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I wasted my Monday night, which I should have used to do homework, to watch Chill's favorite movie.
I liked Searching For Bobby Fischer, and probably will place it in my favorite movies just by virtue of the fact that writing this blog will help me remember it. My recall of "favorite movies" is not so good, but other notables include Hopscotch and Good Night, and Good Luck.
In a day and age when the desire to win can be unreasonably strong, the themes in Searching for Bobby Fischer are meaningful and powerful.
I appreciate Josh Waitzkin. Some of the most talented kids I know choose not to do things they're good at. They just don't, and as long as they're happy doing what they're doing, it's fine. And I know kids who do like doing things they're not good at. I play Starcraft, to name an easy example.
There isn't enough merit rewarded in finding passions. I know I like Starcraft because I'm not going to go far in it nor am I competitive enough to win every game, but I play it anyways. The people who question why foreigner SC players quit should not; there is no reason to do something you have no longer delight in doing.
On a different end of the spectrum, I know kids who claim they enjoy doing certain things, certain "passions". She claims, "My passions have become my activities". Her activities include learning (studying), leadership, community service, dance, and badminton (for only 1 season out of the year). I will point out that all of these can put on a college application.
Josh Waitzkin has earned my respect because he continues to play and be good at chess and lead a multifaceted life, something difficult in the all-consuming world of chess. He found his passions, and sometimes his passion didn't always line up with his talents. He would be one to argue that doing what you like to do, regardless of whether or not it lines up with your innate ability, needs no reward.
 
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Would you give this movie 5 stars?
I'm tempted to watch it now.
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The best thing about this film was the ingenious combination the protagonist uses to win the tournament final.
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On January 06 2009 15:29 stanley_ wrote:
Would you give this movie 5 stars?
I'm tempted to watch it now.
The 5 star rating is really ambiguous; you have no means of standardizing nor normalizing the metric so scores can be deflated or inflated on so the movies become ranked on a non-normal scale. Not that you'd want a normal scale when judging movies. The movie industry would really want one that's skewed left (aka lots of 4s and 5s) to get people to see movies because it's 4 stars out of 5 or 5 stars out of 5.
On January 06 2009 15:33 MoltkeWarding wrote:
The best thing about this film was the ingenious combination the protagonist uses to win the tournament final.
According to Wikipedia, the movement combo is flawed a major mistake was needed on Jonathan Poe's part. Which he committed, but he could have only played to a draw, not a win.
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On January 06 2009 15:29 stanley_ wrote:
Would you give this movie 5 stars?
I'm tempted to watch it now.
I would it's one of my favs =)
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i remember watching this and loving it as a kid...haven't even thought about it in probably 10+ years tho... thanks for the reminder about this movie 
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apparently josh waitzkin doesnt even play chess anymore and just does martial arts
hes written some of the pieces for the grandmaster chess program series too
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Katowice25012 Posts
I also liked this movie but I haven't seen it since jr high
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I saw this movie as a kid and it definitely is one of my all time favorites.
Got me into chess too, and learning all about Bobby Fischer.
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On January 06 2009 15:41 thunk wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2009 15:29 stanley_ wrote:
Would you give this movie 5 stars?
I'm tempted to watch it now. The 5 star rating is really ambiguous; you have no means of standardizing nor normalizing the metric so scores can be deflated or inflated on so the movies become ranked on a non-normal scale. Not that you'd want a normal scale when judging movies. The movie industry would really want one that's skewed left (aka lots of 4s and 5s) to get people to see movies because it's 4 stars out of 5 or 5 stars out of 5. Show nested quote +On January 06 2009 15:33 MoltkeWarding wrote:
The best thing about this film was the ingenious combination the protagonist uses to win the tournament final. According to Wikipedia, the movement combo is flawed a major mistake was needed on Jonathan Poe's part. Which he committed, but he could have only played to a draw, not a win.
I must be missing something then. The way I see it with the advanced pawn:
... Nxe5
h5 Nf7
Kf6 Nh6
Kg6 a5
Kxh6 a4
Kg6 ...
from then on black wins.
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Calgary25986 Posts
I went through the final combination so many times so I could write it down. I've lost it now, but I remember it actually made sense, which was very surprising coming from a movie.
Edit: Oh I'm late I see. I'm not saying that it was solid moves (clearly it wasn't) but at least it made sense.
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The final game in the movie was actually a copy of a famous game between two grandmasters.
I loved this movie. After watching it I went on a huge chess binge. Got the chessmaster game with Josh Waitzkin teaching you how to play properely, and started challenging people who used to dominate me in chess to games. Of course I starting owning them which was great.
This goes in my list of favourite movies of all time, its very inspiring.
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dude the last game was the shit man....12 moves to checkmate? Darn that owns.
and yeah, too bad Bobby Fischer is already dead...at the age of 64...
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On January 06 2009 16:18 MoltkeWarding wrote:Show nested quote +On January 06 2009 15:41 thunk wrote:On January 06 2009 15:29 stanley_ wrote:
Would you give this movie 5 stars?
I'm tempted to watch it now. The 5 star rating is really ambiguous; you have no means of standardizing nor normalizing the metric so scores can be deflated or inflated on so the movies become ranked on a non-normal scale. Not that you'd want a normal scale when judging movies. The movie industry would really want one that's skewed left (aka lots of 4s and 5s) to get people to see movies because it's 4 stars out of 5 or 5 stars out of 5. On January 06 2009 15:33 MoltkeWarding wrote:
The best thing about this film was the ingenious combination the protagonist uses to win the tournament final. According to Wikipedia, the movement combo is flawed a major mistake was needed on Jonathan Poe's part. Which he committed, but he could have only played to a draw, not a win. I must be missing something then. The way I see it with the advanced pawn: ... Nxe5 h5 Nf7 Kf6 Nh6 Kg6 a5 Kxh6 a4 Kg6 ... from then on black wins.
Why would the king move to f6 then g6 when it can just move to g6 in the first place?
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That's a good movie, I should watch it again sometime soon. I was in my early teens last time I've seen it or something like that.
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I've been searching for a place to download this movie in the last 12 months, just couldn't find any.
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Just watched the movie because of this blog. now its 3:10 am. awesome movie though.
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Calgary25986 Posts
On January 06 2009 22:54 gg_hertzz wrote:
I've been searching for a place to download this movie in the last 12 months, just couldn't find any.
Haha it's the only DVD I own because of this.
Wow I can't believe how many people like this movie ^_^ Yay!
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Thx for the tip - will watch and comment later.
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I just one-click bought it on amazon. I saw this shit when i was a kid. Played chess for a good week then realized it was too hard and went back to computer games.
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Ahahahaha, just 20 minutes into it, but gaaawd :D so funny.
"The game's not over yet."
"Yes it is."
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Haha last game was a bliss :D
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Physician
United States4146 Posts
On January 06 2009 15:18 thunk wrote:There isn't enough merit rewarded in finding passions.
- only some one really young can say that - truth is finding and having a passion is all the reward you need.
- about the movie: enjoyed it but it misses so much more about how tournament chess affects and changes children (a lot of time it can be very detrimental if there isn't good guidance); some scenes a little twisted reality to fit cliche popular beliefs 6.5/10 in my book (of note for me anything over my 5/10 is worth watching)
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this movie is awesome, it inspired me to play so much chess at one point. chessmasta
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EPT![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Searching_for_bobby_fischer.jpg/200px-Searching_for_bobby_fischer.jpg)
