The Price of Genius

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2016)

"Pawn Sacrifice" is an excellent biographical portrait of the mercurial master chess player Bobby Fischer. As indicated by director Edward Zwick in the bonus segment of the DVD, the film is about "the confrontation of genius and madness." Zwick provides good pacing, especially in the tension-packed chess sequences. There was a thoughtful attempt to capture the careful decision-making process of each move on the board by the various players.
In the popular perception of Bobby Fischer, there has perpetually been an uncertainty about whether Fischer was grandstanding and playing mind games with his chess opponents, or whether he was psychologically unbalanced. The film takes a clear stand that Fischer suffered from severe paranoia and other mental afflictions.
Tobey McGuire is good as the tortured American chess wizard. At the same time, there was a measured, understated quality to McGuire's performance that did not quite do justice to the flamboyance of the historical Bobby Fisher. The more complete performance is turned in by Liev Schreiber as the stoic, icy Soviet champion, Boris Spassky Their characters made an effective study in contrast.
There was also the sense that the pressures placed on both Fischer and his Soviet rival, Spassky, were exacerbated by the respective American and Soviet governments, which sought to exploit the chess contest during the Cold War. Both were pawns in the greater agenda of their nations during a period of world turmoil.