Media comments on chess

[Jonathan Bryant]

Sorry, no. It was a casual conversation. Do you want me to ask her to give a public statement that can be quoted?

Actually, yes I’d be fascinated to hear what she has to say. Or if she doesn’t want to talk publicly for whatever reason, I’d he happy to chat off the record too.

My interest, FWIW, is that of somebody who has (or has had) a professional finger in both pies - chess and dementia - and of somebody who feels that chess could very well be beneficial to offer chess to older people for all sorts of reasons.

And yet, you’ll be aware that there’s a lot of nonsense talked in terms of chess and dementia. Exhibit A being this notorious tweet from Kasparov.

https://twitter.com/Kasparov63/status/4 ... 7845484544


A certain national newspaper chess columnist might also be more responsible in what he tweets/writes too.

[Mick Norris]

9.00 pm BBC1 tonight, New Tricks has a visit to a chess club

Anyone know where the chess was filmed?

[Clive Blackburn]

9.00 pm BBC1 tonight, New Tricks has a visit to a chess club

Anyone know where the chess was filmed?

It looked to me like the Metropolitan Chess Club in Bishopsgate, although I could be wrong as it is many years since I played there.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

How much was about chess - should I watch the whole thing or fast-forward to the chess bits?

[Stewart Reuben]

The set was probably created especially for the programme.
It was interesting they regarded a rating of 1999 as very high.
I watched the whole thing and am not going to spoil it for you by revealing who dun it.
There was enough chess in it to be added to my ever-growing collection.
But I didn't think the chess contributed to the plot.

[Phil Neatherway]

This wikipedia article on Bobby Darin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Darin
includes the following:-

[quote]Darin was an enthusiastic chess player.[18] His television show included an occasional segment in which he would explain a chess move.[19] He arranged with the United States Chess Federation to sponsor a grandmaster tournament, with the largest prize fund in history,[20] but the event was canceled after his death.[1][/quote

Can all this be true?

[Roger de Coverly]

Can all this be true?

The wiki link takes you here

http://www.bobbydarin.com/chess73.htm

which is a reprint of an article from 1973 in the USCF's magazine. So the contemporary record supports this. The 1972 match unlocked a considerable interest in Chess from potentially sponsors and benefactors.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Possibly of interest is the mention of chess here:

http://www.thechemistsclub.com/legendar ... chweitzer/

"In the same month of March, 1909, pawns were shuffled on an unusual, multinational chessboard. Neither an ordinary board, nor game, but a version conceived in 1812 by the Prussian war college intent on erasing the humiliation of defeat by Napoleon’s armies: Kriegspiel, a form of blind chess where you cannot see your opponent’s pieces, nor moves, but are informed of pieces taken or a king under check by a referee."

[Michael Farthing]

Hey - we used to play that in my school chess club. I don't remember games lasting all that long but it was a lot of fun.

Can anyone tell me the name of the other made variant we played, where the referee would announce new rules every now and then such as:
* Next move knights may move like bishops.
* Each side may make two moves instead of one
or the most damning:
* Turn the board round and play your opponent's position

[Stewart Reuben]

Kriegspiel is a tremendous game. It became less popular when folding boards, that could be used as screens, disappeared. I have only twice under-promoted to a knight as the only way to draw. Once in the London League against Bob Wade and once in a kriegspiel game.

Michael Farthing >Can anyone tell me the name of the other made variant we played, where the referee would announce new rules every now and then<

It was originally Crazy Lightning Chess (i.e. with a buzzer every 10 seconds). now Crazy Blitz. It is often 'spread' at the British Chess Championships. I used 'spread' in that sense deliberately. It is a poker term and thus links to our other discussion.
The late David B Pritchard wrote an Encyclopedia of Chess Variants.

[MartinCarpenter]

Very fine book it is too.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Hey - we used to play that in my school chess club. I don't remember games lasting all that long but it was a lot of fun.

Can anyone tell me the name of the other made variant we played, where the referee would announce new rules every now and then such as:
* Next move knights may move like bishops.
* Each side may make two moves instead of one
or the most damning:
* Turn the board round and play your opponent's position

It probably goes by many names. Crazy Lightning Chess is one.

[John McKenna]

The Million Dollar Tournament in Las Vegas was mentioned on BBC Radio 4 News just before it ended at 18:30 yesterday evening. Brief interviews with GM Maurice (Mo-reese) Ashley and IM Lawrence Trent were included. A longer version of the coverage was aired on the BBC World Service early this morning on its World Business Report in which the financial viability of the tournament format and the potential for such events to popularise chess was discussed.

[Richard James]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29573719

[Stewart Reuben]

Jonathan Bryant.
I have communicated with Dr Jana Bellin. She is willing to prepare a considered comment on the interesting matter of chess and seniors, people with Alzheimer's and so on.
But she is very busy and it will not be for 6-8 weeks.