At 12:22 AM 9/15/2003 -0400, Lonnie Kwartler wrote:
Hi Sam,
The movie did some things for the audience such as amplifying the noises
made by the clocks and the pieces. The players also were announcing checks.
The character Vinnie was a much stronger player than Livermore in the
movie and in the book. I believe the other figure the character was based on
is senior master Morrison. The "grandmaster" playing Vinnie in the park, as
I remember it, was IM Kamrazi.
There were some inside jokes in the movie such as the real Pandolfini
asking the actor representing him a question as they both watched a game in
the park.
The position and moves of the final game were published somewhere online.
Lonnie

You just made two very good points and I was going to mention both of
them but forgot.

There is a real grandmaster playing chess in the movie. That is
Grandmaster Kamran Shirazi from Iran. It shows him playing Vinnie in
Washington Square Park. Of course, in real life, Livermore would stand
no chance against Shirazi.

What bothers me about the character Vinnie is that it is suggested
that he is a drug addict who sleeps in the park. As far as I knew,
Livermore did not sleep in the park or use drugs. However, he was in
the park every day. I saw him there shortly before he died. Also, the
rap of Vinnie, constantly talking during the game, was clearly an
immitation of Livermore. Livermore was reputed to be homosexual, which
would explain his AIDS, not drugs, but I know of no evidence for that.

Also, you are correct. Early in the movie, the real Bruce Pandolfini
is standing next to Ben Kingsley playing Bruce Pandolfini. The real
Bruce Pandolfini says "That's the next Bobby Fischer", pointing to
Josh.

I actually wonder if that was planned. Did the photographers
understand that the real Pandolfini was standing there? His name is
not in the credits. Many if not most of the people in these scenes are
actual players who are regulars in the park. Poe McClinton, a rated
chess master and park regular who is Black, has one line in the movie.
He says, "Quiet. Josh is here," when Josh comes back after having been
forbidden by his chess teacher from playing in the park.

On one of the wall charts shown in the movie there is a player named
Goodall. I have been wondering if that was our own Mike Goodall.

It has always bothered me that I would have been in this movie too,
except that I was detained in Virginia at the time.

Sam Sloan