A quick recap of the NY HBO Premiere

What amazing night! It started out with a “Chess Happening” event in Bryant Park. The open-air blitz tournament had numerous internationally titled players, including chess celebrities such as Irina Krush, Leonid Yudasin, Giorgi Kacheishvili, Robert Hess, and Joel Benjamin etc., just to mention a few. Also simuls were given by some of the young stars.

Then about 200 special guests were invited over to the HBO’s prestigious building (next door to Bryant park) on 42nd St (at 6th Avenue), where a cocktail party (which was co-hosted by HBO and the World Chess Hall of Fame) was next on the agenda. At 7:30pm, the guests were invited to be seated in two separate theaters (to fit everyone) to view the special Fischer documentary.

The star celebrity of the evening was the legendary Henry Kissinger. I was also pleased to see many other chess friends such as GM Lev Alburt, IM Dmitry Schneider, and special chess patrons such as Rex Sinquefield and the Belzbergs.

The movie itself was very emotional for me. First of all, I would like to congratulate veteran director Liz Garbus, the producers, and the HBO staff for producing such an excellent historical piece on chess. There were countless pictures and special footages about Bobby which I never saw. There were also a good number of interview pieces with Bobby from his early years, and then of course the focus was about the 1972 match against Spassky.

For me personally it was sad to see the parts about the last years of Bobby’s life, of course unfortunately it is also part of history. This was not the same man I knew very well when he was living in Hungary.

The evening ended with a casual supper at “Forty Four” which has a very special ambiance.