Bobby Fischer Against the World

What made Bobby Fischer a mad genius? Was it his mother Regina, a Communist agitator who left him alone at 16 so she could pursue medical training? The media attention, starting from the time he became the U.S. chess champion at 14? The pressure of the legendary 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky, staged as a battle for ideological supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviets, which his theatrical behavior nearly derailed? When he became world chess champion, Fischer was an obsessive 29-year-old with no support system, ill-equipped to handle fame. The film features rare archival footage and interviews with those who knew him, exposing the high price he paid for success. After his meteoric rise, Bobby Fischer fell hard, becoming a recluse for two decades. He resurfaced as a delusional paranoiac, ranting against Jews and America. Following struggles with the governments of the U.S. and Japan, Fischer died nearly friendless in Iceland. BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD is the sad tale of a chess mastermind who became unable to master his own mind. –B.B.