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Recently released in India, 'Pawn Sacrifice' is a thriller directed by Edward Zwick and is based on the life and world championship winning run of American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (played by Tobey Maguire). The script revolves around how a young Jew from Brooklyn thrives in a time when the Cold War was at its zenith. It takes us through Fischer’s childhood and his journey to beat the all-conquering Soviet Russian chess grandmasters.
The director guides the audience through the World Championship showdown against the then world champion Boris Spassky (played by Liev Schreiber). The narrative, however, does not extend into Fischer’s life after the win, although Zwick does capture that time – with assorted footage of the real Bobby Fischer.
As brilliant as the film is though, there are things that it doesn't tell you about the chess genius’ life.
Here’s listing 5 of them:
1. Bobby liked listening to loud rock music as he studied and prepared for matches
Contrary to what is shown in the film, he didn't always resort to preachings to de-stress himself. He seemingly was a massive fan of rock music and insisted that it helped him stay focussed. This was also seemingly one of the few activities which went against his hatred for any kind of sound/interference around him in general.
2. Bill Lombardy ripped the wiring from Bobby’s car so he would be unable to drive himself to the airport
While the film does show how vulnerable Bobby was during the game, it doesn't quite portray the extent to which he was ready to go to run away from Iceland then. So much so, that Bill Lombardy, the priest who also served as one of Bobby’s seconds, had to resort to the aforementioned to stop him.
3. Between Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer, there was Wilhelm Steinitz
Zwick talks about the mercurial unofficial world champion Paul Morphy in the film. And while the account of his death detailed in the movie is also untrue (he died of a heart attack and wasn’t really surrounded by 12 pairs of women’s shoes in his bath tub), more importantly, Morphy wasn't the only world champion from USA before Fischer. In fact, Fischer never won the title at all; the only official world champion from the country was Wilhelm Steintz, a naturalized citizen who won in 1888.
4. Bobby was a massive Manchester United fan
Not mentioned at all in the movie, Bobby was known to be a massive Manchester United fan, so much so that there are accounts of him staying up late to hear results of the Red Devils matches during the 1960s. While in Europe he even expressed his desire to go and watch a game live at Old Trafford.
5. Fischer was arrested after pocketing $3.5 million in his return match
After that famous World Championship win, Fischer didn’t play another game of competitive chess for 20 years. In 1992, however, he agreed to a re-match in Yugoslavia,. The United States government warned Fischer but he played anyway, netting a $3.5 million prize for defeating Spassky again. An arrest warrant was soon issued and Fischer fleed again, this time to never return to the his homeland.
