Searching for Bobby Fischer

Searching for Bobby Fischer is an acclaimed film of 1993 based on the life of Josh Waitzkin. It was written and directed by Steve Zaillian.

Trivia

At the end of the movie, Josh is seen playing a tough opponent named Johnathan Poe in the final tournament. The character Johnathan Poe was not the actual name of Josh's opponent, however. His real name was Jeff Sarwer. Near the end of the game, where Josh offers Poe a draw, Poe rejects the draw and play continues. However, in the real game, Sarwer accepted the draw and Josh still went on to win the tournament by 1/2 of a point.

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Depicted to the left is the position of the game before Josh offers Poe the draw. The position did not occur in the real Waitzkin-Sarwer game; it was contrived specifically for the movie. The following moves are executed:

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1...gxf6 2.Bxf6 2...Bxf6 3.Nxf6 3...Rc6+ 4.Kf7 Rxf6+! 5.Kxf6 Nd7 6.Ke6 Nxe5 7.Kxe5 a5 8.h5 a4 9.h6 a3 10.h7 a2 11.h8=Q a1=Q+ 12Kf5 Qxh8 0-1

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One gripe from some chess players is the way Josh is seen offering the draw. In the film, he sticks his hand out and says he's offering a draw, waiting for Poe to shake his hand. The proper procedure is for a player to make a move first and then verbally offer a draw (without a handshake offer). Many children who have seen the movie mimic Josh's action.

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Another minor error in the film are the chess timers being set to 12:00 instead of the standard 6:00.

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Some famous chess players have brief cameos in the film. These include: Joel Benjamin, Roman Dzindzichashvili, and Kamran Shirazi.

Related Topics:
Joel Benjamin - Roman Dzindzichashvili

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The girl ranked 82nd Josh plays in the final tournament is actually Katya Waitzkin, Josh Waitzkin's little sister.

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