Pawn Sacrifice: Movie Review

Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) portrayed Bobby Fischer. Bobby Fischer's essence was not captured.

The film version is basically someone who always arrives late, always breaks stuff in hotel rooms looking for bugs, always rude, always paranoid.

Maguire did try portraying Fischer's mannerisms, but he doesn't have the build or the looks. Also Bobby Fischer's accent doesn't really come through.

Bobby Fischer's charisma was not depicted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFHvH9FtACg

The pacing of the film is disjointed. 20 minutes into the film we are already in 1965. Before the halfway mark we're at the 1972 World Championship. If you're making a biopic about Bobby Fischer then it's best not to bother with such a brief intro and just focus on the match entirely.

The film contained many inaccuracies.

• Bobby Fischer didn't accuse the Soviets at the Varna Olympiad as depicted in the film. It was in the 1962 Curacao Candidates.
• Bobby Fischer did not tell a Soviet player that they were losing in the middle of a tournament game.
• Boris Spassky did not arrive in the middle of a round when everyone was already playing (a dramatic introduction to Spassky in the movie).
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx8-1YtO03k
• Boris Spassky actually became champ in 1969, he wasn't the champ in 1966 or even earlier as depicted in the film.
• There is a scene where young Bobby looks in a magazine and sees Spassky, implying that he was a top Soviet contender even in the late 50's. Spassky only became a top player in the 60's. Also Spassky failed to qualify for the candidate interzonals in 1958 and 1962.
• Film depicts Fischer as retired until the Santa Monica tournament after accusing the Soviet players. Actually he played the Olympiad and many other tournaments after the 1962 Candidates. Paul Marshall had nothing to do with Bobby coming back. Fischer took a simul tour in 1964 and returned to top level play in Havana 1965.
• Bobby Fischer never screamed at Spassky on the beach in the Santa Monica tournament.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiPyNq5buBM
• The film depicts Boris Spassky as willing to play in the ping pong room after game 3, because he thinks he will crush Fischer, and that Fischer is 'pretending to be insane' in order to avoid the match (because apparently Fischer believes he will lose). The reality is that Spassky liked Fischer and was willing to acommodate for him in the interests of the match.
• Boris Spassky did not talk to Fischer during game 1 telling him: 'You don't look well Robert James'.
• Boris Spassky did not examine his chair during a game with Fischer.
• The lawyer Paul Marshall was not as prominent in Fischer's life as shown in the film. The film depicts him as Bobby Fischer's inner inner circle. William Lombardy was a second for Fischer in the 1972 match but not as close as shown in the film.

Some other petty nitpicks:

-At the first game, Fischer and Spassky draw the lots to choose what color they play. This literally happens 10 seconds before they start. In real life the drawing of the colours happened days before, so they know what colour they'll begin with.
-Also there's a chair boy who brings Fischer's chair for him to the table. Why was it not already at the table?? Obviously this amateurish display did not occur in real life.

Good stuff:

The best scene in the movie was where Spassky applauded Fischer during game 6.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWnuSVM5sC4

At least the positions on the board during the match were accurate. Game 3 and Game 6 had the same positions from real life.

It's all right if you just view it as a film about a chess player. But if you view it as a film about Bobby Fischer it misses the mark completely.

Thank you all for reading and post in the forum whether you agree or not.