Searching for Bobby Fischer, released in the United Kingdom as Innocent Moves, is a 1993 American drama film written and directed by Steven Zaillian in his directorial debut.
Starring Max Pomeranc in his film debut, Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Ben Kingsley, and Laurence Fishburne, it is based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin, played by Pomeranc, and adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father, Fred Waitzkin.
Seven-year-old Josh Waitzkin becomes fascinated with the chess players in New York City's Washington Square Park.
Another park player, Vinnie Livermore, alerts Bonnie to Josh's advanced talent in the game.
Josh's father, Fred, asks to play a game with his son and swiftly defeats him.
After an overconfident move from Jonathan, Josh remembers Bruce's disciplined teachings, and uses them to calculate a path to an assured victory.
In 1972, young American chess champion Bobby Fischer traveled to Reykjavík, Iceland, for a match with Boris Spassky.
Fred Waitzkin was smitten by the game as he was swept up in the nationwide excitement at the time, and inspired by Fischer's charisma, began to study the strategy of chess.
[2] Some famous chess players have cameos in the film: Anjelina Belakovskaia, Joel Benjamin, Roman Dzindzichashvili, Kamran Shirazi, along with the real Joshua Waitzkin, Bruce Pandolfini, Vincent Livermore, and Russell Garber.
The Russian player in the park (played by Vasek Simek) who holds up the sign "Game or Photograf Of Man Who Beet [sic] Tal 1953 • Five Dollars", was based on the real life of Israel Zilber, who would regularly sleep in the park, awakening only for a "five dollar game" that he would demand in a Russian accent (reduced to "two dollar game" during slow times if requested) and which he would invariably win.
[3][4] Zilber, Latvian Chess Champion in 1958, defeated the teenage Mikhail Tal in 1952,[5] and during most of the 1980s was homeless and regarded as one of the top players in Washington Square Park.
But I have a lot of distance to the actual book and film, the way I was portrayed was nothing at all like how I was in real life so what's the point in comparing myself to it?
Under tournament tie-breaking rules, Waitzkin was determined to have played more challenging opponents during the overall competition and was awarded first place, but they were declared US Primary School co-champions.
The site's consensus reads: "As sensitive as the young man at its center, Searching for Bobby Fischer uses a prodigy's struggle to find personal balance as the background for a powerfully moving drama.
"[18] James Berardinelli gave the film three stars (out of four), calling it "an intensely fascinating movie capable of involving those who are ignorant about chess as well as those who love it.
The film was nominated for Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall) at the 66th Academy Awards for 1993 but lost to Janusz Kaminski who won for Schindler's List, which was also written by Steven Zaillian.