Searching for Bobby Fischer is an acclaimed 1993 film based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc). Adapted from the book of the same name by Joshua's father Fred, the film was written and directed by Steven Zaillian. In the United Kingdom the film was released under the title Innocent Moves.

In this film, Josh Waitzkin's family discovers that he possesses a gift for chess and they seek to nurture it. They hire a strict instructor, Bruce Pandolfini (played by Ben Kingsley) who aims to teach the boy to be as aggressive as Bobby Fischer. The title of the film is a metaphor about the character's quest to adopt the ideal of Fischer and his determination to win at any price. The main conflict in the film arises when Josh refuses to adopt Fischer's misanthropic frame of reference. Josh then goes on to win on his own terms with the kind of gracious sportsmanship that Fischer rejects.

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall) at the 1993 Academy Awards. It won the category at the American Society of Cinematographers the same year. The film also ranked #96 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers. Based on the grounds that the film's producers used Fischer's name to promote the movie yet paid him no compensation, the living Fischer saw the movie as an attempt to make money off him and sully his reputation at the same time.

At the end of the movie, Josh is seen playing a tough opponent named Jonathan Poe in the final tournament. The character Jonathan Poe was not the actual name of Josh's opponent, however. His real name was Jeff Sarwer. Near the end of the game, where Josh offers Poe a draw, Poe rejects the draw and play continues. Sarwer rejected the draw in the real world as well. Josh played Sarwer to a draw (the two kings were the only pieces left on the board), and he kept the championship, as he was top seed. The actual moves are available at http://jeffsarwer.com/chess.php .

Depicted to the right is the position of the game before Josh offers Poe the draw. The position did not occur in the real Waitzkin-Sarwer game; it was contrived by Josh Waitzkin and Bruce Pandolfini specifically for the movie. The following moves are executed (see algebraic chess notation):

...gxf6
Bxf6 Rc6+
Kf5 Rxf6+!
Nxf6 Bxf6
Kxf6 Nd7+
Kf5 Nxe5
Kxe5?? a5
h5 a4
h6 a3
h7 a2
h8=Q a1=Q+
Kf5 Qxh8 0-1

In the October 1995 issue of Chess Life, Grandmaster Larry Evans stated that the position and sequence were unsound; Jonathan could still have drawn (note the double question mark after White's move 7, signifying a serious blunder). White could have drawn the game by advancing his pawn on move 7 instead of taking the knight.