Free speech February 25, 2021

 

Bobby Fischer Against the World is a documentary feature film that explores the life of chess Grandmaster and 11th World Champion Bobby Fischer.[1] It incorporates interviews with chess players Anthony SaidyLarry EvansSam SloanSusan PolgarGarry KasparovAsa HoffmannFriðrik ÓlafssonLothar Schmid and others. It includes rare archive footage from the World Chess Championship 1972.[2][3]

Liz Garbus began her work on the film after Fischer’s death in 2008 at the age of 64.[4] She said of Fischer: “It’s hard to imagine that in 1972, all eyes were on a chess match, but it does, in fact, seem to be the case. Bobby Fischer was this self-taught Brooklyn boy who took the New York chess scene and then the national chess scene by storm. And the Russians had been dominating the sport for decades. … So for an American to have a real chance at beating that [Soviet] machine, this was big stuff. … The symbolism of the match was enormous.”[5]