One evening in 1972, John Chancellor of NBC began his newscast with a rundown of the day's reports. War, economic turmoil, the growing Watergate scandal — all of that would be dealt with in due course. "But first," Chancellor said, "Bobby Fischer."
That clip appears in "Bobby Fischer Against the World," as a reminder that, for a moment, Fischer was just about the biggest thing in the world.
The matches he played against Boris Spassky in Iceland in 1972 were a global media event. Fischer's tactical brilliance and nerdy charisma inspired an explosion of interest in the game. Chess clubs popped up in schools all over America, and Fischer was added to the roster of sports heroes that children dreamed of emulating.
But his story has a darker, sadder side that has over the years overshadowed Fischer's remarkable achievements as a player. In the retrospect afforded by Liz Garbus's fascinating new documentary, it seems likely that the turmoil of Fischer's inner life was even then spilling out into the quiet and orderly arena of chess.
"Bobby Fischer Against the World" does not traffic in easy explanations or medical diagnoses, but it leaves the strong impression of a continuity between the oddness Fischer displayed in early interviews and the mania so jarringly evident toward the end.
And it also tactfully but strongly posits a connection between the genius he brought to an infinitely complex game and the madness that defined his relationship to just about everything else.
