Pawn Sacrifice*

A Story by Abishai100

Will America overcome the Soviet Union on a world-stage involving gameplay, news, and basic human/social duty-free diligence?

An opus on what makes chess so 'human' and drawn from the excellence-themes in Pawn Sacrifice (Ed Zwick) referencing the timeless World Chess Championship 1972 (Wikipedia).

DISCLAIMER: I've no artistic/political ties to the movie inspiring this fanfiction casting of chess-drama and present this only as a representation of civilization-distance.

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Bobby Fischer became the first American chess-master to topple the Soviet Union mystique/domination in the intelligence-based board-game environment in 1972, defeating world-champion Boris Spassky in what made him an American 'celebrity' and inspired many news-makers to make something of a 'fancy' out of a symbolic matchup between an American and a Russian during the altogether controversial/incendiary Cold War development era (late 20th-Century).

However, when Fischer was just young, all he cared about was the purity and special private meditative magic of the game itself, viewing how the pieces moved together and in-tandem and how study of the game itself offered special intuition about the intricacy of the strategic illumination of what made chess-play so completely imaginative!

“Nothing eases suffering like human touch” (Bobby Fischer).

It was the time of the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union had surfaced as the two post-WWII 'super-powers' and gained much headway into the nature/quality of globe-level political-IQ or negotiation and intrigue, culminating in not only socialization imaginations but also dread. This was a time of great movements in human will/touch, and the Spassky-Fischer matchup would be something of a 'diadem' to civilization-writers/artists!

Fischer had become something of a limelight-man because of chess-focus and the lens of political will or touch. In fact, some considered him a special 'man' of the modern 'stage' of Western intelligence, and he'd been approached by both fans and political inquirers alike, regarding his 'flair' for gaming and his interests in 'real' governance affairs, since, of course, chess was a 'reflection' of war/politics as it cast 'images' of political machinations, as if decision-making would be likened to the strategic motions of the advancing board-game pieces. Everyone was lyricized in fact.

Fischer was known to cut-through his opponents, and some of those who dared to challenge/play someone like him, an American who played phenomenally since he was young and gained multiple US titles before reaching the world-stage, claimed his style was very 'psychically-tidal' or mentally charged. You might say he had some other notion of what chess would become for him ultimately.

When he was about to face the Soviet Spassky on the world-stage, in 1972, people whispered things about stalemate-conditions and what it might mean for 'diplomacy-IQ' regarding US-USSR relations and friendly 'ties' and more, but perhaps Fischer held something in his 'grit' regarding a sheer will to simply overcome the Soviets' dominating-grip on the game hailed as a 'brain'-gymnastics.

Did Bobby the great American find ways to unwind or methods of recreation or even spiritual relaxation despite this immaculate pressure leading up to what might become the first American 'upset' over the Soviets on the world-stage, perhaps more 'brain-teasing' than even the space-race, which the Americans also were 'tightly' determined to win? What do you think?

The 1972 World Championship match (Fischer-Spassky) took 21 games to determine the outcome, with Bobby losing shockingly the 1st two and generating 'anxious' headlines in America and Europe, but he'd storm back, and he'd hold on, as Spassky kept close, revealing why Soviets were deemed 'cool-characters' of the intelligence-game and why they simply dominated challengers from around the globe. Heading into Game 13, Bobby hoped to win 2 more decidedly if he'd reach more draws against Boris the Russian!

After Game 21, it was over. Bobby Fischer had achieved the impossible by toppling the great Boris and ending Soviet domination in world-championship chess in 1972! It was an American dream. It was worthy of journals, stories, and lyrics. It was a time of American achievement, and Bobby would be asked about his 'commitments' to the American lore itself. He'd have to endure much stress and turn to forms of madness/isolationism before resurfacing many years later in a more 'hermitic' appearance to replay Boris. However, the 1972 championship was simply 'dreamy' enough for many writers.

Bobby Fischer gave America what few competitors had managed to do on the world-politics stage/arena, and it was a time of dazzle, games-chats, chess-celebrity, ornamented politics, society imagination about American excellence, and general social diagrams of Earth's magical 'stalemate' regarding the tie between competition...and world-discourse.

Imagine now if hideous alien creatures of great wrath/intelligence invaded Earth and played a wager-chess game over the 'soul' of humanity, arguing about civilization neglect of intelligence-neglect or oversights of the Fisher achievement dialogue! They'd certainly have not tended to the simple 'art' of what Bobby gave us all --- a story.

I've been playing chess since I was a kid, and I've grown to admire the game and those who excel in it, as a reflection of what makes intelligence a form of 'competition' that can indeed create forms of special/magical human excellence and peace! In fact, I consider my own diary-notes about the 1972 Chess Championship a re-presentation of what makes social-media so completely...dietary!