"Who would have thought the most exciting movie of the year would be about chess? That was the advertising caimpaign for the film Searching for Bobby Fischer. In other words, trust us folks, the movie is nowhere near as boring as it sounds. Neither was Fischer's life as this once famous figure of the Cold War era has passed away. In his day, this child prodigy defeated a Soviet Chess master and captured the imagination of the United States. He defeated the Soviets and winged their national pride. That was something the United States could rally behind. Fischer gave the Soviet Union a hurting. This is a critical point as the Cold War was an ideological one and both the United States and the USSR rooted their ideology in nationalism. Fischer's win was a major smarting to Soviet pride and nationalism and was a victory in the Cold War. This would be repeated in the 1970's when the American hockey team would hand the Soviets a major thumping in another classic Cold War Cinderella story.

Sadly, Fischer story ends on a sour note. He basically ended up in life an anti-semitic kook whose anti-Jewish/anti-American ranting left him looking bitter, unstable and a mental deficient. Who knows what it was that truly drove Fischer off the deep end. Maybe it was the fact that he achieved world wide fame so young and then became a footnote in history only a short time later. Whatever the reason Fischer will always remain an enigmatic figure who is best remembered as the child Cold Warrior as opposed to the shell of his former greatness he would devolve into later in life.