Message board topic:

I'll try not to spoil any of it for you but I remember Siskel and Ebert saying you didn't have to know anything about chess to enjoy the movie.  All the actors were good in it.  Let me know when you've seen it and I'll tell you what the real-life characters said about it.  John

Just looked up on Netflix and they do have "Searching For Bobby Fischer" so I added it to my list. 

 

Peggy, Laila and Angel Minchie

 

cat-a-holic.blogspot.com

"Searching For Bobby Fischer" was based on a true story, (even though they unnecessarily overdramatized a lot of it).  I've read a little bit about the Polgar sisters and I think it would be interesting enough to do a movie about them, (although I'm sure Hollywood would ruin it by overdramatizing that too).  "Searching For Bobby Fischer" wasn't about Bobby Fischer at all, but a series or a movie about him could be really good.  Eccentric to begin with, he got more and more eccentric until he finally went full blown crazy and died pretty much alone in Iceland.  Like I said, chess fans are starved for anything like that.  John

The book the movie is based on is fiction and I've read there will be no sequel, but knowing the movie industry, I think they could but it wouldn't be anywhere as good as the original. 

 

Peggy, Laila and Angel Minchie

 

cat-a-holic.blogspot.com

Well, there are 2 sisters, Judit and Susan Polgar from Hungary, who are 2 of the strongest female players in the world.Judit has long been the number one female chess player.  As far as I know though, they never had all the personal problems with drugs and alcohol that "Beth Harmon" did in the series.

There were some major differences between the characters in "Searching For Bobby Fischer" the real-life people it was based on.  I know that through the books that all 3 main characters wrote.  (But don't get me started on that.)  One of the big problems I had with the movie was that you could never get a good look at the positions on the board.  If they ever did, I could freeze it and study it, but they never once showed the whole board.

I can well imagine that chess players love the series.  If it's that popular, I can't imagine that they wouldn't try to extend it or make a sequel, or create something similar.  Chess is touched on in tons of movies but it's not usually a big part of the plot.  Chess players are starved for stuff like that.  John

We do not get broadband at home, so no netflix here.