David Shenk

Considered by many to be the world's greatest chess player, Bobby Fischer personified the link between genius and madness. His trajectory propelled him from child prodigy to world chess champion at age 29 and then into a nosedive of delusions and paranoia. Fischer was a recluse for decades before resurfacing for a bizarre final chapter as a fugitive. As a loner with no familial support, Fischer had to defend his title while representing his country against the mighty Russians during the cold war. The center of media attention, Fischer was never equipped for a life in the spotlight. From veteran filmmaker Liz Garbus, and the final project of late editor Karen Schmeer, Bobby Fischer Against the World exposes the disturbingly high price Fischer paid to achieve his legendary success and the resulting toll it took on his psyche. Rare archival footage and insightful interviews with those closest to him expand this captivating story of a mastermind's tumultuous rise and fall.

A complex film about a complex persona which explores issues such as whether Bobby was ever equipped to deal with the fame and the pressures of being in the public eye; how his fractious relationship with his mother may have contributed to this; and how he propelled chess to a world-wide phenomenon, boosting it to a level of popularity not seen since. Truly unique, Bobby Fischer still stands as the most famous Grand Master, a life devoured by his obsession with chess and whose death revealed nothing about what eventually destroyed him.

In 1958, 14-year-old Robert James 'Bobby' Fischer stunned the chess world by becoming the youngest grandmaster in history, launching a career that would make him a legend. Over the next decade and a half, his breathtaking rise to the top of the game riveted the world and inspired an international chess phenomenon. Then, at the apex of his success, Fischer disappeared from the public eye. The revealing documentary BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD, debuting MONDAY, JUNE 6 (9:00-10:45 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, chronicles the chess master's meteoric rise, culminating in the historic 1972 match against Boris Spassky in Iceland, as well as his shocking withdrawal from competition and the paranoia that derailed his life. The film was a 2011 Sundance Film Festival selection.