Jeff Sarwer

Chess Player

Birthday May 14, 1978

Birth Sign Taurus

Birthplace Canada

Age 46 years old

#83,114 Most Popular

About

Charismatic chess prodigy who became one of Canada's unlikeliest celebrities and a part of the inspiration behind the film Searching for Bobby Fischer.

Before Fame

Learning the basics of chess at age 4, he joined Manhattan's most prestigious chess club at 6, and from age seven put on exhibitions playing 40 chess matches at once.

Trivia

Popular magazine articles contrasted his prodigious talent with his family's strange lifestyle, suggesting the family was unfit to take care of him, and on one occasion, Canada's Children's Aid Society took him into custody.

Family Life

He and his sister Julia preferred their family life over the C.A.S., and the family moved about in friendly countries to escape Canada's law.

Associated With

A story of one of his tournament matches was fictionalized in the 1993 film Searching for Bobby Fischer.