Editing Searching for Bobby Fischer (section)

===Poe versus Waitzkin endgame===
{{Chess diagram
 |tright
 |"Poe vs. Waitzkin"
 |  |  |rd|bd|  |  |  |
 |pd|  |  |  |  |  |pd|
 |  |nd|  |  |kl|pl|  |
 |  |  |  |  |rl|  |bl|
 |  |  |  |  |nl|  |  |pl
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |kd|  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |Black (Waitzkin) to move
}}
The diagram depicts the game position in the film, with Waitzkin playing the [[White and Black in chess|black pieces]], before Waitzkin offers Poe the draw. This position did not occur in the real Sarwer–Waitzkin game; it was contrived by Waitzkin and Pandolfini for the film. The following moves are executed:

:'''1... gxf6 2. Bxf6 Rc6+ 3. Kf5 Rxf6+{{chesspunc|??}} 4. Nxf6 Bxf6 5. Kxf6[[Chess annotation symbols#??|??]] Nd7+ 6. Kf5 Nxe5 7. Kxe5{{chesspunc|??}}'''
In the October 1995 issue of ''[[Chess Life]]'', [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] [[Larry Evans (chess grandmaster)|Larry Evans]] stated that the position and sequence were {{chessgloss|unsound}}: Poe (playing White) could still have drawn the game by playing 7.h5 instead. Furthermore, though not mentioned in the issue:

(i) The rook exchange 3...Rxf6+ is not a brilliancy but instead loses; 3... Nc4., 3...Nd7 and 3...Bxf6 hold the draw.

(ii) the modern Lomonosov 7-piece [[endgame tablebase]] shows White has a win after 4...Bxf6 with 5.Re2+, sacrificing White's rook for Black's bishop, and [[Promotion (chess)|queening]] safely.<ref>5.Re2+ Kd1 6.Kxf6 Kxe2 7.h5 Nd7+ (7...a5? 8.Ke6 and White can win the {{chessgloss|pawn race}} safely) 8.Ke7 Ne5 9.h6 Ng6+ 10.Kf7 Ne5+ 11.Kg7 Nd7 12.h7 Nc5 and White queens.</ref>

:'''7... a5 8. h5 a4 9. h6 a3 10. h7 a2 11. h8=Q a1=Q+ 12. Kf5 Qxh8 {{chessAN|0–1}}'''
White [[Rules of chess#Resigning|resigned]].
{{clear}}