Pawn Sacrifice Page #6

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Yellow Revision 10-11-13 28.

38 INT. BROOKLYN, 'FOUR CONTINENTS' RUSSIAN BOOK STORE - NIGHT 38

Bobby enters, looking wired. The Bookstore Owner speaks

softly in Russian...

BOOKSTORE OWNER:

Good evening 'Bobby Grandmaster'.

You couldn't sleep?

BOBBY:

Would you please speak to me in

American?

BOOKSTORE OWNER:

So why have you gone to the trouble

of learning our language?

BOBBY:

(in Russian)

Okay. Fine. Is it here yet?

BOOKSTORE OWNER:

(back to English)

Let me see... It is the TBD you buy,

yes? Published by the Moscow Chess

Federation.

The Owner's WIFE drifts by behind the counter.

OWNER'S WIFE

Ah. The American boy who hates us

but can't resist our magazines.

BOOKSTORE OWNER:

The October edition is just in.

Bobby finds the magazine in the rack.

BOOKSTORE OWNER (CONT'D)

Page six.

(twisting the knife)

He is becoming the new Messiah.

A photo of SPASSKY. The caption reads: 'World Champion Boris

Spassky wins tenth Blitz tournament.' Once again, Bobby's

steel-trap of a mind memorizes each move at lighting speed.

BOOKSTORE OWNER (CONT'D)

They say he won't ever lose a match.

Bobby pays him. The owner hands him a card.

BOOKSTORE OWNER (CONT'D)

Someone left this for you. A lawyer.

You are in trouble, maybe?

Pink Revision 10-01-13 28A.

A39 INT. FBI OFFICE - DAY A39

An anonymous FIGURE sits behind a desk as a sheaf of

SURVEILLANCE PHOTOS are shown to him. We SEE Bobby entering

the Russian bookstore.

Green Revision 10-14-13 29.

39 EXT. WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK` 39

Patchy snow. Empty apart from Bobby, who sits before an

empty chessboard playing a game with invisible pieces.

A GUY in an overcoat approaches. It is MARSHALL.

BOBBY:

You want a game?

MARSHALL:

What? You think I'm stupid?

BOBBY:

You know who I am.

MARSHALL:

Yeah, I know who you are. Been trying

to reach you.

(hands him a card)

You don't answer your phone.

*

*

*

*

BOBBY:

You're the lawyer. What'd I do...?

Nothing.

nothing.

MARSHALL:

You did nothing. You do

That's why I'm here.

Marshall hands him an article torn from Sports Illustrated:

'The Russians Have Fixed World Chess,'By Bobby Fischer.'

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

You were angry.

Green Revision 10-14-13 30.

BOBBY:

That was years ago.

MARSHALL:

Are you still angry?

Bobby rocks back and forth a little.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

I mean, are you political, Bobby?

BOBBY:

Like a rock. Like a baseball bat.

MARSHALL:

You told the truth about the Russians.

BOBBY:

Sometimes the truth is a hand grenade.

(almost coy)

I just made that up by the way.

Marshall produces a chess magazine, drops it on the table.

MARSHALL:

There's been an announcement. *

(reads)

'Soviet invasion to hit California

Surf. Greatest chess player who

ever lived to visit U.S.'.

BOBBY:

Yeah. They're coming to California

to play in The Piatigorsky.

MARSHALL:

They say it's just a game, for fun,

hand of friendship, all that crap.

But you know the truth... They're

using chess to say 'screw America'.

BOBBY:

Yeah, well, America is soft.

(re the empty tables)

A little bit of weather and I'm all

alone here.

MARSHALL:

The Russians laugh at us.

(MORE)

Green Revision 10-14-13 31-31A.* *

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

They know there's not one single

American can beat a single Russian. *

Their chess mastery proves to the

world Soviet intellectual superiority

over the decadent West.

BOBBY:

Seriously man, who the hell are you?

MARSHALL:

I'm just a fan. I love creative *

people. I also love my country. I *

also love to make money.

(leans in)

I want to represent you. Exhibitions.

Endorsements. Serious money.

Otherwise I wouldn't be out here

freezing my ass off.

Bobby laughs in a cloud of breath.

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

You're the one man in this country *

who can put up a fight, maybe even *

beat them. And I want a front row *

seat when the good guys win. *

BOBBY:

You don't know if I can still play. *

MARSHALL:

I talk to people. The cafe on Clinton *

Street. The bookstore... You hate *

to lose, Bobby. If you weren't *

beating the magazines you wouldn't

keep buying them.

Bobby studies Marshall, who turns to a picture of Spassky. *

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

Carmine thinks you're afraid of him.

Yeah, he's going to have some fun

over here...

BOBBY *

Hey, screw him. Screw Boris Spassky. *

He taps his temple with his long finger. *

Green Revision 10-14-13 32.

BOBBY (CONT'D)

I have moves in my brain like bullets.

I ran all his games and I know how

he thinks.

MARSHALL:

Yeah. Bang-bang. Patzers in

Washington Square. So what?

BOBBY:

He has a life. He has a wife.

(brushes away dead

leaves from the board)

All I have is this. That's why I

can beat him.

MARSHALL:

If you don't play, you don't win.

Buif you win, you make history.

*

*

Bobby looks at him, a wicked smile spreading across his face.

When I win.

BOBBY:

40 OMIT 40

41 INT. MANHATTAN CHESS CLUB, SMOKING ROOM - DAY 41

The Manhattan Club is nicer than its Brooklyn equivalent.

Marshall walks through with A PRIEST in long black robes

enters. This is FATHER LOMBARDY.

MARSHALL:

He's been preparing for six hours.

LOMBARDY:

I'm just a selector. I hope he

realizes it's a committee that decides

who plays.

*

MARSHALL:

You're a grandmaster. He respects

you. You're the only one who ever

beat Spassky.

*

LOMBARDY:

We were kids. He'd destroy me now.

MARSHALL:

And you've beaten Bobby. *

LOMBARDY:

When he was twelve. And a bad loser.

(MORE)

Green Revision 10-14-13 32A.

LOMBARDY (CONT'D)

Said the room was too loud, the lamp

was too bright. He's a pain in the

ass. *

MARSHALL:

He asked for you. Wants you to be

his second.

*

*

Marshall hands Lombardy a letter. *

MARSHALL (CONT'D)

It's a letter of explanation and

apology to the Federation.

*

*

LOMBARDY:

With the f word in the first line.

*

*

Green Revision 10-14-13

MARSHALL:

He's nursed a grudge a long time.

He's studied how the Russians

play...every day, eighteen hours a

day for four years. For him, Vietnam

and the Beatles never happened.

LOMBARDY:

I'm guessing he still has his opinions

about the Soviets?

MARSHALL:

You'll promise the committee we'll

keep him out of trouble...

LOMBARDY:

The Piatigorsky has been organized

to build bridges, not burn them.

MARSHALL:

So we lose twelve to zero and that's

a bridge.

LOMBARDY:

I heard he has mental health problems.

MARSHALL:

So did Mozart.

LOMBARDY:

What if we get him there and he

cracks...

MARSHALL:

Bobby won't crack. He will explode.

INT. MANHATTAN CHESS CLUB - GAME ROOM - DAY

Marshall ushers Lombardy in. Bobby is dressed to kill.

MARSHALL:

Bobby? Father Lombardy's here...

LOMBARDY:

How ya doing, Bobby?

BOBBY:

Against Petrosian in Zurich in the

third game you shouldn't have

sacrificed your King's pawn. That's

the thing that got ya.

Father Lombardy rocks back a little...

33.

*

Yellow Revision 10-11-13 34.

BOBBY (CONT'D)

You always play too cautiously but

then you go crazy in the other

direction. It's a bad weakness.

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