Media comments on chess

[JustinHorton]

Stephen Moss on the AGON circus

[Gareth T Ellis]

1,000-Year-Old Chess Set To Be Auctioned

The 16 pieces, including a stylised king, queen and knights, date from the 10th century and are expected to fetch up to £30,000.

http://news.sky.com/story/1659338/1000- ... -auctioned

But was on here first

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/10th- ... 02191.html

[Kevin Thurlow]

One could argue about the media bit, but I regularly receive catalogues from "The Great Courses". This time, they are advertising a chess course by Jeremy Silman, so naturally I was curious, but curiosity turned to astonishment when I looked at the diagram on the cover...

http://www.thegreatcourses.co.uk/course ... aster.html

[Stewart Reuben]

I like to play the game of trying to get a letter in The Times. I succeeded with a chess-related one today.

[JustinHorton]

Sir,

Matthew Syed writes that he is not terribly keen on ties (Notebook, Mar 14). In 1972 in Reykjavik I was having dinner with the international chess master David Levy and Bent Larsen, then the No 3 chessplayer in the world. I was wearing a rather lurid tie. David said to Bent, “Wouldn’t you like to wear a tie like Stewart’s?” Bent responded, “Oh, no. I know if I play Stewart, he won’t play as well as less blood will get to his brain.”

It was the last time that I have worn a tie unless its presence is absolutely necessary.

Stewart Reuben

Honorary life vice-president, English Chess Federation, Twickenham

Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

[JustinHorton]

Diego Simeone on last night's second leg against PSV Eindhoven (nil-nil, aggregate also nil, Atlético won on penalties):

It was a game of chessplayers.

[Michael Mkpadi]

Has anyone found it interesting that in the newspapers like The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian with their chess columnists Ray Keene, Malcolm Pein and Leonard Barden respectively are regularly usurped whenever there is a new story about chess which has a non-chess dimension like this Agon business which could be a business story on intellectual property or a sports story on sporting events management and sports broadcasting rights.

Same happened when Nigel Short was misquoted about what he said in New In Chess.

Why don't the newspaper let their experts in chess talk about chess?

[JustinHorton]

Because their columnists aren't staffers.

[Michael Mkpadi]

Because their columnists aren't staffers.

Yes agreed but they get basic details wrong and in some cases the whole article is based on a misunderstanding of chess rules, chess culture and chess practice.

You'd have thought getting a second opinion from your columnist even on the salient points is the essence of journalism....sorry I shouldn't have said that....making assumptions and printing them to "shake the tree" and see what falls out is modern journalism.

[JustinHorton]

You'd have thought getting a second opinion from your columnist even on the salient points is the essence of journalism..

If the columnist is not a staffer that option isn't necessarily available

[Michael Mkpadi]

If the columnist is not a staffer that option isn't necessarily available

Yes that it was I thought until I asked him ( one particularly consistent offender a journalist (staffer) for one of those broadsheets mentioned earlier),
why he hadn't just emailed or rang his chess columnist to sense check the nonsense he'd written. He said he could have done but it didn't cross his mind!

He then proceeded to ask me to sense check his article and give him pointers on how to improve it. The cheek of it!

[Stewart Reuben]

We were at Hastings and, during play, a sub-editor phoned wishing to speak to Luke McShane. I told her the problem. Well, he is most insistent we get everything right. I told her I would pass on the message and Luke would ring back later. Luke was, I think, about 11 at the time.

[JustinHorton]

New York Times piece on US chess and Candidates, manages to miss yesterday's controversy

[Mike Gunn]

Has anyone found it interesting that in the newspapers like The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian with their chess columnists Ray Keene, Malcolm Pein and Leonard Barden respectively are regularly usurped whenever there is a new story about chess which has a non-chess dimension like this Agon business which could be a business story on intellectual property or a sports story on sporting events management and sports broadcasting rights.

Same happened when Nigel Short was misquoted about what he said in New In Chess.

Why don't the newspaper let their experts in chess talk about chess?

Stephen Moss who usually does these pieces for the Guardian is an active chess player (in the Surrey League) and is well informed on the international chess/ world championships/ Agon scene, too.

[Michael Mkpadi]

Stephen Moss who usually does these pieces for the Guardian is an active chess player (in the Surrey League) and is well informed on the international chess/ world championships/ Agon scene, too.

I hear Leon Watson who usually does those pieces for the Telegraph is Surrey Chess Champion (Division 4) so there.