As in chess, life has lots of pawns. And sacrificing them is more or less built right into the human condition. Pawns are now basically mass-produced to serve that purpose. And not just economically.
And while Bobby Fischer had no doubt sacrificed any number of pawns playing chess, he always managed to configure the pieces that constituted his life so that, by and large, others did the sacrificing.
Not only that but he held in contempt any number of “pieces” that did not fit into his reactionary political agenda. Communists for example. Or Jews. Though he himself was a Jew.
Still, he has always been one of those “strange” people that fascinate folks who go about the business of actually looking for them. And how often do the strange among us get the chance to strut it about on the world stage? To actually become famous for being strange.
Did he make the most of it? Probably. And he came along on a cusp of history. The world was becoming increasingly more post-modern; and celebrity became all the rage. And smack dab in the middle of the Cold War to boot.
And then there’s the part about chess itself. Hasn’t it often been used to denote human intelligence. If you are among the greatest players in the world it is just assumed that you are among the smartest people in the world. But chess would seem to employ only a particular kind of intelligence. In other words, the greatest chess players can be just as inept as the rest of us when it comes to such things as, say, love, emotional interaction, social interaction, moral narratives etc.
Still, there is one thing that he did bring to chess which seemed to fluster any number of people: the mind-fuck.
The part revolving around the twisted tangle that is human psychology.
IMDb
[b]Pawn sacrifice is a move in chess in which a player sacrifices his pawn for a soft advantage such as more space for his pieces or positioning them in better squares in order to develop an attack subsequently. It aims to create unbalanced positions so if the player who is committed to the pawn sacrifice did not capitalize on his temporary advantage, he would lose the game at the end due to his inferiority in material.
In some cases, when Fischer studies in his little chessboard, the board is placed with a black corner to the right. This is wrong, a very basic info is that when a serious game starts, it has to be with a white corner to the right of each player - this is distinctly defined in the rules of the game. [/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_Sacrifice
trailer: youtu.be/xFHvH9FtACg
PAWN SACRIFICE [2014]
Written in part and directed by Edward Zwick
[b]Bobby [as a child]: There’s a car out there.
Regina [mother]: What car?
Bobby: You told me to tell you. A red 1952 Chevy.
Mother: Bobby, you remember what I told you? There are bad people out there who want to intimidate us, because we represent something very threatening to them, to the status quo. You remember what that is?
Bobby: Revolution?
Mother: Yes. And sometimes these bad people want to know about our work. So they spy on us. So if someone comes up to you on the street and asks you questions about me or Mommy’s friends, what do you say?
Bobby: “I have nothing to say to you.”
Mother: That’s my big boy.
…
Carmine: Most young people don’t have the concentration to play at a high level, so please don’t get your hopes up.
Mother [chuckling]: He’s beaten everyone he’s ever played. My hopes are he will give up on the damned game if someone beats him.
…
Mother: If I take the pieces away, he just keeps playing in his head. Day and night. Took him to a shrink, he said to come here.
Carmine: Well, his game is good, not exceptional, though.[/b]
You know what’s coming, don’t you?
[b]Carmine: Who taught him to move like this?
Mother: He taught himself.
Carmine: Bobby, shall we call it a draw? Hmm?
[Bobby moves a piece]
Joan [his sister]: He hates draws.
…
News anchor: There’s a rising star in the chess world, and he’s only 12 years old. His name is Bobby Fischer. Today he played American Master Donald Byrne and beat him in what is already being described as “The Game of the Century.”
…
Bobby: Where is my father? Come on. I was born, right? What did you do with him? Is he on Earth? Does he even exist?
Mother: Honey. That was a long time ago.
Bobby: So what? You can’t remember? Where is he?
Mother: Gone.
Bobby: Gone where?
Mother: It doesn’t matter.
Bobby: It matters to me. You know what? Get the fuck outta here. Go back to Moscow with your Commie friends. I am studying, day and night. And I’m gonna be the next world champion. Do you understand me? I need silence. Do you understand? I want silence!!
…
News anchor: In Portoroz, Yugoslavia today, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer became the youngest ever Grandmaster in the history of the game.
Reporter: Congratulations, Bobby. Where do you go from here?
Bobby: Well, uh, I want to play the Russians. They’re the best in the world, and I’m gonna beat 'em all.
…
Bobby: The Russians are drawing games on purpose to save their strength and they’re dumping games to pad their points, making it statistically impossible for me to win.
Tournament official: Mr. Fischer, your complaint has been lodged. There’s nothing we can do.
Bobby: Of course there’s something you can do! They’re playing a team game. It’s five guys against one. Against me!
…
Paul [to Father Lombardy]: He’s studied how the Russians play. Every day. Eighteen hours a day. For four years. For him, Vietnam and the Beatles never happened.
…
Father Lombardy: Bobby has problems.
Paul: So did Mozart.
Father Lombardy: He might crack.
Paul: Bobby won’t crack. He will explode.
…
Bobby [to Father Lombardy]: You see, the Russians are like boa constrictors. If you do nothing, they strangle you to death. But if you confuse them, you attack them from everywhere, then all they can do is react.
…
Bobby: So what do you do, Donna?
Donna: I screw people.
Bobby: Ahhh me too. Listen, I was thinking of getting rid of my virginity.
…
Reporter: Bobby, how does it feel to lose?
Bobby: That’s a stupid question.
Reporter: How’d he beat you, Bob?
Bobby: Would you even understand if I answered that? He was playing to draw.
Father Lombardy: Bobby, no one expected you to beat Spassky.
Bobby: Yeah, I did.
…
Paul: Are you a patriot, Father?
Father Lombardy: Mostly.
Paul: Bobby may be a little off, but he understands this whole thing better than you. We’re at war. Only it’s not being fought by guns and missiles. Not yet, at least. It’s a war of perception. The poor kid from Brooklyn against the whole Soviet Empire. The perfect American story.
Father Lombardy: So your interest in this is ideological. But what’s in it for you?
…
Father Lombardy: Bobby Fischer is the second best chess player I’ve ever seen. He’s also got severe problems in his head.
Paul: Which need to be understood and managed.
Father Lombardy: Managed? Bobby?
…
Father Lombardy [to Paul]: You ever hear of Paul Morphy? 1855. Greatest player this country ever had. Before Bobby, that is. But by 21, he’d beat every master in Europe. But then, things started to get a little weird. He started having visions, and became convinced that people were trying to poison him, and he quit at 26, and eventually killed himself in a bathtub surrounded by 12 pairs of ladies’ shoes. So, this game…it’s a rabbit hole. After only four moves, there’s more than 300 billion options to consider. There’s more 40-move games than there are stars in the galaxy. So, it can take you very close to the edge.
…
Joan: I showed these letters to a psychiatrist friend. He said that Bobby is displaying signs of, um…of paranoia and delusional psychosis.
Paul: Well…chess is a crazy world. Some of the things he says about the Soviets are true. In Tunis, we found listening devices in his hotel room.
Joan [reading from one of Bobby’s letters]: “The Communists infect my mind with words that just keep repeating. The Jews are helping them, too. The Jews want to keep the Chess Federation all to themselves, just like they own New York, and own and control most governments in the world.” We…we are Jewish. Bobby is Jewish. What do you people say to him when he comes out with this trash?
…
Paul: Joanie, look. I swear, this isn’t just about the title anymore. It’s about the kind of games he’s playing. Out of all the crazy stuff, such unimaginable beauty. A da Vinci, they’re saying, from Brooklyn. Once every, what, 500 years. Grandmasters are watching Bobby play with tears in their eyes.
…
Paul: Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Wide World of Sports is already offering a segment. Cavett wants you, and… Are you ready? Are you sitting down? Are you sitting down? Mike Wallace called. Mike Wallace called. 60 Minutes, Bobby.
Bobby: Well, it’s about time.
…
News anchor: Fischer, the first American in history to reach the finals of the World Championship, is the latest arrival in our growing culture of celebrity. But who would have thought that a chess player could suddenly become a rock star?
…
Dick Cavett: And what’s the moment of pleasure for you? Is it when you see the guy in trouble? What is the greatest pleasure? What would correspond to hitting the home run in baseball?
Bobby: Greatest pleasure? When you break his ego. That’s where it’s at.
Cavett: Really? And when does that occur? When he sees that he’s finished?
Bobby: When he sees it coming. And breaks all up inside.
…
Father Lombardy: You’re really serious about all these demands?
Bobby: They gotta give me what I want.
Father Lombardy: Mmm-hmm. And if they don’t?
Bobby: Well, we can play in this hotel room. I like it here.
Father Lombardy: Let me get this straight, you’re willing to throw all this away for money and oranges?
Bobby: That’s right. I don’t need to play. I know I’m the best.
Father Lombardy: I think you’re scared. And I think you’re overwhelmed.
Bobby: What is that, like, um, pop psychology?
…
Bobby: They are all out to screw me, the Russians and Jews.
Paul [coming into the room]: What are we talking about.
Father Lombardy: The Jews…
…
Paul [on the phone]: I found him.
[he hands the phone to Bobby]
Paul: Henry Kissinger. Pretty amazing, huh?
Bobby: Hello?
Woman: Dr. Kissinger’s on the line.
Kissinger: Hello, this is the worst chess player in the world calling the best chess player in the world. We just want you to know, the President and I, that we are thrilled that you will be going to Iceland to play for the U. S.A., Bobby.
…
Paul: Billion people around the world watching two guys play chess. Nixon’s put a TV in the Oval Office.
Father Lombardy: Oh, yeah?
Paul: World War III on a chess board. We lost China. We’re losing Vietnam. We have to win this one.
…
Father Lombardy: Bobby, you made a stupid mistake and you got your ass handed to you.
Bobby: No. I am not going to submit to their game…
Father Lombardy: If you don’t get your head in the game…
Bobby: We are going to play my way, with no audience…
Father Lombardy: …you’re not just going to lose…
Bobby: …and no distractions!
Father Lombardy: …you’re going to get humiliated in front of billions of people.
…
Paul: Unless the rest of the games are played without an audience and without cameras, he isn’t going to show up. He won’t continue unless the games are played in the Ping-Pong room. That’s the only place that’s quiet, he says. He also wants a different board.
It makes too much noise when he puts the pieces down. He prefers wood.
Father Lombardy: It’s like Morphy, it’s destroying his brain.
Paul: No, chess isn’t destroying him. Why all the demands? It’s like he wants them to say no. I think he’s afraid of what’s gonna happen if he loses.
Father Lombardy: No. He’s afraid of what’s going to happen if he wins.
…
Iivo Nei: He broke apart at the first blow.
Boris Spassky: He shot himself in the head. For no reason.
Iivo Nei: You loaded the gun.
Boris Spassky: My teacher taught me that a man prepared to commit suicide has the initiative.
…
Paul: The President of the United States called three times. Three. Ah, well. He’s been trying to reach you. In Moscow, Brezhnev opened his only bottle of 1868 Louis Roederer. Left over from the Revolution. You know why? Because he heard you quit. There are boys your age in Vietnam giving their lives right now in the fight against Communism, and all you have to do is play a game of chess. Bobby, I’ve been arguing on your behalf all night long. I’ve been threatening them for you. I have cajoled, I have begged them, now I’m begging you. Please, please, please. Go back in there and play.
Bobby: You’re one of them, aren’t you?
Paul: What?
Bobby: Who got to you? KGB? CIA?
Paul: Are you serious?!
…
Spassky: I have made a decision. If I don’t beat him, he will escape in one piece.
Spassky colleague: The American is insane.
Spassky [shaking his head]: He is not insane. He has fooled you like he has fooled everyone else. He knows if I play him I will destroy him. Crush him. He uses madness to avoid the inevitable. I will not let him slip away. I have him pinned. I am two games ahead. I have him. Get a message to Fischer. I will play him in the ping-pong room. I will play him in the bathroom. In the toilet if he likes! He will not escape.
…
Paul: What’s he doing?
Father Lombardy: I don’t know.
Russian observer: He’s playing the Benoni. Black, two games down.
Father Lombardy: He thinks it’s suicide.
Paul: Is it suicide?
Father Lombardy: Yeah.
Paul: Now what’s happening?
Father Lombardy: He’s exposing his king. He’s going to end up with doubled-up pawns here. And yet he wants him to take it with the bishop.
Father Lombardy [after Bobby moves his queen]: Oh, my God. He’s threatening mate in one. He’s going to force the exchange of these knights.
Russian: A draw perhaps?
Father Lombardy: He hates draws.
…
News anchor: Bobby Fischer won his first game ever from Russian Boris Spassky. His Russian opponent, Boris Spassky, resigned today’s game on the 42nd move…Fischer mania is taking the country by storm, as news of Bobby Fischer’s first victory over Boris Spassky has captured the public’s imagination…A chess craze is sweeping the nation. You can find it being played in every living room, park and classroom. And the young man from Brooklyn, little known until about a month ago, is quickly becoming the most famous celebrity in the world.
…
Bartender [watching television]: Spassky just took Fischer’s bishop.
Donna: Yeah, well I took his virginity.
…
Spassky: I want this chair x-rayed!
…
Commentator: We all can’t quite believe it up here, Jim, but in this, the pivotal game of the match, Fischer has abandoned his trademark Sicilian opening. All of Spassky’s careful preparation is suddenly out the window.
…
Commentator: Grandmasters are shaking their heads in confusion. Fischer’s moves are unprecedented in chess history. No one seems to be able to decipher what he’s doing.
…
Father Lombardy: Bobby. The chess you’ve been playing is really inspired.
Bobby: No. It’s almost all theory and memorization. People think there are all these options, but there’s usually only one right move.
…
Title card: Bobby Fischer went on to beat Boris Spassky 12 and a half points to 8 and a half point. Game 6 is still considered to be the greatest game ever played. After his victory his mental health continued to deteriorate. He turned down millions of dollars in endorsements. He forfeited his title and disappeared from public view. In 1980 he was arrested for vagrancy. He claimed he was tortured in jail. In 1992 he emerged from seclusion to play Boris Spassky again in Belgrade. The match violated U.S. sanctions and the American government issued a warrant for his arrest. He wandered the world until granted asylum in Iceland in 2005. Bobby Fischer died in 2008 in Reykjavik, Iceland.[/b]