Relentless, unnerving, genius.

The astonishing, yet tortured story of chess mastermind Bobby Fischer is mesmerizing. A lot of it has to do with the impossibly overwhelming knowledge needed to play chess at the highest level and this is portrayed in a new trailer for Pawn Sacrifice that takes us through Fischer’s life to the Cold War showdown against Boris Spassky that defined him forever. Chess is a fun and stressful game, designed with the difficulty of an epic labyrinth and the time constraints of a 100-meter sprint in a speed game. In fact, there are various time keeping methods, including one created by the aforementioned chess master himself.

Fischer, who had not played a public game since winning the world championship in 1972, patented a chess clock in 1988 that added an increment of time after a player completed a move and hit the button on top. For example, in a speed game, a player could begin with five minutes and receive an additional 10 or 15 seconds after making each move

—Encyclopedia Britannica

In life, we are constatly confronted by choices, each presenting a different path and set of consequences, good and bad. The decisions we make define who we are. Keeping this in mind, consider Fischer’s dilemma of contemplating an infinite number of options with only one correct move for each decision. And there’s a time limit, with the ramifications of moving the wrong chess piece all but likely resulting in complete disaster. As the trailer below shows, this intensity was real and raw because of his equally brilliant Soviet Union opponent.

Plus, the whole world was watching.

And just like the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game at the 1980 Winter Olympics between the United States and the Soviet Union, Bobby Fischer was also in a colossal Cold War battle against the Russians…and himself.

This movie looks as awe-inspiring as the “Bobby Fischer Trap.”

Checkmate.