History Film / SearchingForBobbyFischer

** Though in the movie, when Josh and Vinny are sitting in Washington Square Park one day, they see a commotion in the park around a chess game, and they both assume it's Fisher (they even say his name out loud), until they run over [[BaitAndSwitch and see it's Jonathan]].

* ShoutOut: While playing chess with Josh, Vinny tells him, "Never play the board, always the man." Bobby Fischer was known to say exactly the opposite.

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

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The Waitzkins were real people as was Pandolfini, but for RuleOfDrama the importance of Vinny the chess hustler was greatly exaggerated and the Poe character is basically invented. In RealLife the match between Waitzkin and the (younger) boy that Poe was based on did in fact end with a draw and a shared championship. Also, Bruce Pandolfini is much different from Ben Kingsley's portrayal; he has curly brown hair, a New York accent, and is very soft-spoken and friendly. Josh Waitzkin and Bruce Pandolfini have no problem with the film (both have cameos), but Josh is quick to point out that the film is fictional.

** Though in the movie, when Josh and Vinny are sitting in Washington Square Park one day, they see a commotion in the park around a chess game, and they both assume it's Fisher (they even say his name out loud), until they run over [[BaitAndSwith and see it's Jonathan]].

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 (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.

Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Max Pomeranc) 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 (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.

* FascinatingEyebrow: A very subtle one. After Josh realizes he has the game one and offers Jonathan a draw, Jonathan coldly says, "Move." Josh looks at him or a moment, gives a barely perceptible cock of the eyebrow, as if to say, "You sure about this? Well, okay," and proceeds to wipe the floor with Jonathan.

* CrazyPeoplePlayChess: There are some creepy weirdos at the chess club. Josh's parents don't want him to become like them.

* NonindicativeName: Bobby Fischer isn't a character. A more accurate title would have been "Searching for the Next Bobby Fischer".

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The Waitzkins were real people as was Pandolfini, but for RuleOfDrama the importance of Vinny the chess hustler was greatly exaggerated and the Poe character is basically invented. In RealLife the match between Waitzkin and the (younger) boy that Poe was based on did in fact end with a draw and a shared championship.

* NonindicativeName: Bobby Fischer isn't a character. A more accurate title would have been "Searching for the Next Bobby Fisher".

* 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 mate, 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.

Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Max Pomeranc) 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 (JoanAllen), who is worried about stunting his social development. 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.

''Searching For Bobby Fischer'' is a 1993 film about TabletopGame/{{chess}}. Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Max Pomeranc) 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 (JoanAllen), who is worried about stunting his social development. 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.

* NonindicativeName: Bobby Fischer isn't a character.

* ArtisticLicenseSports: The climactic game was designed for the movie by Waitzkin and Pandolfini but it still doesn't really work. It is not actually a forced checkmate but requires Poe to make a serious error on his seventh move after Waitzkin offers the draw. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Bobby_Fischer#Waitzkin_versus_Poe_endgame here]].

** Possibly FridgeBrilliance: Waitzkin offers the draw to throw Poe off his game, hoping to force him into the serious error, following Vinny's advice to play the man.
*** And it works, as Poe begins moving very quickly, playing right into Waitzkin's hands thanks to his speed-game experience in the park.

* HistoryMarchesOn: Bobby Fischer surfaced, mad as a hatter, not long after this movie was released.

* GretzkyHasTheBall: The climactic game was designed for the movie by Waitzkin and Pandolfini but it still doesn't really work. It is not actually a forced checkmate but requires Poe to make a serious error on his seventh move after Waitzkin offers the draw. See [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Bobby_Fischer#Waitzkin_versus_Poe_endgame here]].
** Possibly FridgeBrilliance: Waitzkin offers the draw to throw Poe off his game, hoping to force him into the serious error, following Vinny's advice to play the man.
*** And it works, as Poe begins moving very quickly, playing right into Waitzkin's hands thanks to his speed-game experience in the park.

''Searching For Bobby Fischer'' is a 1993 film about TabletopGame/{{chess}}. Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Max Pomeranc) 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 (JoanAllen), who is worried about stunting his social development. BenKingsley plays Josh's strict chess tutor Bruce Pandolfini, and 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.

** Happens earlier during Josh's rematch with his father, after it was found Josh threw the first game fearing his dad would hate him. While Josh is away from the board taking a bath, Fred makes a move and tells his son down the hall what it was. Josh replies "Can we go do something else now?" Fred answers that the game isn't finished. "Yes it is," Josh answers back, and Fred slowly realizes his son can already see the checkmate.

''Searching For Bobby Fischer'' is a 1993 film about TabletopGame/{{chess}}. Fred Waitzkin (JoeMantegna) discovers that his young son Josh (Max Pomeranc) 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 (JoanAllen), who is worried about stunting his social development. BenKingsley plays Josh's strict chess tutor Bruce Pandolfini, and 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.

* BigGame
* ChildProdigy