History Film / SearchingForBobbyFischer

** They did succeed in the end. Josh played chess for many years and won national championships for himself and his school and earned the rank of International Master, but also branched out and became a coach, an author, and a martial artist, winning the world Tai Chi Chuan and becoming a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and coach. He hasn't played a ranked game since 2000.

* TechnicianVsPerformer: Bruce is the "technician" with his strict adherence to traditional/orthodox chess theory and strategy and a "think before you act" philosophy. Vinnie is the "performer", with his instinctual, "act without thinking" style that ignores "proper" strategy in favor of "playing by the gut".

* CheckAndMate: Implied. When Josh sees the forced win, he decides to be nice and offer a draw to Poe. When Poe scornfully refuses, Josh says "''Take the draw''", strongly hinting that Poe has already lost. Poe refuses again, and loses.

* BerserkButton: Do not call chess just a "game", or "[[BuffySpeak this chess thing]]" around Fred, at least when talking about Josh.

* BigApplesauce

* NonindicativeName: Bobby Fischer isn't a character. A more accurate title would have been "Searching for the Next Bobby Fischer". The book itself has a full chapter [[ArtifactTitle in which Fred Waitzkin goes to a lot of effort trying to find Bobby Fischer and ask for an interview.]] He never found him.

Fred Waitzkin (Creator/JoeMantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Creator/MaxPomeranc) is a chess prodigy. The Waitzkins send Josh to a special school and start chess lessons for Josh despite the misgivings of Josh's mother (Creator/JoanAllen), who is worried about stunting his social development. Creator/BenKingsley plays Josh's strict chess tutor Bruce Pandolfini, and Creator/LaurenceFishburne is a chess hustler in the park that Josh learns a more aggressive style of chess from. Josh must reconcile the lessons from his two teachers, retain his humanity instead of becoming a chess robot, and play for the youth championship against Jonathan Poe, a merciless opponent.

** The performer is actually the type that masters hate to play. They are accustomed to a standard set of attacks and strategies in tournament and ELO play that speed/battle chess players don't use.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The book the film is based on doesn't have a through-line; it is mainly a serious of loosely-connected stories, with the one common theme being Josh Waitzkin's progress as a chess player. A full third of the book is devoted to Fred and Josh traveling to Russia to see a world championship played between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, and learning how depressingly political the professional chess world can be. Fred Waitzkin also tells several stories about different people in Washington Square, a game Josh had with a "champion player" in the Bahamas while on vacation (and Fred's realization that the player is an incompetent hack), and Fred actively trying to find and interview Bobby Fischer, to no avail. The book also notes Fischer's mental and emotional problems, concluding that Fischer was something of a monster in his personal life, something the film alludes to but doesn't detail.

-->'''Fred:''' He's better at this than I've ever been at anything in my life. He's better at this than you'll ever be, at anything. My son has a gift. He has a gift, and when you acknowledge that, then maybe we'll have something to talk about..."Chess" is what it's called. Not "the chess thing", chess.

-->'''Fred:''' He's better at this than I've ever been at anything in my life. He's better at this than you'll ever be, at anything. My son has a gift. He has a gift, and when you acknowledge that, then maybe we will have something to talk about.

-->'''Bruce:''' All right, this is it...[[BoardGame/{{Clue}} Mr. Green in the conservatory with the candlestick]].