Tobey Maguire and Peter Sarsgaard talk chess at the world premiere of Pawn Sacrifice

Tobey Maguire and Peter Sarsgaard talk chess at the world premiere of Pawn Sacrifice

TIFF 2014 Red Carpet: Pawn Sacrifice
(Image: Kayla Rocca)

Leave it to TIFF to turn a movie about something as quiet and intellectual as chess into a frenzied, shrieking star encounter. Appearances by ex-Spidey Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber—yes, Ray Donovan himself (or, as noted by one particularly boisterous fan, “Wolverine’s brother!”)—were enough to set off the crowd at the world premiere of Pawn Sacrifice Thursday night at Roy Thomson Hall. The Edward Zwick–directed picture takes us behind the scenes of the 1972 chess match between American prodigy Bobby Fischer and Russian defending champion Boris Spassky. Maguire and Schreiber both copped to being pretty bad chess players—unlike co-star Peter Sarsgaard, who’s known to play a good game. When we asked The Killing star if he had any quick tips on how to finally beat the Mac chess computer, he offered only the following: “Turn the difficulty down.” Thanks, Sarsgaard, we’ll do that.