While waiting in line for Confession this morning, I played chess.  Before you go accusing me of irreverence, please know that in addition to going to Reconciliation once a week, I spend a lot of time reflecting on my sins.  Indeed, the spiritual director in me, if I could do some self-directing, would probably say I do too much reflection.  When one is turned so inward on oneself, it can obscure the voice of God.  I pray that is not the case for me.  At any rate, I play chess in many idle moments, but it is a form of the game called “bullet.”  The nomenclature is due to the speed at which you need to move, each side only having one minute with which to work.  In this way, you are not only going against your opponent but the clock, the enemy of both players.  If the seconds tick down to zero when it is your turn, you lose.  Like God, it is the fairest arbiter of them all.  When I am not engaged in a match, I think about different scenarios.  This, however, is as far as my study goes.  This does not take away from my interest in chess, though, which is why I finally got around to watching Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) after so many years.

Though the real-life American chess champion in the title is discussed often in Searching for Bobby Fischer, the movie is about seven-year-old Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc).  It is his birthday and like many other kids that age, he is having a party in the park with his friends.  While having fun with them that is broken up by his father, Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mantegna), he wanders into the part of Washington Park where people play chess.  Picking up a model of a Medieval Lewis knights he finds, he hands it to one of the area’s chess hustlers, Vincent “Vinnie” Livermore (Laurence Fishburne).  Seeing them play has Josh wanting to come back, and he convinces his mother, Bonnie Waitzkin (Joan Allen), to return the next day after school.  This new interest catches Bonnie’s attention, particularly after her son goes against one of the regulars.  She informs Fred about this development, who is surprised since he figures Josh to be more into regular sports like baseball.  Wanting to maintain a connection with his son, Fred finds an old board and challenges Josh.  The boy purposely loses at first, not wanting to show up his dad.  When Bonnie and Fred tell him it is okay to win, Josh proceeds to beat Fred while barely paying attention to the board.  Sensing the untapped talent, Fred takes Josh to the local chess club run by retired chess champion Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley).  Bruce at first turns down the request by Fred to teach Josh, but something about the boy’s style intrigues the older player.  Thus, Bruce eventually agrees to mentor Josh.  As they begin to get to know one another, their interactions are less about chess than fostering a sense of the art of the game.  Because of this, Bruce refuses to attend the tournaments into which Josh enters, believing they are a mistake.  There are some clear wounds on Bruce’s part that he needs to pray through, but I am not his spiritual director.  As such, it is Fred that accompanies Josh on his competitions.  As Josh’s accolades and trophies begin to pile up, the more he pushes his kid to be triumphant at all times.  The change in attitude is underscored when Josh’s teacher (Laura Linney) suggests that the time he is missing in school might be counterproductive to his development.  Fred reacts angrily in the moment and later on by enrolling Josh in a private school.  Even Bruce is feeling the pressure, particularly when his old chess instructor (Robert Stephens) brings around a new child prodigy, Jonathan Poe (Michael Nirenberg).  Jonathan is serious at all times about the game, never smiling at any of the tournaments at which they start noticing one another.  In response, and with some extra push from Fred, Josh is made to follow Bruce’s instructions more closely.  Among other things, this means giving up playing in the park with Vinnie, one of Josh’s favorite pastimes.  Gradually, chess becomes less about playing and more concentrated on winning.  The breaking point comes when Bruce belittles Josh’s desire for a made-up chess certificate that had earlier fascinated the boy, causing Bonnie to kick the teacher out of the house.  Not long thereafter, Fred comes home to find Josh’s room immaculately clean and his son mindlessly jotting down moves in front of an empty board.  Fred realizes he has gone too far and tells Josh that he is proud of his kid no matter what he does.  This gets Josh interested in chess again, and Fred takes him back to Washington Park to renew his friendly rivalry with Vinnie.  It also means that, with Josh’s consent, he will go to Chicago to take part in the children’s national tournament.  It comes down to the inevitable final pairing between Jonathan and Josh.  On the eve of the match, Bruce comes to Josh’s room to apologize for his behavior.  The pupil admits to being afraid that he cannot beat Jonathan, and the teacher offers comfort.  In the championship game, Josh sacrifices his queen in a surprising move that has Jonathan confident of victory.  However, in the end game, Jonathan makes a mistake that Bruce notices while monitoring the moves in another room.  Hearing his coach’s voice in his head, Josh thinks through the next series of moves and realizes his path to victory.  Before playing it out, Josh offers Jonathan the opportunity to accept a draw and a share of first place.  Jonathan refuses and it proceeds as Josh foresaw.  Everyone is happy, though the final scene is of Josh comforting one of his chess friends over the other’s performance.

What Searching for Bobby Fischer’s ending highlights is just how different is Josh than the eponymous grand master. The film portrays Bobby Fischer (archival footage) as an enigmatic figure from which Josh draws inspiration.  The year before the film’s release, the reclusive Fischer emerged from hiding for a rematch with Russian grand master Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia.  For an American citizen to be in that former country at that time was against the law, and Fischer’s defiance earned him an arrest warrant.  This was in fitting with his personality, which would take a larger hit years later as he leaned more into antisemitic views.  None of this is discussed in the film, and I bring it up only to highlight how out of step is Josh to the person he is supposed to be idolizing.  Of course, having idols is a bad thing in the Catholic view as it goes against the First Commandment about not worshipping anyone before God.  Josh’s character can be summed up by Bonnie when she observed that her son has “. . . a good heart, and that is the most important thing in the world.”  To that I say Amen.  For Christians, having a good heart means cultivating Jesus in it above anything else. Though Faith is not a part of the plot, its themes can be extrapolated as relating to this truth.  God’s love for us is full beyond measure or understanding.  It makes us well-rounded without becoming worldly.  It allows us to discern right from wrong, in our choices and more broadly.  Unfortunately, Josh is not given religious instruction along these lines, but he has a mother, and eventually a father and teacher, who realize the importance of not becoming fixated on chess.  Josh is a kid and needs the opportunity to experience the world as a child, and care for others as a child.  Of course, there is the Matthew’s reminder in chapter eighteen of the need to be like children in order to have a share in the Kingdom of God. That is another big topic, rather than a tiny one like chess.

Searching for Bobby Fischer is a cautionary tale about loving something too much, like chess, and not living the rest of your life.  Interestingly, the film is based on a true story, and the real Josh Waitzkin eventually retired from chess at a young age to go on to become a martial arts champion.  The film also highlights not hating your opponent, which Fischer started to do and Josh found that he was unable to do.  That is worth watching for almost two hours.