That Was a Mistake

That was a mistake... It's there. It's twelve moves away, but it's there. You've got him.

Source: Ben Kingsley as Bruce Pandolfini in Searching for Bobby Fischer.

Explanation: Josh Waitzkin's opponent makes a mistake, leaving Josh with checkmate in twelve moves. His coach sees it, because Ben Kingsley is that good.


Josh offers his opponent a draw, knowing that he has the game won. His opponent rejects the draw and soon finds out he should have taken it, with Josh eventually winning the match. Interesting fact, though:

The board position at the time was contrived by Josh Waitzkin and Bruce Pandolfini specifically for the movie. The following moves are played:

1.	...	gxf6
2.	Bxf6	Rc6+
3.	Kf5	Rxf6+!
4.	Nxf6	Bxf6
5.	Kxf6	Nd7+
6.	Kf5	Nxe5
7.	Kxe5??	a5
8.	h5	a4
9.	h6	a3
10.	h7	a2
11.	h8=Q	a1=Q+
12.	Kf5	Qxh8 0-1

In the October 1995 issue of Chess Life, Grandmaster Larry Evans showed that Josh's opponent still could have drawn the match (note the double question mark after White's move 7 - That was a mistake). White could have drawn the game by advancing his pawn on move 7 instead of taking the knight.

The moral of the story is simple: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME DECONSTRUCTING CHESS BOARDS FROM MOVIES.