Media comments on chess

[Nick Grey]

I am one of the 2.2 million so will not self medicate. Lolts of heat wave advice to check with your GP.

[NickFaulks]

Some board games say the oldest player goes first...

Really?

I remember once owning a game with that rule. I think it may have been loosely based on Animal Snap.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Board games have all sorts of rules to determine who goes first. There are so many such rules, in fact, that it feels like some designers are playing a meta-game where the person who develops the wackiest Start Player rule goes first.

[Tim Spanton]

Some board games say the oldest player goes first...

Really?

I remember once owning a game with that rule. I think it may have been loosely based on Animal Snap.

I am surprised, but a boardgame with that rule?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I am surprised, but a boardgame with that rule?"

Using board game loosely, to include Carcassonne, Terra Mystica, Century Golem, Seven Wonders, Waddington's games etc., I know it's not Settlers of Catan as you roll a die (unless it's a tournament). I could go to the Games Box, and take them all out and read the rules, but I suspect I won't.

[John McKenna]

Australian Chess Federation committee member Dr Kevin Bonham has refuted suggestions the rule of white pieces moving first was racially motivated...

https://au.news.yahoo.com/debate-erupts ... 23932.html

[Matt Mackenzie]

Back in the 1980s there was a British kids chess book called (IIRC) The Adventures Of Dan The Pawn. A teachers union official said it would have been "more satisfying symbolically" if the black pieces had won, as this would help counter racist stereotypes and assumptions.

So, this sort of thing (as so often) is nothing new.

[shaunpress]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... sktop_news

This of course was a right wing media beat up (Disclaimer. I know John Adams)
He was asked by ABC Radio to talk about whether chess was racist because white moves first. But instead of simply saying "No" and giving an informed reason why, instead took to twitter to criticise the ABC for asking the question in the first place. This then excited the Murdoch media in Australia (who intensely dislike the ABC), which I suspect was what John wanted in the first place.
As with most media coverage of chess there is a lot they get wrong. Adams isn't a "Master", although he did win an Under 1600 (U/125) event I organised a few years back. He was also the Australian Chess Federation Treasurer for a year, but was let go after failing to produce accounts and attend the AGM.
So while outside of chess this is being treated as the normal "Political Correctness gone mad" story, the truth is instead one media organisation slagging off another media organisation. You would think the Murdoch Press wouldn't be wasting their time and money on such a trivial issue, but there you go.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"You would think the Murdoch Press wouldn't be wasting their time and money on such a trivial issue, but there you go."

We do have Murdoch Press here as well, as anyone with a mobile phone will know. Thanks for the clarification.

And while I'm here...

"Board games have all sorts of rules to determine who goes first."

I'm told Terra Mystica says last one to do any gardening goes first.

[Paul Habershon]

Midsomers Murders is always awful tosh.
But at least a chess gm didn't do it.
The chessboards were round the right way.
The Sicilian Defence is played.
A hotel called 'The King's Gambit'.
A local player from long ago who was world champion.
Many people playing chess with analogue clocks.

The oft repeated Midsomer Murders chess episode was on again this week. I have checked the forum for past comments and now add what I think are new observations about the authenticity of the chess bits. Of course, this has no importance for most viewers but a chess advisor could have improved things.

An unrealistic number of females in the tournament.
The chess club referred to as the chess society.
The pushy mother berated her son for 'losing to a Class C player' - has this nomenclature ever been used in UK grading?
Too much announcing of check.
Too much smug staring at the opponent after a good move (ok, could happen but it shouldn't).
The analogue clocks had started with various hand positions, since some were several hours ahead of others. Most arbiters would want them synchronised.
The guy who was late (good choice of word there - he'd been murdered) had not had his clock started.
The choice of a fictitious name for a world champion was obviously deliberate and perhaps dramatically justified, but for me was just another unconvincing aspect.

However, as others have said, there was much that was correct. Care had been taken to get the Sicilian Defence moves right, but the programme blurb on my TV rather spoilt it by referring to 'chess notation called the Sicilian Defence'. It
was good to see chess as such a strong theme, though.

The player who had beaten the world champion in an online game had committed suicide many years previously, but what a great chance for an updated version to introduce a cheating controversy, the topic of the moment.

[Matt Mackenzie]

The pushy mother berated her son for 'losing to a Class C player' - has this nomenclature ever been used in UK grading?

Sort of, in the days before numerical gradings were introduced. So we are talking over half a century ago......

[J T Melsom]

I am reminded by threads about the portrayal of chess on TV that people often fail to place proper emphasis on the concept of drama. I watched the re-run of Wolf Hall a couple of months back. I'm a keen student of the period and am aware that the drama contained some historical errors. Did that make it poor drama -probably not. Would I expect to need further reading to shed more precise light on events - yes many of the minor characters at court were not well developed in the drama but family alliances are key to understanding much of Tudor England. So to the informed eye most TV drama will jar, but we shouldn't become too obsessed. 'suspension of disbelief' can be a good thing.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I am reminded by threads about the portrayal of chess on TV that people often fail to place proper emphasis on the concept of drama. I watched the re-run of Wolf Hall a couple of months back. I'm a keen student of the period and am aware that the drama contained some historical errors. Did that make it poor drama -probably not. Would I expect to need further reading to shed more precise light on events - yes many of the minor characters at court were not well developed in the drama but family alliances are key to understanding much of Tudor England. So to the informed eye most TV drama will jar, but we shouldn't become too obsessed. 'suspension of disbelief' can be a good thing."

That's fair enough. A chess-playing friend of mine in Special Branch said he couldn't bear to watch police dramas and the like because of all the mistakes. I like watching the Joan Hickson "Miss Marple" stories and Midsomer Murders, but they are pretty unreal. Even Morse pointed out something in the last 5 minutes of one programme that the Customs officers would have noticed a year before when they started their investigation. A lot of we scientists enjoy CSI so we can laugh at the mistakes, and a colleague in the Forensic Drug section said they all loved Breaking Bad.

But it is irritating when the board is the wrong way round... If only there really were 600 million chess players, then some of them might work in TV.

[JustinHorton]

Midsomer Murders at a chess tournament again. One advantage of my short term memory loss an hour in is no idea who done it

I'm advised that this on the telly right now

[Geoff Chandler]

The board round the wrong way is seen so often I'm wondering if the props team ever do wonder about which
way round the board should be and look at stills from other programs. The chances are they will find a wrong one.

"The chess club referred to as the chess society."

There is the 'British Chess Problem Society' which has been about since 1918. It's just possible the use of 'Society' came from there.