Or when he walks up for the challenge and he’s up-wind of Vinny smoking the cigarette. None of the smoke gets in the kids face. This is a brilliant movie….the lighting, angles of shots, background noise, and attention to detail. Two extremely different movies, I know, but I would compare the cinematography of this film to the original Godfather movie. They both made me feel like I was there.
This movie touched my soul. When I was about the same age I learned to play chess at my school chess club. Within two months not a single player to include my teacher could beat me. Within 4-5 months or so placed 2nd place nationally in Puerto Rico. However, I was not allowed to join a local chess club to continue improving. Since I had no one to play with (this is pre-internet) I abandoned the game until 15+ years later. Now as an adult I picked up the game again (about 9 months ago) and will always wonder how far I would have made it if I had the proper support as a kid. If you have a kid and he loves a hobby the worst thing a parent can do is deprive him/her of his passion. You never know how that hobby might evolve in the future and how it might shape that kid as it gives him structure in life. I've done well in my career but that is a different point altogether. Now I tried to make up for lost time and try to break that 2000 rating but time can never be truly recaptured so I'll have to settle. Still I love the game and I'm grateful for being introduced to this beautiful game when I was a child.
God bless you.. My dad, a man from poor people in New Orleans who dropped out of school in the 9th grade during the late '30s, taught me when I was 9. It didn't take too long for me to beat him, and when he stopped playing me altogether, I knew I had something special. I had 3 older brothers, but none of them could beat me. I play online to this day, and anything more than 5min. games bore me. My dad was something special..
This film isn't deceptively about chess, its really used as a metaphor about love, being a kind person and then it's about chess.... a sensitive and magical film that brings tears to my eyes. Lawrence fishburne you're my hero.
This is all about chess and chess is in a way about everything that is already in us. Human chess will never be like computer chess and despite the fact that chess is a science, when we approach chess, it's almost like it's not a science, it takes time to develop a pure scientific approach. The movie illustrates perfectly all the great difficulties one has while trying to learn chess and this is all the more profound. Funny enough, even more profound than just one game of a master, because to get to the level of a master, there was a long road. So, that's a dear tribute to all the players who defeated not only others, but themselves, in a long but rewarding journey, to learn the game of the mythological Caissa, but why not to say: to learn that which is a dear gift from God? Well, that's up to what you believe, but one thing is for sure, chess is the product of the greater contact of all ancient civilizations, which happened more on the ancient east and the product of all the best that civilization produced in Europe on the last 500 years. Chess is therefore one of those products of the modern world, with all it's problems still, it's one of the one and only things, that may show us that warfare is almost a thing of the past, because poetry and science can combine to reproduce not only the battlefield, but the best battle of minds and spirits and souls, which generates to us in a mirror not only a reflection of an image itself, but the image of our whole path. It's a pure game, that brought families and people together, and as FIDE says: gens una sumus.
As a teacher, nothing stirs my soul more than to get a student who can challenge me at everything I've been teaching him/her. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it makes all the rest of the unpleasant parts of my job worthwhile. My job isn't just to teach...it's to make them BETTER than me.
i came from a familly that on my Mom side, all teachers...except one.. She own a Bar (...another story.... ) my point is Knowndlege is the best thing WE can share to see someone will use what you have learn them magic stuff all my aunts and my uncle ..they feel good when they know they have changed a part of their lifes ...understanding seeing the light bright in the eyes..the sparkleS.... OK now I KNOW........... that moment that magic moment have fun!
Well said! I think most teachers have this god complex about teaching, but still wanting to be better than everyone else. You know you have found a good teacher when they think like this.
@@Ironclad6661 and roger5173 here are 50 of them www.google.com/search?q=chess+movies&oq=chess+movies&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.9414j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
And now josh is one of the baddest black belts in brazilian jiu jitsu on the planet. As a young adult who has dedicated their life to jiu jitsu, and as someone who loved chess as a child, this man is insanely smart. I wish I could have that natural learning and instinct like him. Amazing
Ever since I was a kid, when I first saw this, there was always something so magical about this particular scene from the film. I don’t know if the music building, the sound of the chess pieces and the chess clock, or the angles from which it was shot, but it has that magic locked inside it.
I have played chess for recreation intermittently for my entire life. I never had so much fun playing as when my 5 year old son recently got very interested in the game. Thanks to youtube instructional videos and computer opponents that scale to his ability, he learned in a few weeks what it took me 10 years to learn. It really is a golden age for chess.
TRIVIA! In this scene, the REAL Josh Waitzkin is seated to Max Pomeranc's right in the park. He has a cameo in the film. He's the 16 yo kid in the black jacket and white hoodie playing chess next to Josh. ALSO! The REAL Katya Waitzkin, Josh's little sister, has a cameo as well. When they get to Chicago, she's the young girl with dark hair he plays in the first round. Joe Mantegna tells him "this girl's ranked 82nd, get through it quickly so we can rest before the next round." That little girl is Katya Waitzkin.
RockedThe/CrapOut Your right bro, well stated. One of my favorite films of all time, and i don't even play chess... The screenplay is a masterpiece for the day this visual media when it hit the movie date that is.
Another thing this film did really well was illustrating the underlying social inequality of the game, with street style speed caches vs traditional competitive chess, which was awesome!
0:59 When Josh was in the park playing CHESS he had the most friends in his life, Then is father took that opportunity to have friends in the park by getting him A CHESS teacher. The CHESS teacher gave Josh Strict instructions and rules that he couldn't go to the park anymore, Also to know exactly what move to use during the middle of the movie you could see very good that Josh didn't want to play anymore until he got the certificate. After the mom kicked out the teacher and had 1 on 1 Discussion about Josh when his mom said "You try to beat that joy out of him I swear to God I'll take him away from you". That's when the discussion from A 1 on 1 Discussion about Josh it A 1 on 0 Discussion about Josh. That's when Josh went back to the park and Vinnie was trying to make Josh remember 1:15 1. What he was like when you played with them. 2. How much joy/fun when he used to have playing CHESS against them.
It's definitely not a cigarette. If it was just a cigarette there would be no reason to put it out. He tells him to put it out because it's an illegal drug and there is a kid, who they all respect as a player by the way, playing near by
Its a joint. Vinnie was smoking a cigarette, and continued smoking it with Josh around. If that other guy was told to put it out, it was definitely a joint.
I think this movie tries to understand why Bobby Fischer burnt out of chess: how competition can be taken so far that it hurts the love of the game-of ANY game. The desire to win can burn out the desire for fun, and play. And Fischer is not the only one it’s about. It applies to anyone, in any competition.
My competitive game of choice wasn't chess (I'm a horrible abstract spatial thinker) but Magic: The Gathering. I probably watched this movie a dozen or so times during those days, and Vinnie's words in this scene were an inspiration before a Day 2 of a Grand Prix or the Top 8 of a Pro Tour Qualifier: "you're playing not to lose; you've got to risk losing, you've got to risk everything", "you want to be on he edge of defeat" (as a blue/x control main, I lived there a lot) and "don't play the (cards), play the man. I'm your opponent, you've got to beat me." Those were good times.
So true. I was playing in a grand prix, on the draw in game 3. I knew the matchup, I was mono green Eldrazi playing against Valakut, and was looking at my 7 card hand, and eventually my 6 card hand. Both hands had lands and spells, but were slow as all hell, certainly not fast enough for the matchup. I could have kept either of them and tried to play not to lose, but I knew from goldfishing my deck that a 5 card hand could be better. I drew up my 5 card hand, and it was a little dicey, and my first draw wasn't great, but then it was perfect draw and perfect draw leading to bomb turn 3 play, bomb turn 4 play, and bomb turn 5 play that made my opponent concede. I started that game 3 on the edge of defeat, but came out the other side!
Josh had way more confidence from Vinny than he ever did from Bruce. All due respect to Bruce, he's a very different player; but he's not a confident chess player. He plays defensive, while Vinny plays offensive. They're the perfect combination as long as Josh threads the needle. As long as he plays on the edge of defeat. Also, the music is fucking beautiful.
I don't necessarily think Bruce plays defensively, he just plays more practically. Bruce is more focused on positional play with the use of tactics at appropriate times while Vinny is purely tactics with less respect for positional play.
Playing defensively wins games. If you don't play with a defensive mentality you leave yourself open for lots of tactics. You'll be ok against maybe 0-1400 USCF but 1400-Master level will exploit you playing too offensively. When you play defensively you basically always maintain a sound position and sit back and wait for your opponent to make a mistake and its over
I think Vinnie represents the romantic days of chess when the goal was to sacrifice everything to mate the opponent , but Bruce represents Modern Chess where you have to play sound and the position on the board ....not the opponent. The last chess player to play the man was Fischer ....he balanced psychology, science , and positional play in his games and it became like Bruce said Art. Sadly now the game is nothing but computer algorithms and whose computer analysis is stronger. That's why Carlsen is such a lackluster world champion . Yes ...hes the best right now but he is no Fischer, Kasparov , and probably more importantly ....we will never see someone play like Tal and Morphy again and be World Champion. Like Roy said in Tin Cup ....He always settles for Par, but not me.
@@TheGodfather-bm3ow I also think that Vinnie helped keep Josh from burning out. Playing with and like Bruce just wasn't fun for Josh. All he cared about was the points and how far he was from his GM title. When he was playing with Vinnie, and playing in Central Park, he was having fun.
I wish there were a scene at a park like this where I lived. I did grow up with similar mentors that hung around the tennis courts, so I'm glad for that.
@@OwenRona You got it! That hustler could take Carlsen, Kasparov, Ivanchuck and a resurrected Bobby Fischer if the Championships didn't have such stodgy rules.
The irony of this movie is there a parts/clips(if you like that word better) that are so emotional that you can't hold back the tears Not of Sadness but if Joy & Inspiration
This is such a great scene in this wonderful movie. At 1:34 when you see Josh's dad look with pride always gets to me. Very well done! Joe Mantenga is such a good actor too!
He is not only proud. He is a dad that smiles seeing his son having fun AGAIN, playing a game that he loved (before meeting the other teacher). I LOVE that smile...it says so much about a dad - son relationship
This scene is a lot more beautiful than it's given credit for. That bald black man just sets there waiting to hustle probably just a meal, he's good enough at chess to hustle a living from it, he once probably had dreams of being a World Class Grandmaster.
@@uberrideshareking9513 It's beautiful because it's a story of someone who loved his art and devoted his life to it. Now he tries to make a living from it anyway he can. Like the violinist who plays in the street for donations...a little sad perhaps, but poignant
Well some people prefer more closed positions others prefer balanced positions and others prefer gambits. Playing to get your opponent in a position you know better than they do is also part of the game, and that may not be the strict “best move”.
What a great film! And what great acting by a great cast! I just saw it on TV for the first time-a more than thirty-year-old film. I was feeling really down when I turned it on, and almost didn't watch it. After it finished, I really felt lifted. I play chess with my son often. I'm mediocre and he is relatively new to the game. But we both love playing. We play for the fun of he game. It's terrible when a person get s so wrapped up in the gamei it destroys their life-Bobby Fischer, a good example.
I wouldn't say Chess destroyed his life. Fischer was carrying some demons with him and didn't have the same nurturing environment as Josh in this movie while growing up. And back then chess was highly politicized and in a way Fischer was a pawn of geopolitical tensions, which put enormous pressure on him. There are those who dedicate their lives to chess. While its a hard road, and really only doable for a select few, i think for those who love the game and have exceptional talent it can be a rewarding career. Looking at the atmosphere at chess tournaments involving the top chess players, or among the members of a team supporting a top player, i think it can be very enjoyable, and a positive force in their lives. But just as this wonderful film shows, its important to play chess because you love it, and to play under circumstances which allow you to maintain that relationship with it, otherwise i think yes, it can become destructive, like anything else you do without joy.
@@BeardedForever I used to think that, too, but looking at the faces, I think @ConcreteSurfer420 is correct. I simply never noticed the guy sitting across from Mantegna before, but he really does look a lot like young Josh.
@@andrewvincent7299 That's not Vinnie, Vinnie LIvermore died in 1991 before this film was made....You can see the real Vinnie in 'Men Who Would Be Kings' (Part 1)...The guy telling him to put out the joint in the next scene is 'Po', who is still alive and can still be played in Union Square Park
@@BeardedForever No it's not. The younger person sitting down (with the white hood) is Josh Waitzkin. It's very obvious if you know what Waitzkin looked like then.
for people that don't know, the real Vinne was about a 1900/Class A player without proper teaching/schooling from anyone, which is quite impressive. this was according to the book written by Josh's dad Fred.
The real Vinnie Livermore was a strong master in blitz....You can see footage of the real Vinnie (playing strong chess while giving time handicaps) in "Men Who Would Be Kings" and "For Love or Money" (both on RUclips) He was not unschooled, he studied chess like most other good players, and he held a masters degree
koko40800 I think he meant he never had any proper chess schooling, not actual schooling. A player to reach 1900 without any other training than offhand blitz games is pretty impressive.
Abhinav Suresh So you're telling me that a chess teacher is a requirement for becoming a strong chess player? :( Didn't Capablanca learn chess via watching tournament play?
Joe Bearhunter A teacher is not necessary for becoming a strong chessplayer (Fischer didn't have many teachers, even in his childhood...Once he reached master strength, he basically became world champion on his own, without any training or coaching)....But they do have to study That's why I disagreed that Vinnie was unschooled...I don't know if he ever had any teachers, but he certainly studied the game...Nobody makes master from talent alone, and not studying The idea that Capablanca also somehow became a great player just from watching, and also from sheer talent, is a myth...Of course Capablanca studied the game very heavily...You can have all the talent in the world but you will never become a word class player or world champion without a lot of work
Joe Bearhunter He learned it by watching his father play (like Morphy!) as well as tournament play. But he became GREAT by studying it for countless hours. I think Botvinnik once said that Capablanca studied more than anyone, often up to 14 hours a day.
Josh had been there before and knew about when starting time was. The regulars were probably on their way and spotted the kid who had visited them before, coming to Vinnie's table, so they hastened to fill the benches and watch the game.
I love this film, and this scene in particular...however, one part of this confused me for a while, and I just now realized why. At 40s in, Vinne asks him "What's that?" and Josh responds "Schliemann Attack" ... well, at that part of the game so far, it's just the normal Ruy Lopez, not yet the Schliemann. Also, it's "Schliemann Defense", not "Schliemann Attack". Classical Hollywood mistake. The people playing aren't real Chess players, or they wouldn't make those kinds of mistakes.
aquish1x Looking at it, when Vinnie says "What's that?" Josh has only just opened with e5 which is just the start of King's Pawn and not even necessarily Ruy Lopez.
Did anyone else notice that no one else is there at the beginning, but after they started playing, there is a whole bunch of people around in an instant?
Brandon Stolz Michael Jordan , I've missed more buzzer shots then I've made , people seem to only remember made shots ... on the edge ..... Will Smith , I've failed far more then I've succeed but I learned you have to take the risk of failing , i wouldnt be here if i didnt fail , with failure comes risk , risk brings reward ....
I read josh's book, and he says that you need to invest in loss. I find that to be good advice. Surely, at a tournament not losing may be more important than winning, but with that mentality you won't progress between tournaments.
Yes, his teacher taught him the schlieman. He didn't say that he's not playing to win, he said his teacher didn't teach him how to win, he teach him how not to lose. His teacher taught him the kingside, which you're basing off of, but Vinne style is opposite of the teacher, so that's why he said queenside.
My God, I love this movie. Saw it in the cinema 4 times in the mid-90s and even took a girl to it on a first date - there were 4 people in the cinema including us...
Has anyone noticed that the board changes positions at 1:25 from the white king being out in the open to being castled? Why is that? P.S., sacrificing your bishop on h7 or h2 is actually really strong, as it invades into the king's fortress and almost forces him to expose himself.
Yeah, lol. I don't understand why the writers didn't just have someone who actually knows about chess set up an actual game and have the actors memorize the moves. It wouldn't have been that hard for these people to memorize a few actual chess games.
Gosh it's like the spliced together many games to show an entire morning of 2 minute games in one scene...... and you assume it's 1 game. In 4 minutes the surrounding tables went from empty to full of players (
@@MoodiFLEX not really. the movie is plenty impactful to about 99.9% of the population that can get enjoyment out of works of fiction without having it ruined by trivial details. gl with that tho.
This movie is PHENOMENAL. It never gets old and so many parts of the movie are just feel-good moments, like this scene.
R.I.P James Horner. His music elevates any scene to supreme levels.
True. Thanks for mentioning him.
It really is amazing. Every single note is perfect!
No it doesn’t. Why do they have to play cheesy music in every scene. Why do movies do this. It’s stupid.
I hope someone gives you a hug one day. What a sad response.@@ironmike5812
I didn't remember he passed away
"Put it out, Josh is playin." What a great detail. I love this movie.
I liked that. Hit it in 3 minutes, bro, lol
Or when he walks up for the challenge and he’s up-wind of Vinny smoking the cigarette. None of the smoke gets in the kids face. This is a brilliant movie….the lighting, angles of shots, background noise, and attention to detail. Two extremely different movies, I know, but I would compare the cinematography of this film to the original Godfather movie. They both made me feel like I was there.
This movie touched my soul. When I was about the same age I learned to play chess at my school chess club. Within two months not a single player to include my teacher could beat me. Within 4-5 months or so placed 2nd place nationally in Puerto Rico. However, I was not allowed to join a local chess club to continue improving. Since I had no one to play with (this is pre-internet) I abandoned the game until 15+ years later. Now as an adult I picked up the game again (about 9 months ago) and will always wonder how far I would have made it if I had the proper support as a kid.
If you have a kid and he loves a hobby the worst thing a parent can do is deprive him/her of his passion. You never know how that hobby might evolve in the future and how it might shape that kid as it gives him structure in life. I've done well in my career but that is a different point altogether. Now I tried to make up for lost time and try to break that 2000 rating but time can never be truly recaptured so I'll have to settle. Still I love the game and I'm grateful for being introduced to this beautiful game when I was a child.
Why weren't you allowed to join a local chess club?
God bless you.. My dad, a man from poor people in New Orleans who dropped out of school in the 9th grade during the late '30s, taught me when I was 9. It didn't take too long for me to beat him, and when he stopped playing me altogether, I knew I had something special. I had 3 older brothers, but none of them could beat me. I play online to this day, and anything more than 5min. games bore me. My dad was something special..
How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over that mountain?
Supernova damn I feel bad for u
You know it seems like these days society is really depriving children of their passion....
You’ve got to risk losing. You’ve got to risk everything. You’ve got to go to the edge of defeat. YESSSS!!!!
Same in Street Fighter IV, this movie helps me improve my game playing.
Yes!
@@centinela24542 I second this with SF 4 & 5 :)
:)
This film isn't deceptively about chess, its really used as a metaphor about love, being a kind person and then it's about chess.... a sensitive and magical film that brings tears to my eyes. Lawrence fishburne you're my hero.
This is all about chess and chess is in a way about everything that is already in us. Human chess will never be like computer chess and despite the fact that chess is a science, when we approach chess, it's almost like it's not a science, it takes time to develop a pure scientific approach. The movie illustrates perfectly all the great difficulties one has while trying to learn chess and this is all the more profound. Funny enough, even more profound than just one game of a master, because to get to the level of a master, there was a long road.
So, that's a dear tribute to all the players who defeated not only others, but themselves, in a long but rewarding journey, to learn the game of the mythological Caissa, but why not to say: to learn that which is a dear gift from God?
Well, that's up to what you believe, but one thing is for sure, chess is the product of the greater contact of all ancient civilizations, which happened more on the ancient east and the product of all the best that civilization produced in Europe on the last 500 years. Chess is therefore one of those products of the modern world, with all it's problems still, it's one of the one and only things, that may show us that warfare is almost a thing of the past, because poetry and science can combine to reproduce not only the battlefield, but the best battle of minds and spirits and souls, which generates to us in a mirror not only a reflection of an image itself, but the image of our whole path. It's a pure game, that brought families and people together, and as FIDE says: gens una sumus.
Amen.
Yes mate! Absolutely.
@@ajedrezbrasil7968 Chess? Maybe you mean Cheese...
@@ajedrezbrasil7968 This is 100% not what the movie is about
As a teacher, nothing stirs my soul more than to get a student who can challenge me at everything I've been teaching him/her. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it makes all the rest of the unpleasant parts of my job worthwhile. My job isn't just to teach...it's to make them BETTER than me.
My job isn't just to teach....it's to make them BETTER than me. well said! .....at one point it's more tha a job!
i came from a familly that on my Mom side, all teachers...except one.. She own a Bar (...another story.... )
my point is Knowndlege is the best thing WE can share
to see someone will use what you have learn them
magic stuff
all my aunts and my uncle ..they feel good when they know they have changed a part of their lifes
...understanding
seeing the light bright in the eyes..the sparkleS.... OK now I KNOW........... that moment that magic moment
have fun!
Well said! I think most teachers have this god complex about teaching, but still wanting to be better than everyone else. You know you have found a good teacher when they think like this.
20 years later, still the best chess movie out there
how many chess movies out there
@@roger5173 Lol, you just check mated FFassassin71 with that comment
@@Ironclad6661 and roger5173 here are 50 of them www.google.com/search?q=chess+movies&oq=chess+movies&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.9414j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Not only chess ... one of the best movie, period. Up there with Billy Elliott ...
To the wise guys, check out a Christopher Lambert movie called "Knight Moves." EXCELLENT thriller.
And now josh is one of the baddest black belts in brazilian jiu jitsu on the planet. As a young adult who has dedicated their life to jiu jitsu, and as someone who loved chess as a child, this man is insanely smart. I wish I could have that natural learning and instinct like him. Amazing
Jiu jitsu is chess with limbs lol
Ever since I was a kid, when I first saw this, there was always something so magical about this particular scene from the film. I don’t know if the music building, the sound of the chess pieces and the chess clock, or the angles from which it was shot, but it has that magic locked inside it.
I have played chess for recreation intermittently for my entire life. I never had so much fun playing as when my 5 year old son recently got very interested in the game. Thanks to youtube instructional videos and computer opponents that scale to his ability, he learned in a few weeks what it took me 10 years to learn. It really is a golden age for chess.
TRIVIA! In this scene, the REAL Josh Waitzkin is seated to Max Pomeranc's right in the park. He has a cameo in the film. He's the 16 yo kid in the black jacket and white hoodie playing chess next to Josh.
ALSO! The REAL Katya Waitzkin, Josh's little sister, has a cameo as well. When they get to Chicago, she's the young girl with dark hair he plays in the first round. Joe Mantegna tells him "this girl's ranked 82nd, get through it quickly so we can rest before the next round." That little girl is Katya Waitzkin.
Lawrence Fishburne put so much heart in this film. One of my favorite roles he'd done. One of my favorite films.
0:44 = look at Josh's Dad's reaction to Vinnie telling Josh to forget what his teacher taught him 🤣 he gives a little smirk
might be that and the actor's reaction to the real josh and vinnie playing right beside them. :)
This scene is about life. It's about discovery, dominance, the feeling of achievement.
As well as being humble.
Such a good scene. Josh goes from basically having lost his groove and his teacher to finding it again. He started to enjoy playing chess again.
"Come on, stop trying to mate me and mate me!"
Hahahaha
Yes!!!!
are we still doing phrasing?
Wetef yep
@@user-vh9im5rj8r we really need to talk about getting phrasing back in the rotation
This movie inspired me to learn chess when I was in the 3rd grade. I will always love & respect this game.
"He didn't teach you how to win - he taught you how not to lose. That's nothing to be proud of."
In a 2 minute game like that it's better to play the man...
any game the man
Sadly high level chess is a test of not losing nowadays.
haha sounds like magnus and fabi right now
Lord Voldemort you’re so right. That’s why I play 960 Chess 90% of the time now.
I've never seen anyone that happy to lose at chess. This movie looks awesome
This is simply an amazing scene. It is awesome that people can play 2 minute speed chess and think so quickly!!
His hustler friend taught him offence his instructor taught him defence, really nice script.
RockedThe/CrapOut
Your right bro, well stated. One of my favorite films of all time, and i don't even play chess... The screenplay is a masterpiece for the day this visual media when it hit the movie date that is.
It's like the movie Dangaal, her father taught her offense, her coach taught her defense.
Another thing this film did really well was illustrating the underlying social inequality of the game, with street style speed caches vs traditional competitive chess, which was awesome!
RIP James Horner this is one of my favorite movie soundtrack moments!
I used to watch this movie with my mom on Sunday mornings. Great movie. Great memories
00:15 - No one around. "2 minute game." 00:40 - Park instantly completely full of players, spectators and passersby.
They probably walk up
0:59
When Josh was in the park playing CHESS he had the most friends in his life,
Then is father took that opportunity to have friends in the park by getting him A CHESS teacher.
The CHESS teacher gave Josh Strict instructions and rules that he couldn't go to the park anymore,
Also to know exactly what move to use during the middle of the movie you could see very good that Josh didn't want to play anymore until he got the certificate.
After the mom kicked out the teacher and had
1 on 1 Discussion about Josh when his mom said
"You try to beat that joy out of him I swear to God I'll take him away from you".
That's when the discussion from A 1 on 1 Discussion about Josh it A 1 on 0 Discussion about Josh.
That's when Josh went back to the park and Vinnie was trying to make Josh remember
1:15
1. What he was like when you played with them.
2. How much joy/fun when he used to have playing CHESS against them.
1:35 His dad knew that he made the right move in bringing back to the park. He realized that his son wasn't happy and did something about it!
dad=VIP
"Come on! Stop trying to beat me and beat me!"
+Same thing he later says to Neo "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"
That's respect putting out the joint haha. Great scene.
it's a cigarette
Nah.
It’s clearly a cigarette.
It's definitely not a cigarette. If it was just a cigarette there would be no reason to put it out. He tells him to put it out because it's an illegal drug and there is a kid, who they all respect as a player by the way, playing near by
Its a joint.
Vinnie was smoking a cigarette, and continued smoking it with Josh around.
If that other guy was told to put it out, it was definitely a joint.
The kid playing next to josh across from his dad is the real josh doing a cameo lol
Where is Bobby
I think this movie tries to understand why Bobby Fischer burnt out of chess: how competition can be taken so far that it hurts the love of the game-of ANY game. The desire to win can burn out the desire for fun, and play.
And Fischer is not the only one it’s about. It applies to anyone, in any competition.
Should have won multiple Oscars!
Gotta love how all these adults recognized a special kid and wanted to help in his ascent
My competitive game of choice wasn't chess (I'm a horrible abstract spatial thinker) but Magic: The Gathering. I probably watched this movie a dozen or so times during those days, and Vinnie's words in this scene were an inspiration before a Day 2 of a Grand Prix or the Top 8 of a Pro Tour Qualifier: "you're playing not to lose; you've got to risk losing, you've got to risk everything", "you want to be on he edge of defeat" (as a blue/x control main, I lived there a lot) and "don't play the (cards), play the man. I'm your opponent, you've got to beat me."
Those were good times.
So true. I was playing in a grand prix, on the draw in game 3. I knew the matchup, I was mono green Eldrazi playing against Valakut, and was looking at my 7 card hand, and eventually my 6 card hand. Both hands had lands and spells, but were slow as all hell, certainly not fast enough for the matchup. I could have kept either of them and tried to play not to lose, but I knew from goldfishing my deck that a 5 card hand could be better. I drew up my 5 card hand, and it was a little dicey, and my first draw wasn't great, but then it was perfect draw and perfect draw leading to bomb turn 3 play, bomb turn 4 play, and bomb turn 5 play that made my opponent concede. I started that game 3 on the edge of defeat, but came out the other side!
Josh had way more confidence from Vinny than he ever did from Bruce. All due respect to Bruce, he's a very different player; but he's not a confident chess player. He plays defensive, while Vinny plays offensive. They're the perfect combination as long as Josh threads the needle. As long as he plays on the edge of defeat.
Also, the music is fucking beautiful.
I don't necessarily think Bruce plays defensively, he just plays more practically. Bruce is more focused on positional play with the use of tactics at appropriate times while Vinny is purely tactics with less respect for positional play.
Playing defensively wins games. If you don't play with a defensive mentality you leave yourself open for lots of tactics. You'll be ok against maybe 0-1400 USCF but 1400-Master level will exploit you playing too offensively. When you play defensively you basically always maintain a sound position and sit back and wait for your opponent to make a mistake and its over
Kelvin L Love Jr unless you are mikhail tal who sacrifice everything lmao
I think Vinnie represents the romantic days of chess when the goal was to sacrifice everything to mate the opponent , but Bruce represents Modern Chess where you have to play sound and the position on the board ....not the opponent. The last chess player to play the man was Fischer ....he balanced psychology, science , and positional play in his games and it became like Bruce said Art. Sadly now the game is nothing but computer algorithms and whose computer analysis is stronger. That's why Carlsen is such a lackluster world champion . Yes ...hes the best right now but he is no Fischer, Kasparov , and probably more importantly ....we will never see someone play like Tal and Morphy again and be World Champion. Like Roy said in Tin Cup ....He always settles for Par, but not me.
@@TheGodfather-bm3ow I also think that Vinnie helped keep Josh from burning out. Playing with and like Bruce just wasn't fun for Josh. All he cared about was the points and how far he was from his GM title. When he was playing with Vinnie, and playing in Central Park, he was having fun.
Best scene of the movie!!!!! Reminding ourselves why we play the game!!!!! #goingbacktoyourroots
I wish there were a scene at a park like this where I lived. I did grow up with similar mentors that hung around the tennis courts, so I'm glad for that.
Lawrence Fishbourne was so great as Vinnie!
Fishburne is one of the greats. :-)
Such a great movie this was loved every bit of it
This is one of my favorite scenes
“Put it out, Josh is playing” is the ultimate form of respect…
Really?
@ You ever seen anyone on the street put out a joint for any reason, ever?
@ it looked like cigarettes to me
Need more movies like this one...Now more than ever
This dude helpin Josh win a chess championship and Akeelah win a spelling bee.😂
And Neo to BELIEVE
You don’t even look at de board!
Oh wait, wrong video....
i understood that reference xD
Jack Mathis it’s a YT video of an actual chess GM playing a local hustler in ruclips.net/video/U5vnpOp0U_g/видео.html
Enjoy! 😃
@@OwenRona I just saw it and it was pretty awesome, thx
John Doe I especially enjoyed the best move that was ever pulled in entire chess history: pawn takes 2 Knights in 1 move. That was awesome! 😄
@@OwenRona You got it! That hustler could take Carlsen, Kasparov, Ivanchuck and a resurrected Bobby Fischer if the Championships didn't have such stodgy rules.
Great scene. Great video. LF did a wonderful job!
Searching For Bobby Fisher is my Favorite Chess Movie of All-Time!!
"play on the edge of defeat" love that thought
I've seen this movie so many times that I could write the screenplay from memory.
Same😂
The irony of this movie is there a parts/clips(if you like that word better) that are so emotional that you can't hold back the tears Not of Sadness but if Joy & Inspiration
This is such a great scene in this wonderful movie. At 1:34 when you see Josh's dad look with pride always gets to me. Very well done! Joe Mantenga is such a good actor too!
The acting was tremendous in this movie.
Joe Montegna is a criminally UNDERRATED actor!
He is not only proud. He is a dad that smiles seeing his son having fun AGAIN, playing a game that he loved (before meeting the other teacher). I LOVE that smile...it says so much about a dad - son relationship
This scene is a lot more beautiful than it's given credit for.
That bald black man just sets there waiting to hustle probably just a meal, he's good enough at chess to hustle a living from it, he once probably had dreams of being a World Class Grandmaster.
Contakum what is so beautiful about that?
@@uberrideshareking9513 It's beautiful because it's a story of someone who loved his art and devoted his life to it. Now he tries to make a living from it anyway he can. Like the violinist who plays in the street for donations...a little sad perhaps, but poignant
I love their friendship and relationship in the movie.
To the edge of defeat. That's one of the truest lines I've ever heard.
Love this scene - the kid is good but Lawrence Fishbourne SHINES! You gotta play from the gut...gotta risk losing... play the man!
Ninjacatprincess '-'
except "play the man" is bullshit. Chess positions is objective, and the best move will always be the best move regardless of who you play.
Well some people prefer more closed positions others prefer balanced positions and others prefer gambits. Playing to get your opponent in a position you know better than they do is also part of the game, and that may not be the strict “best move”.
Well. "Playing the man," (or nowadays the computer); or the man behind the computer. Objectives can be complicated and simple in Chess.
Better move; CHECK.
Best Move; CHECKMATE! Optional move: STALEMATE.
Such an amazing movie
*Plays e4-e5 *
Vinne: What's that?
Josh: Schelmen attack
Me: Uuuummmmm okay
They do end up playing the Schliemann Defence but the audio timing is wrong 😂
What a great film! And what great acting by a great cast! I just saw it on TV for the first time-a more than thirty-year-old film. I was feeling really down when I turned it on, and almost didn't watch it. After it finished, I really felt lifted. I play chess with my son often. I'm mediocre and he is relatively new to the game. But we both love playing. We play for the fun of he game. It's terrible when a person get s so wrapped up in the gamei it destroys their life-Bobby Fischer, a good example.
yeah, this movie is so great! Still the best chess movie out there!
I wouldn't say Chess destroyed his life. Fischer was carrying some demons with him and didn't have the same nurturing environment as Josh in this movie while growing up. And back then chess was highly politicized and in a way Fischer was a pawn of geopolitical tensions, which put enormous pressure on him. There are those who dedicate their lives to chess. While its a hard road, and really only doable for a select few, i think for those who love the game and have exceptional talent it can be a rewarding career. Looking at the atmosphere at chess tournaments involving the top chess players, or among the members of a team supporting a top player, i think it can be very enjoyable, and a positive force in their lives. But just as this wonderful film shows, its important to play chess because you love it, and to play under circumstances which allow you to maintain that relationship with it, otherwise i think yes, it can become destructive, like anything else you do without joy.
0:43 that player sitting across from Josh's dad is real-life Josh Waitzkin in a cameo.
Stop trying to hit me and hit me
OMG! This is exactly what I thought. I want someone to do a mash-up of this scene with Matrix voice-overs.
0:45 = real Joshua Waitzkin sitting across from Joe Mantegna in the black and white
The curly afro next to the red shirt guy is Josh.
@@BeardedForever I used to think that, too, but looking at the faces, I think @ConcreteSurfer420 is correct. I simply never noticed the guy sitting across from Mantegna before, but he really does look a lot like young Josh.
The man that real Josh is playing is actually the real life Vinnie!
@@andrewvincent7299 That's not Vinnie, Vinnie LIvermore died in 1991 before this film was made....You can see the real Vinnie in 'Men Who Would Be Kings' (Part 1)...The guy telling him to put out the joint in the next scene is 'Po', who is still alive and can still be played in Union Square Park
@@BeardedForever No it's not. The younger person sitting down (with the white hood) is Josh Waitzkin. It's very obvious if you know what Waitzkin looked like then.
for people that don't know, the real Vinne was about a 1900/Class A player without proper teaching/schooling from anyone, which is quite impressive. this was according to the book written by Josh's dad Fred.
The real Vinnie Livermore was a strong master in blitz....You can see footage of the real Vinnie (playing strong chess while giving time handicaps) in "Men Who Would Be Kings" and "For Love or Money" (both on RUclips)
He was not unschooled, he studied chess like most other good players, and he held a masters degree
koko40800 I think he meant he never had any proper chess schooling, not actual schooling. A player to reach 1900 without any other training than offhand blitz games is pretty impressive.
Abhinav Suresh So you're telling me that a chess teacher is a requirement for becoming a strong chess player? :(
Didn't Capablanca learn chess via watching tournament play?
Joe Bearhunter A teacher is not necessary for becoming a strong chessplayer (Fischer didn't have many teachers, even in his childhood...Once he reached master strength, he basically became world champion on his own, without any training or coaching)....But they do have to study
That's why I disagreed that Vinnie was unschooled...I don't know if he ever had any teachers, but he certainly studied the game...Nobody makes master from talent alone, and not studying
The idea that Capablanca also somehow became a great player just from watching, and also from sheer talent, is a myth...Of course Capablanca studied the game very heavily...You can have all the talent in the world but you will never become a word class player or world champion without a lot of work
Joe Bearhunter He learned it by watching his father play (like Morphy!) as well as tournament play. But he became GREAT by studying it for countless hours. I think Botvinnik once said that Capablanca studied more than anyone, often up to 14 hours a day.
It was a beautiful movie!
When Josh first gets there there's no one else in the park. 10 seconds later the park is full and there's people already playing games...
stop being racist
Josh had been there before and knew about when starting time was. The regulars were probably on their way and spotted the kid who had visited them before, coming to Vinnie's table, so they hastened to fill the benches and watch the game.
@@vincentsartain3061 relax
Great scene from a great movie!
Favorite scene of this movie.
This movie is amazing. And the boy is really adorable! ☺👏🏾❤
I love this film, and this scene in particular...however, one part of this confused me for a while, and I just now realized why. At 40s in, Vinne asks him "What's that?" and Josh responds "Schliemann Attack" ... well, at that part of the game so far, it's just the normal Ruy Lopez, not yet the Schliemann. Also, it's "Schliemann Defense", not "Schliemann Attack".
Classical Hollywood mistake. The people playing aren't real Chess players, or they wouldn't make those kinds of mistakes.
JaredJosephHoag still a good movie doe haha
Just noticed that myself, but I guess they need to make it interesting.
aquish1x Looking at it, when Vinnie says "What's that?" Josh has only just opened with e5 which is just the start of King's Pawn and not even necessarily Ruy Lopez.
0:42 - to be fair, that is the Schliemann. So it was sort of right.
Wasnt it just plain vanilla italian game when he asked the question?
Loved the ending theme to this movie.
I played that guy..solid hustler..and a good tourney player too
What a great scene!!
Fisburne fold of the newspaper was smooth 😂😂
best movie ever
Travis Blankenship My favourite movie
I like this boy so much
Did anyone else notice that no one else is there at the beginning, but after they started playing, there is a whole bunch of people around in an instant?
Despite the advice being some of the worst you could receive, I still always loved the scene.
I agree 100%. Horrible chess advice
Brandon Stolz Michael Jordan , I've missed more buzzer shots then I've made , people seem to only remember made shots ... on the edge .....
Will Smith , I've failed far more then I've succeed but I learned you have to take the risk of failing , i wouldnt be here if i didnt fail , with failure comes risk , risk brings reward ....
I read josh's book, and he says that you need to invest in loss. I find that to be good advice. Surely, at a tournament not losing may be more important than winning, but with that mentality you won't progress between tournaments.
Greatest movie of all time 💜
Why am I crying watching this? F-ing COVID Pandemic.
“...forget it. Play like you use to, from the gut.”
Yes, his teacher taught him the schlieman. He didn't say that he's not playing to win, he said his teacher didn't teach him how to win, he teach him how not to lose. His teacher taught him the kingside, which you're basing off of, but Vinne style is opposite of the teacher, so that's why he said queenside.
The Queen’s Gambit made me think of this movie. Such a good one.
My God, I love this movie. Saw it in the cinema 4 times in the mid-90s and even took a girl to it on a first date - there were 4 people in the cinema including us...
+Tim Byrne
It just goes to show you about movie audiences:
YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!
+Vazcular How rude. It's called Check-Mate.
My favourite movie
Did you calculate the number of moves it would take to get into her pants?
The general movie going public rarely appreciates quality.
Has anyone noticed that the board changes positions at 1:25 from the white king being out in the open to being castled? Why is that? P.S., sacrificing your bishop on h7 or h2 is actually really strong, as it invades into the king's fortress and almost forces him to expose himself.
Brilliantly said
♟♟The first minute looks way better than the entire movie Pawn Sacrifice!!! They actually show the beauty play of Chess and not the Ego. ♟♟
My favourite movie
1:21 realise king is in the centre of the board; 1:24 boom magic castle.
Yeah, lol. I don't understand why the writers didn't just have someone who actually knows about chess set up an actual game and have the actors memorize the moves. It wouldn't have been that hard for these people to memorize a few actual chess games.
+AnthonyAllGood what if they played many games instead of one?And the dialog just works as a flashback,no1 considered that?
Gosh it's like the spliced together many games to show an entire morning of 2 minute games in one scene...... and you assume it's 1 game. In 4 minutes the surrounding tables went from empty to full of players (
Even Searching for Bobby Fischer had a montage.
@@MoodiFLEX not really. the movie is plenty impactful to about 99.9% of the population that can get enjoyment out of works of fiction without having it ruined by trivial details. gl with that tho.
FREE YOUR MIND
A beautiful movie.
Vinne, Furious Styles AND Morpheus. Fishburne has taught me more than valuable lessons than I can count. Yoda can go to hell.
Chess with a HEART.
The guy sitting next to the kid in the dark sweat shirt with the white hood was the real Josh Waitzkin.
And the real Vinnie is playing Josh in that scene
"wuuuu yeah GOOD yesss GOOD... BETTER" weird shit to shout while a kid is hammering you at chess.
scene start : 3 people gather around
20 secs later : a crowd playing chess poped up suddenly.
what happen?
it was supposed to be a passage of time. as if they were playing over a few days or weeks.
That actually explains all the continuity "errors" in the scene. if it's multiple games/days, okay okay. Nice
Bruce somehow secretly spied on this.
One word: Magical
Love this movie.
i lovee this scenee!!!!!!!!!!
0:44 guy in the background is the real life chess prodigy this movie is based off of
That kid was in front of that cloud of cigarette smoke like "Oh my god I'm in heaven"
"Two minutes"
*clearly has five on the clock.*
Plot twist. This is Morpheous looking for The One.
Love this picture