Biopic of a Chess-Playing Genius Driven to the Edge of Sanity by his Obsession

Rating: 7/10 (28 June 2016)

The Bobby Fischer/ Boris Spassky chess clash of 1972 was big news at the time. It was advertised as a clash of ideologies - democracy versus communism, freedom versus totalitarianism, plurality versus conformity. When Fischer emerged triumphant, it was seen as a vindication of American values, and the then President Richard Nixon made considerable cultural capital out of it.
Edward Zwick's biopic of Fischer (Tobey Maguire) takes the match as its central focus of attention, but concentrates more on the intensity of the protagonist, who from an early age proved himself a genius at chess but found it difficult to adjust to the rhythms of daily life. He rejected his mother (Robin Weigert) at an early age, and separated himself from his sister (Lily Rabe). As he establishes his reputation on the world chess stage, he acquired two full-time companions - former chess player Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard) and fixer Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg). Fischer's behavior is often abominable, as he reveals a John McEnroe-esque tendency to criticize everything, from the excessive noise in the chess arena to the lack of money on the table.
As he grows older, so Fischer becomes more and more obsessed with winning the world championship - so much so that he shows clear signs of paranoia. He imagines himself pursued by the Soviets at every tick and turn, and blames the Jews for having created such an untrustworthy universe (even though Fischer is himself Jewish). In several sequences he is shown destroying hotel telephones as he searches for the (non-existent) bugging devices. In the end we understand the significance of the title; it is Fischer himself who is the "pawn sacrifice," as his monomaniacal devotion to chess costs him his sanity. Director Zwick encourages us to ask whether all the effort was really worth it.
Cinematographer Bradford Young's camera seldom allows Fischer any breathing-space, we watch Fischer's expressions, that range from total impassivity in the chess arena to maniacal obsession as he runs down flights of stairs, trying to escape from everyone. Maguire gives a convincing performance in what is admittedly a highly difficult role.
Having said that, the film does contain several slow passages that could have been effectively excised. Too much attention is spent focusing on silent sequences in the chess arena as Fischer faces up to Spassky (Liev Schreiber). There are also some historical inaccuracies: the BBC did not carry the NINE O'CLOCK NEWS in the mid- to late Sixties (it was only given that title a decade later); thus the logo that appears on screen - showing the BBC reports of Fischer's chess exploits - seems anachronistic.
Nonetheless PAWN SACRIFICE is generally worth watching, if only as a demonstration of how a so-called sport can often take over an individual's life.