versus Boris Spassky in Reykjavík, Iceland. The film starts with Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) in a paranoid state, showing him worried because, Bobby believes, he is being spied upon by the Soviets. After forfeiting his title as World Champion, Fischer became reclusive and sometimes erratic, disappearing from both competitive chess and the public eye. In 2004, he was arrested in Japan and held for several months for using a passport that had been revoked by the U.S. government. Eventually, he was granted an Icelandic passport and citizenship by a special act of the Icelandic Althing, allowing him to live in Iceland until his death in 2008. At the end the film says that Bobby's mental condition has been deteriorated probably because of his childhood traumas (?). It would be much more interesting if the film delved into his mental problems.