The film had the potential to be a compelling look at the difficult life of Bobby Fischer, the American chess prodigy; however, Tobey Maguire didn’t entirely succeed in making me believe he was portraying that person. The details of this chess champion’s existence and his internal struggles are all part of the public record, but the film's presentation occasionally veers into melodrama, and I found the central performance too simplistic to move past my initial impression that he came across as unlikeable. He was an incredibly skilled player, but as a person—he seemed rather unpleasant. Flashbacks attempt to shed light on the origins of his paranoia; his mother’s communist beliefs while living in America led him to genuinely think the FBI was monitoring him from a young age, creating a lasting anxiety that prevented him from building close relationships. Liev Schreiber, who appears mostly later in the film, does offer some insight into the poise and professionalism of his main competitor, Boris Spassky, but this is presented by Edward Zwick with a certain reluctance: it seems the Soviet Union would go to almost any length to secure victory—excluding, of course, playing honestly. The movie captures the intensity of the Cold War chess competition that many remember from the 1970s, but I think it could have been more imaginative and avoided some predictable characterizations.

Source on TMDB