The independent home for discussions on the English Chess scene.
https://www.ecforum.org.uk/
A revival of the "Master Game" format may be the offering. I can forsee one problem though. If the players aren't evenly matched it could be very one sided, although perhaps they will try to make it interesting by pitching IM/GM against talented youngster.MJMcCready wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:35 pmAm I correct in understanding that BBC2 is going to produce a series on chess where chosen chess players compete against each other?
Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:18 pmThat's a massively underrated show, of which its revival is long overdue.MJMcCready wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:35 pmAm I correct in understanding that BBC2 is going to produce a series on chess where chosen chess players compete against each other?
A revival of the "Master Game" format may be the offering. I can forsee one problem though. If the players aren't evenly matched it could be very one sided, although perhaps they will try to make it interesting by pitching IM/GM against talented youngster.
This seems very unfair as having an upper age limit of 80 will exclude most of the active membership of the ECF.Amateurs from 8 to 80 will get the opportunity to compete with the best ...
With 8 episodes, are they intending an 8 player knock-out? So that's 4 quarter-finals, 2 semi-finals, a final and a third place playoff. Or perhaps a seven round Swiss with a final playoff of the top two. An all play all of eight players plus play off is also possible,John Upham wrote: ↑Thu Apr 25, 2024 6:17 pmThis item deserves its own thread rather than being submerged in posts concerning chess being likened to football...
Allegedly sometime in 2025 AD.
I've been bingeing "The Rest is Entertainment" podcast recently. Based on what I have learned from them, TV viewing figures are completely different now to the 70s and 80s. There are so many more channels, both old fashioned and streaming. Apparently the TV industry went through a period of depression when they saw, for example, Coronation Street drop from 20 million viewers in the 80s to 5 million now. But this is old news to them, and current thinking is if you can get 5 million viewers regularly than you are massively successful.Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑Sat Oct 26, 2024 4:55 pmThe old chestnut has come back again. As that headcount was first announced ten years ago or more, if chess really is rapidly growing shouldn't it have gone up by now?
It remains to be seen what the playing level of the contestants will be. In its 1970s and 1980s fomats didn't the Master Game series get audiences in the millions?It is estimated that around six million regularly player chess in the UK, and with celebrity fans include Will Smith, Madonna, Leonardo de Caprio and Lily Cole all talking about it, chess is arguably becoming a global phenomenon.
