Cast
- Max Pomeranc as Josh Waitzkin
- Joe Mantegna as Fred Waitzkin
- Joan Allen as Bonnie Waitzkin
- Ben Kingsley as Bruce Pandolfini
- Laurence Fishburne as Vinnie
- Michael Nirenberg as Jonathan Poe
- Robert Stephens as Poe's teacher
- David Paymer as Kalev
- Hal Scardino as Morgan Pehme
- Vasek Simek as "the man who beat Tal"
- William H. Macy as Tunafish father
- Dan Hedaya as tournament director
- Laura Linney as Josh's school teacher
Some famous chess players have brief cameos in the film: Anjelina Belakovskaia, Joel Benjamin, Roman Dzindzichashvili, Kamran Shirazi, along with the real Joshua Waitzkin, Bruce Pandolfini, and Vincent Livermore. Chess master Asa Hoffmann is played by Austin Pendleton; the real Hoffmann did not like the way he was portrayed. Chess expert Poe McClinton, still a park regular, is seen throughout the film. Pal Benko was supposed to be in the film but his part was cut out. Waitzkin's real mother and sister also have cameos.
The Russian player in the park, played by Vasek Simek, who holds up the sign "For $5 a photo or a game with the man who beat Tal", was based on the real life of Israel Zilber. Zilber, Latvian chess champion in 1958, defeated the teenage Tal in 1952, and during most of the 1980s was homeless and regarded as one of the top players in Washington Square Park.
Read more about this topic: Searching For Bobby Fischer
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