Why any new Bobby Fischer movie will not reignite American interest in chess

Preface: I watched "Pawn Sacrifice" last night, and really wished I hadn't. The msot that could be said about the movie was, "merely competent".

As I am a fan of both pocket billiards and poker, and post in the relvant forums for those two hobbies, I started thinking a litle about the periods of time where these games were (are) very popular, and the part that movies played in those periods of popularity.

Pocket billiards experienced boom periods after "The Hustler" and "The Color of Money". Mostly, these movies played upon the American ideal of the "modern" gunslinger, roaming from town to town, testing his mettle agains the finest locals.

"Rounders" played a big part in the poker boom that we are still experiencing, to this day.. It simply convinced people that poker is not about luck, and that through hard work and talent, there is "easy money" to be made.

And now.... chess. One might think that a really good chess movie could do a lot to spark new interest in the game, increase tournament attendance, etc.

And some might say that a (really good) movie about Bobby Fischer might be the catalyst that sparks that interest.

After watching "Pawn Sacrifice".. I have my doubts that even a good Bobby Fischer movie could achieve that goal. Let's look at a possible reason why...

Bobby Fischer's allure in the 60's/70's was one of a Cold War champion. Those who grew up in that time period saw nuclear war as a real possibility. There was an ever-present tension between the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A., with a constant passive attempt to prove non-militarily, which nation was "best".

Chess was the perfect measure of intellect and cunning, and to think, that America had the best player in a game arguably the national sport of Russia!

To America (and much of the world), the Bobby Fischer vs. the Russian chess  forces was literally a battle between Freedom and Totalitarianism. Good and Evil.

So, the reason why a story about Bobby Fischer will not ignite new interest in the game is simply this.

People don't care. Heck, today, a lot of young people actually WANT communism, in some form or another. The idea of Bobby out there fighting the good fight against a nation which ostensibly pooled its resources together "for the greater good" just holds no allure whatsoever for them.

Bobby's story must be informed by the backdrop of the Cold War and the machinations of the Russian government. If not for that backdrop? Bobby comes across as a bats**t crazy guy who played chess.

These days, even if the U.S. somehow produced a World Championship contender, a dominant player... Would the citizenry care?

ShortBusRuss 

caruana is world championship material mate

A new Bobby Fischer movie produced by Brazzers would reignite American interest in chess

As far as the Pawn Sacrifice film, I fully agree. It is a plain bad movie. It is bad by standards of people knowledgeable about chess, bad by standards of people who want to see a different time period on film due to inaccuracies, bad according to fans of Bobby Fischer who've read everything about him, and it's bad as far as appeal of people not familiar with chess.

I don't think there is any need to go over why Pawn Sacrifice is a bad and ineffective film. I just want to mention where I've seen chess more often and in a way that seems to be interesting and welcoming to young audiences. It is very often used as either a prop or a plot device in many video games. I am an avid video game enthusiast and I've consistently been seeing chess in video games. It pops up in Victorian themed games, Alice in wonderland context, Batmab games, Capcom resident evil games, in assassin's creed. Of course that is not enough to simply get someone to pick up chess and play. At least not many people it seems. 

But let me give you an example from Go (known as WeiQi and Baduk in Korea and China respectively). The game is played more in China, Korea, and Japan. In Asian countrie's in general most people play Chinese Chess. But reason I mention Go is how there the attempts to make it popular are more active and more effective. Potential players need to be recruited at a young age so someone has released an anime cartoon about Go. I hate the idea of kids playing chess or go as a result of having seen a crapoy anime cartoon. But aparently it got many people from different countries into into Go. 

more recently interest in go has peaked because of Google and is alpha go announcement and demonstration. What's clever is that all sorts of new technology is in the news and go was used as a medium to demonstrate the abilities of Google's AI. I actually run a meetup go club and some players told me they want to play Go because of Google's AlphaGo.

Chess needs something like that. Movies about chess won't help. Cartoons that feature chess will. Whether someone can make one and make it seem cool is a different question.

chess was never wildly popular, even in the 70s after Fisher. but it has always had a loyal following. 

Ultimate fighting and NASCAR are what the people want; and flea markets and McDonalds

"Johnny Test" had an episode promoting Chess.

I'm still convinced that computers have destroyed the mystique of chess by showing just how human the really great players are. 

'Searching For Bobby Fischer'. Lord, people complain about how 'Pawn Sacrifice' portrayed Bobby Fischer...... how about how 'Searching...' portrayed "Bruce Pandolfini"?

I think chess only has mystique for those who don't understand chess. Sorta "I don't get chess and I'm pretty smart, so anyone who does get it must be like really, really smart. Like super genius smart".

Agree with what Darth says, people that don't play imagine chess to be more difficult to play/understand than it is. In TV/films that reference chess but are not primarily about chess (eg. a character owns a board) the implication is always that they are a deep intellectual thinker or above average intelligence.