James Newton Howard’s PAWN SACRIFICE Score To Be Released On Sept. 11

Coming to theaters in two weeks is director Ed Zwick’s riveting PAWN SACRIFICE.

It’s the story of Bobby Fischer, America’s foremost chess player, who faced the reigning champion, Boris Spassky of Russia, in a series of matches that held the world spellbound.

For fans of 1972’s “Match of the Century,” the film is everything you’re hoping for. Zwick’s movie is flawless right down to the re-enactment of the 1971 interview with Dick Cavett.

Bobby Fischer first makes waves in the elite world of chess as a 6-year-old whiz-kid from Brooklyn famous for his laser-like concentration and ability to dominate all challengers. By his teens, the boy wonder has gone from chess savant to international grandmaster, but his meteoric rise is punctuated by unpredictable personal behavior and escalating demands that raise hackles in the conservative chess establishment.

As he travels the globe with manager Paul Marshall (Michael Stuhlbarg) and coach Father Bill Lombardy (Peter Sarsgaard), Fischer crushes the world’s top players in the relentless pursuit of his ultimate quarry: indomitable Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky (Liev Schreiber).

In 1972 the volatile New Yorker earns the right to face the Russian veteran in the hotly anticipated “Match of the Century,” a 21-game competition in Reykjavík, Iceland, that could end 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Championship. Even the infamous Game 6 shows Spassky joining the audience in applauding Fischer’s win.

But Fischer’s paranoia and growing obsession with conspiracy theories disrupt the match and his erratic behavior unnerves the normally unflappable Spassky. With the competition increasingly mirroring the tense geopolitics of the Cold War era, even his closest advisors are unsure if Fischer’s actions are the calculated antics of an antisocial eccentric or signs that he is truly unstable. PAWN SACRIFICE is a revealing portrait of the troubled genius who sparked an international chess craze and captured the imagination of the world.

Lakeshore Records will release the PAWN SACRIFICE – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on Friday, September 11, 2015. The album features original music by composer James Newton Howard (NIGHTCRAWLER, MALEFICENT).

James Newton Howard is one of the most versatile and respected composers currently working in films. To date, Howard has received eight Oscar nominations, including six for Best Original Score for his work on DEFIANCE, MICHAEL CLAYTON, THE VILLAGE, THE FUGITIVE, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, and MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING. He was also nominated for Best Original Song for the films JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY.

Howard, along with Hans Zimmer, won the 2009 Grammy Award for the score for THE DARK KNIGHT. He has also received Grammy Award nominations for music from BLOOD DIAMOND, DINOSAUR, SIGNS, and the song from ONE FINE DAY. In addition, he won an Emmy Award for the theme to the Andre Braugher series GIDEON’S CROSSING, and received two additional Emmy nominations for the themes to the long-running Warner Bros. series ER and the Ving Rhames series MEN. Howard has also been nominated four times for Golden Globe Awards for his massive orchestral score for Peter Jackson’s blockbuster remake of KING KONG; for the songs from JUNIOR and ONE FINE DAY; and for his provocative symphonic score for DEFIANCE.

Howard’s upcoming projects include THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY – PART 2 and CONCUSSION.

Before you watch the movie, catch filmmaker Liz Garbus’ documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World.  TRAILER

Read the book “Fischer/Spassky: The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century”

Bleecker Street presents PAWN SACRIFICE in select theaters September 16, 2015 and in St. Louis on Friday, September 18.