Shelby Lyman, Frank Evans Attend Bobby Fischer Against the World Screening

The acclaimed new documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World, which premiered at Sundance and was shown on HBO, will be screened at Museum of the Moving Image on Wednesday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m., followed by an all-star panel discussion with three luminaries from the chess world: Shelby Lyman, host of the PBS coverage of Fischer's 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky, which introduced millions of Americans to chess; Frank Evans, author Endgame, the outstanding new biography about Fischer; and Dylan McClain, chess columnist and blogger for The New York Times. The event will be moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz, himself a former tournament chess player.

Prior to the screening, at 6:00 p.m., there will be a book signing with Frank Brady in the Museum store of Endgame. Tickets for the screening and discussion are just $15 public/$10 Museum members. Order online at http://movingimage.us, or call 718 777 6800.

"This is a very exciting event for the chess world," said Schwartz, "Shelby Lyman was an unlikely television hero in 1972. With his amiable, impassioned style, he turned the Fischer vs. Spassky match into a riveting television spectacle that captured the imagination of countless new chess players. Frank Brady was a longtime friend of Fischer's, and is now president of the Marshall Chess Club. His book Endgame takes an even-handed and wonderfully researched look at the charismatic and enigmatic Fischer, who abandoned his country and his title, and seemingly went made, in the years after achieving his status as the greatest chess player of all time. And Dylan McClain is one of the nation's leading chess journalists, who can provide a contemporary perspective on Fischer's legacy."

During the height of the Cold War, Fischer was a brilliant lone American, born and raised in Brooklyn, who became a child prodigy and went on to singlehandedly defeat the dominant Soviet chess establishment. In 2008, he died in Iceland, the sight of his World Championship victory, at the age of 64. An outspoken critic of the United States, he was a fugitive since 1992, when he defied U.S. sanctions and played a return match against Spassky in Yugoslavia.

The film Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011, 92 mins.) contains rare archival footage of Fischer, and interviews with friends and colleagues. It was directed by Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus.