Portrayal of chess players in film and on television

[Keith Arkell]

Hi Geoff,haha yes the suspicious,paranoid look that gradually gets a grip on us

[David Lettington]

I have just watched "Final Move" a chess-based detective thriller type thing. It had David Carradine and Daniel Baldwin in it, plus Rachel Hunter (ex-wife of Rod Stewart). Hang on .... "I didn't know that Rachel Hunter was an actress", I hear you say... it turns out that she isn't.

To be honest the whole film was pretty lame, but there is quite a lot chess interest. Algebraic and descriptive notation gets mixed up a few times and the positions on the board don't seem to reflect the descriptions of them.

The killer divides the city up into squares and commits a murder in each of the squares where his move occurs. The detectives have to guess his next move and prevent the murder. I'm sure I've heard this plot somewhere else before.

[John Saunders]

The TV drama The Sopranos has a chess scene. Jackie Aprile jnr, son of a deceased mob boss, is on the run from some other mobsters following a botched card game stick-up. He is in hiding with an African-American family and playing chess against the daughter of the household (about 8 years old). After a few moves, the little girl and her dad start telling him how badly he is playing and how he ought to "develop his knights" as she did. In disgust he resigns by pushing his pieces to the centre of the board and goes out to do some shopping. In the very next scene we see him walking down the road. A hitman comes up behind him and shoots him dead. Exactly what he deserved for not noticing that the board was the wrong way round and the little girl's king and queen were not on their correct starting squares.

[Arshad Ali]

Well, while we're still on the topic, there's a bit part in "Rocky 4" as well. The Russian ends up getting checkmated by the American (trainer). I don't remember the position exactly but it seems to have been a helpmate. The idea is to show that not only are the Americans stronger and fitter than the Russians, but also smarter. I've always had a sneaking suspicion that "Rocky 4" derived its inspiration from Fischer-Spassky 1972: the American individual versus the Soviet establishment.

[Stewart Reuben]

I am surprised and a bit miffed that nobody has mentioned http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=2769. This is a catalogue of the material I have on DVD on chess in the English language. I suspect it is the biggest in the world.

It is a bit aggravating that the murderer is almost invariably the chess GM in the film or on TV.

Nobody has mentioned the musical 'Chess'. Whoever would have thought there would be a pop song written about me (well, truth to tell it was more Campomanes.)

You would find Hatley High very strange. It is set in an American High School, where they are besotted with chess.

Then there's 'Fresh'. The chief protagonist, a 13 year old, pushes pawns and drugs highly competently. Not one to show children.

The first Harry Potter Film. 'The greatest chessplayer in the world' from the Tales of the Unexpected Series - I was the chess advisor for that.

'Chess Fever' a silent Russian film is very funny.

There was a whole running section in Eastenders.

I expect we will be doing a chess film festival in Canterbury at the British Champiuonships this year. That is the first time since 1982 at the National Film Theatre. There was a dreadful biography of Alekhine, but it was probably the only showing this ever had in Britain.

Stewart Reuben

[John Saunders]

The ECF website link would be more useful if one didn't have to download an MS Word file. Can someone ask the ECF webmaster to put the file into HTML? Actually, the same applies to many other links on the ECF site. In general it is poor web design to have downloadable Word files instead of proper web pages, for reasons of usability/accessibility (not everyone has MS Word) and security (the files can be carriers of viruses). (One exception is where you might want the end user to fill in a form; there may be other exceptions)

The book that Neville mentioned earlier ("Chess in the Movies" by Bob Basalla, Thinkers Press, 2005) is absolutely excellent and essential reading for anyone interested in this subject.

I saw another minor chess appearance in The Sopranos. Some mob bosses meet in a park for a 'sit down' (as they call meetings to resolve problems). There are some stone tables with integral chessboards. A game (with clock) is being played on one, while the bosses sit down around another and talk. The chessboard provides a simple metaphor for their discussion with all its sinister undercurrents.

[Carl Hibbard]

The ECF website link would be more useful if one didn't have to download an MS Word file.

Let alone the issue of being able to read a Word document or the possibility of a virus issue, perhaps a PDF file would be better in these cases

[Alex Holowczak]

If Carl was seconding that, I third it.

[David Sedgwick]

The ECF website link would be more useful if one didn't have to download an MS Word file. Can someone ask the ECF webmaster to put the file into HTML? Actually, the same applies to many other links on the ECF site. In general it is poor web design to have downloadable Word files instead of proper web pages, for reasons of usability/accessibility (not everyone has MS Word) and security (the files can be carriers of viruses).

John, thank you for your support this morning on another matter elsewhere on the Forum. However, I'm afraid I completely disagree with you on this subject.

With a Word file, I can simply download it and read it later if I wish. If I want to store information which is in HTML format, the first thing I have to do is to copy and paste the text into Word.

We don't all have your level of IT skills. For those of us who don't, Word documents are much the most user friendly format (in my not so humble opinion).

As for viruses, surely a responsible person checks that files are clean before posting them on a website.

[Carl Hibbard]

As for viruses, surely a responsible person checks that files are clean before posting them on a website.

Not everyone does I am afraid so a PDF file is also a 'little' safer I would say

[John Upham]

As for viruses, surely a responsible person checks that files are clean before posting them on a website.

Not everyone does I am afraid so a PDF file is also a 'little' safer I would say

Completely agree. Does everyone know what the "p" in pdf stands for?

Perhaps that might help them understand why pdf is so much better than Micro$shaft Word for delivering documents from an http / ftp site.

We don't all have your level of IT skills.

I also agree with this comment.

[Alex Holowczak]

If you're using Windows, then having Adobe Acrobat Reader installed (if you don't, IE will get you to install it when you need it (presumably)) will be easy enough to use. If memory serves me correctly, the PDF can be viewed online, without the need to download anything. If you subsequently wish to download it, it is made easy by the software.

It's actually more complicated for Linux users, who have to download it offline by default with evince, rather than view it in-browser. Perhaps Firefox has an add-on for that I haven't investigated yet...

Personally, I'd rather view it online, so I don't clog up my hard-drive with documents that I'll subsequently have to delete.

[Carl Hibbard]

If memory serves me correctly, the PDF can be viewed online, without the need to download anything.

Not actually true - the nature of a browser means well at the moment that you actually download everything...

[Carl Hibbard]

It's actually more complicated for Linux users, who have to download it offline by default with evince, rather than view it in-browser.

Try the Google Chrome beta Alex, whilst it won't sort your PDF issue for you it's actually far faster under Linux

I am using 5.0.342.7 beta here and it is rather rapid...

[David Sedgwick]

Does everyone know what the "p" in pdf stands for?

Perhaps that might help them understand why pdf is so much better than Micro$shaft Word for delivering documents from an http / ftp site.

We don't all have your level of IT skills.

I also agree with this comment.

I do know for what the "p" stands and I've no objection to the use of pdf for what are essentially read only documents. My objection was to John Saunders's comment that everything should be in html.

However, John S himself says that Word is the most suitable when the end user has to complete a form. The overuse of pdf is infuriating in such cases, as few of us have pdf editors. A good example is the Norm Report Forms which I, along with many other arbiters, have to complete from time to time. They're only available in pdf on the FIDE website and there's been a massive duplication of effort as arbiters around the world have created their own Word templates.