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The documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World, debuting Monday, June 6 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), on HBO, chronicles the chess master’s meteoric rise, culminating in the historic 1972 match against Boris Spassky in Iceland, as well as his shocking withdrawal from competition and the paranoia that derailed his life.
The film was a 2011 Sundance Film Festival selection.
From HBO
Directed by Liz Garbus (the Oscar®-nominated “The Farm: Angola, USA”; HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”), "Bobby Fischer" explores the complex life of the troubled genius whose charisma and talent spurred a worldwide fascination with the “game of kings.” Fischer’s evolution from childhood chess prodigy to global superstar, angry recluse and, finally, fugitive from the law is a spellbinding story of the making and unmaking of an American icon.
Raised in a modest Brooklyn apartment, he overcame an unconventional and difficult childhood, learning to play chess at age six. While his brilliant but distracted single mother, Regina, was pursuing her passion for Communist politics, the eight-year-old Fischer was regularly playing, and beating, more experienced adults.
“Chess is like my alter ego,” Fischer once told a journalist. As he rose in the ranks of the game, his obsession with winning and lack of social finesse led others to call him a prima donna, eccentric, paranoid, even “the most arrogant man in the world,” but no one could argue with his supremacy at the table.
Providing an unprecedented look at the man behind the headlines, the film weaves together news clips dating from the 1950s to the 2000s, photographs, letters – many never made public before – and exclusive interviews with friends, fans and colleagues. Interviewees include: chess champions Gary Kasparov, Susan Polgar, Larry Evans and Dr. Anthony Saidy; authors David Edmonds and Malcolm Gladwell; talk-show host Dick Cavett; Paul Marshall, Fischer’s personal attorney; Harry Sneider, his trainer; and photojournalist Harry Benson, who was granted unfettered access to Fischer during his training for the 1972 championship, as well as during the competition. Garbus also draws on a wealth of archival footage, along with never-before-seen photographs by Benson, to create a searing portrait of a brilliant but elusive man whose life was shattered by obsession and mental instability.
The film was a 2011 Sundance Film Festival selection.
From HBO
Directed by Liz Garbus (the Oscar®-nominated “The Farm: Angola, USA”; HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Ghosts of Abu Ghraib”), "Bobby Fischer" explores the complex life of the troubled genius whose charisma and talent spurred a worldwide fascination with the “game of kings.” Fischer’s evolution from childhood chess prodigy to global superstar, angry recluse and, finally, fugitive from the law is a spellbinding story of the making and unmaking of an American icon.
Raised in a modest Brooklyn apartment, he overcame an unconventional and difficult childhood, learning to play chess at age six. While his brilliant but distracted single mother, Regina, was pursuing her passion for Communist politics, the eight-year-old Fischer was regularly playing, and beating, more experienced adults.
“Chess is like my alter ego,” Fischer once told a journalist. As he rose in the ranks of the game, his obsession with winning and lack of social finesse led others to call him a prima donna, eccentric, paranoid, even “the most arrogant man in the world,” but no one could argue with his supremacy at the table.
Providing an unprecedented look at the man behind the headlines, the film weaves together news clips dating from the 1950s to the 2000s, photographs, letters – many never made public before – and exclusive interviews with friends, fans and colleagues. Interviewees include: chess champions Gary Kasparov, Susan Polgar, Larry Evans and Dr. Anthony Saidy; authors David Edmonds and Malcolm Gladwell; talk-show host Dick Cavett; Paul Marshall, Fischer’s personal attorney; Harry Sneider, his trainer; and photojournalist Harry Benson, who was granted unfettered access to Fischer during his training for the 1972 championship, as well as during the competition. Garbus also draws on a wealth of archival footage, along with never-before-seen photographs by Benson, to create a searing portrait of a brilliant but elusive man whose life was shattered by obsession and mental instability.
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