The documentary play Bobby and Boris (2010) was (co)written by director and playwright Dušan Jovanović, essayist and literary editor Mitja Čander and dramaturg Eva Mahkovic. The play depicts the legendary world chess championship in Reykjavik in 1972 which also involves the exciting chess games and a look behind the scenes. The contestants are defending champion Boris Spassky and his challenger Bobby Fischer. They are both under great pressure since the year-long Soviet primacy is at stake as well as the Americans’ wish to show their superiority over the Russians. Fischer has numerous demands, character peculiarities and whims which the tournament organizers have to meet. He keeps postponing his arrival to Reykjavik, running late and constantly setting impossible conditions.
The championship turned out to be the “Match of the Century” since the duel between a Russian and an American during the time of the Cold War clearly outlined the complicated and tense relation between the Eastern and the Western bloc. The play Bobby and Boris reveals a complicated psychological background of the chess championship and various manipulations which affected the final result and it is shown as a peculiar psychological war. On the day of the first game one of the contestants fails to show up and therefore loses. A great suspense is created, moreover, also the political powers begin to interfere. The tension whether Spassky will keep his title of the world champion increases all the way to the last game.