Bronisław Pekosiński, who played himself, doesn’t know his identity or his family. As a child, he was thrown by his mother through the barbed wire of the Zwierzyniec concentration camp. He was sent to an orphanage, his surname was derived from the abbreviation PKOS, and his birth date—September 1, 1939—was symbolically assigned. Although he was an alcoholic and paralyzed after a stroke, he retained his dignity, serenity, and masterful skill in chess—his lifelong passion.

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