The other day I got a chance to watch the 1993 film Searching For Bobby Fischer again. It tells the story of Josh Waitzkin, a 7-year-old prodigy who likes to play chess for fun but has the gift of a genius chess player. On his journey to compete in national chess competitions, Josh is tutored by a demanding grandmaster in Bruce Pandolfini, who tries to teach the boy the "Bobby Fischer strategy" of holding his opponents in contempt and winning at all costs. The movie, based on the book by Josh's father Fred, also shows the tension in the father-son relationship as Fred struggles to encourage his son's ability while at the same time ensuring that Josh keep a healthy balance in his life.
In today's analysis of a past chess game, I will briefly review the endgame of the championship match in this movie -- the result may surprise you!
Searching For Bobby Fischer is a very well done film with a poignant take on the high-pressure world of competitive chess. The cinematography is great (nominated for an Academy Award) and the acting is even better, featuring a brilliant cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Laurence Fishburne, David Paymer, and brief appearances from William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, and Laura Linney. I remember watching the movie as a kid and thinking I wanted to be a chess champion too -- of course, I was never that skilled or as dogmatically committed to the game.
However, as good and enjoyable as the movie is, it portrays an unsound chess sequence at the most critical juncture -- the climax! Allow me to explain.
Jonathan Poe (WHITE) vs. Josh Waitzkin (BLACK)
SPOILER ALERT: The following chess match analysis contains spoilers to the film.
In the movie, Josh Waitzkin makes it all the way to the national championship match against Jonathan Poe, another young chess prodigy whom the film depicts as Waitzkin's rival. When they reach the endgame, Waitzkin, playing as Black, discovers a 12-move sequence which will win the game -- and in an act of graciousness, offers Poe a draw so that they can share the championship. Here is the video of that ending scene:
Once Poe lost all remaining pieces except his King, he resigned. With that, Waitzkin became champion.
Now, let's take a look at the endgame. Figure 1 shows the position of the board immediately before the draw is offered:
Figure 1. Black to move.
As shown in the video, here are the moves after Poe rejects the draw:
1...gxf6
- Bxf6 Rc6+
- Kf5 Rxf6+
- Nxf6 Bxf6
- Kxf6 Nd7+
- Kf5 Nxe5
- Kxe5 a5
- h5 a4
- h6 a3
- h7 a2
- h8=Q a1=Q+
- Kf5 Qxh8
{White resigns} 0-1
Let's assume for the moment that these are two grandmaster-level players (both seven years of age). The video shows Waitzkin offering the draw because he believes that Poe has lost, but Poe just "doesn't know it." Poe, believing that instead he has the match won, declines the draw.
But as it turns out, Poe could still have gotten a draw, even after declining it the first time! Take a look at Move 7 in the move list above. Capturing the Black Knight on e5 was Poe's disastrous mistake, allowing Waitzkin to skewer the promoted White Pawn at h8 on Move 11.
So what could Poe have done differently on Move 7? Advancing his White Pawn to h5. That would have prevented Waitzkin from advancing his Pawn at a7, lest he wanted to let Poe promote his h Pawn to Queen with no repercussions. Waitzkin's only recourse after 7. h5 would be 7...Nf7. This would stop the White h Pawn from advancing to h6.
After Move 7, White's only goal is to avoid losing that last Pawn at all costs. By contrast, Black's only goal is to stop the White Pawn from moving any further. Right now, White cannot move the Pawn to h6 without losing it. However, keep in mind that White's h Pawn is now 3 spaces ahead of the Black Pawn at a7 in terms of advancing down the board, so at Move 8, Black cannot afford to spend any time advancing the a Pawn without potentially losing the Knight and letting White promote the h Pawn to Queen.
White's next move should be 8. Kg6, shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Black to move.
If White instead played 8. Kf6, then Poe would lose, because 8...Nh6 would block the White h Pawn completely, and give Black the time to promote its Pawn. 8. Kg6 would prevent Waitzkin from playing 8...Nh6 since Poe would have the time and space to capture the Knight, get out of the way, and let the White Pawn step up to Queenhood.
So, starting with the diagram in Figure 2, a draw would be possible in two different ways. One would be through repetition of moves. If Waitzkin checks the King with 8...Ne5+, then:
8...Ne5+
- Kf6 Ng4+
- Kg5 Ne5
Now, the Knight has moved back to where it was two moves ago. If White tries to advance the Pawn to h6 at Move 11, then 11...Nf7 forks the King and Pawn, and the game is over. So, White can really only move it's King back to either f5 or f6. Essentially, this sequence of moves deadlocks both White and Black.
The other way a draw could occur is if BOTH Pawns promote to Queen. Again beginning at Figure 2:
8...Nh8
- Kg7 a5
- Kxh8 a4
- Kg8 a3
- h6 a2
- h7 a1=Q
- h8=Q
Instead of 8...Ne5+, Black plays Nh8+, which basically traps the Knight when the King moves to Kg7, but it does give both White and Black the time to promote their Pawns to Queen. However, since White's King is not skewered in this position as it was in the movie, Poe would not lose his promoted Pawn. A draw is not guaranteed, but since these are both grandmaster players, absent a serious blunder by either player we can probably assume that a draw is the most likely outcome.
*****************************
I wish I could say that I was the first to analyze the endgame of Searching for Bobby Fischer, but I'm not. Grandmaster Larry Evans first wrote about the unrealistic ending in Chess Life magazine back in October of 1995, noting that Poe could have still drawn the match by playing 7. h5 instead of the disastrous 7. Kxe5 in the film.
Now, we of course know that Hollywood movies never, ever do anything to alter reality for dramatic effect. But in real life, there was no Jonathan Poe. The match that supposedly reflects the game played in Searching for Bobby Fischer was a U.S. championship match between Josh Waitzkin and Jeff Sarwer in 1986, where Waitzkin (again playing as Black) offered Sarwer a draw near the end of the match. Sarwer, like Poe from the film, rejected the draw -- but Sarwer and Waitzkin would eventually play to a draw in real life, and both were named co-champions.
But regardless of any liberties the film took, the movie is still very enjoyable. I'd highly recommend renting it or putting it in your Netflix queue. It may even bring you back to the halcyon days of 1993, like it did for me.
UPDATE: I had to delete the ChessFlash widgets, as they would not let me publish them properly on Daily Kos, even after they previewed just fine.