Media comments on chess

[Simon Rogers]

BBC Red button text service.
Science section
"DeepMind's new AI could turbocharge YouTube"

"DeepMind's latest AI program can attain " superhuman performance " in tasks without needing to be given the rules. "
"Like the research hub's earlier artificial intelligence agents, MuZero achieved mastery in dozens of old Atari video games, chess, and the Asian board games of Go and Shogi."
"But unlike its predecessors, it had to work out their rules for itself. "
"It is already being put to practical use to find a new way to encode videos, which could slash YouTube's costs."

[Wadih Khoury]

I have often wondered why they changed the original name, 'Searching for Bobby Fischer', to 'Innocent Moves' in Britain.

I always recommend this film to parents with aspiring child chessplayers. It is one everybody can watch and enjoy.

Josh became an IM, but turned his attention to martial arts.

Thanks, was on my list but never got motivated enough to buy it. Netflix made it easier to watch, and it was a good decent movie.

I was a bit surprised by the Pandolfini character. At first he seemed very psychological in his approach, and full of empathy. Mid movie he turns into some sort of American tennis coach or Cobra Kai teacher, filling the child's head of "everyone hates you" messages, "despise everyone" and wanting him to become Bobby's clone. Half expected him to teach him of CIA conspiracies and racism...
Really weird, it didn't feel like the same character, and not a successful coaching method either. Didn't realise he also coached Caruana (for how long?)

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I was a bit surprised by the Pandolfini character. At first he seemed very psychological in his approach, and full of empathy. Mid movie he turns into some sort of American tennis coach or Cobra Kai teacher, filling the child's head of "everyone hates you" messages, "despise everyone" and wanting him to become Bobby's clone. Half expected him to teach him of CIA conspiracies and racism..."

Yes - I remember thinking he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children, which I assume was a rather bad characterization of the real man.

[Stewart Reuben]

I have never met Bruce Pandolfini, but I don't think you should assume the way he was portrayed in a film, is a mirror of real life.
I was very puzzled by the climatic game, which wasn't at all like how strong children chessplayers play. Then I had dinner with, among others, Bruce's fellow consultant on the film. He told me the director wanted a last minute change, virtually on the set, in the nature of that game. My informant told me he couldn't make it to the shooting that day. So Bruce had to make the last minute changes by himself.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I have never met Bruce Pandolfini, but I don't think you should assume the way he was portrayed in a film, is a mirror of real life."

Well, yes, that's what I was saying. It is the problem with depicting real people in a film (or on TV), especially if they're still alive.

[Paul Robert Jackson]

"I have never met Bruce Pandolfini, but I don't think you should assume the way he was portrayed in a film, is a mirror of real life."
Well, yes, that's what I was saying. It is the problem with depicting real people in a film (or on TV), especially if they're still alive.

Some famous chess players have brief cameos in the film: Anjelina Belakovskaia, Joel Benjamin, Roman Dzindzichashvili, Kamran Shirazi, along with the real Joshua Waitzkin & Bruce Pandolfini.
Pal Benko was supposed to be in the film but his part was cut out. Waitzkin's real mother and sister also have cameos.
Therefore I am making the presumption Bruce Pandolfini must have had some idea of how he was going to be portrayed.

[Paul Buswell]

I note that this is on PBS America (Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin) on Thursday 7 January at 8:20 p.m.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi Versus Karpov and the Kremlin
After Fischer beat Spassky in the 1972 World Chess Championship, the Soviets plotted to regain this coveted title by supporting Anatoly Karpov – a loyal member of the Communist Party. Fischer refused to defend his title and Karpov was crowned King, but his first title defence was against Viktor Korchnoi – a critic of the Soviet regime and high-profile defector since 1976. As the rivals fight on the chess board, their teams are locked in a war that includes espionage, parapsychology, coded yoghurts, KGB agents, death threats, and a mystic sect wanted for murder.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

[Stewart Reuben]

Closing Gambit is well worth seeing. It tells the story. mainly without voice-overs, using mainly contemporary footage.

[John Upham]

To give you some idea here is the official trailer

[Mike Gunn]

Question on last night's University Challenge: "Which sport, which stopped being part of the Olympic Games in 192X and was readmitted in 1932, has been described as 'chess on ice'?".

The answer (easily guessed, I thought) was "Curling".

[John Upham]

Question on last night's University Challenge: "Which sport, which stopped being part of the Olympic Games in 192X and was readmitted in 1932, has been described as 'chess on ice'?".

The answer (easily guessed, I thought) was "Curling".

"Great Britain" (in reality, Scotland) won the Gold in curling at the 1924 games in Chamonix despite being a demonstration sport.

The team was

William Jackson
Robin Welsh
Thomas Murray
Laurence Jackson
D. G. Astley


"Although not part of the official programme, curling was contested as a demonstration sport in 1932, 1988 and 1992. Curling was re-added as a demonstration event in 1988 because the Olympics were being held in Calgary,"

Finally, It became a contested event at Nagano in 1998.

[Chris Rice]

Very nice clip from 1966, but who is Jonathan?

I'm informed that the little boy with the toffee apple who is playing Martin Bell is Jonathan Christopher Benjamin who passed away in 2000. If it is him, I remember him when I was just starting to play chess and there are games of his on the database. Here's one of him playing Glenn Lambert who was a bit of a legend in Hampshire chess when I was a kid but died in 2003.

[Event "London CC Invitation"] [Site "London"] [Date "1973.09.09"] [Round "4"] [White "Lambert, Glenn EJ"] [Black "Benjamin, John C"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E66"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "1973.09.07"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "EXT 2016"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2015.10.08"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2015.10.08"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. c4 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. d5 Na5 8. Nfd2 c5 9. Nc3 a6 10. Qc2 Rb8 11. b3 b5 12. Bb2 e6 13. Rab1 bxc4 14. bxc4 Bh6 15. Nce4 Nxe4 16. Nxe4 Rxb2 17. Rxb2 f5 18. Nc3 Nxc4 19. Rb8 Qc7 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. dxe6 Nb6 22. a4 a5 23. Rd1 Qe7 24. Rb1 Qc7 25. Qb3 Bg7 26. e7+ c4 27. Qxb6 Qxb6 28. Rxb6 Bxc3 29. Rxd6 Re8 30. Bd5+ Kg7 31. Bxc4 Rxe7 32. e3 Bb4 33. Rd8 Rc7 34. Bb5 Bc3 35. Kg2 Bb4 36. h3 Be1 37. Rd1 Bb4 38. g4 Kf6 39. gxf5 Kxf5 40. Rd4 Re7 41. Bd3+ Kf6 42. Kf3 Re6 43. Kg4 Kg7 44. Bc4 Rd6 45. Rf4 Rf6 46. Rxf6 Kxf6 47. f4 h5+ 48. Kf3 g5 49. e4 gxf4 50. Kxf4 Bd2+ 1/2-1/2

[Kevin Thurlow]

Chessbase says John C Benjamin was born in 1958. I played him four times between 1981 and 1993 and cannot comment on how he looked in 1966, although he had dark hair, so that's plausible. Nice guy.

[Kevin Thurlow]

The "i" for 31/12/2020 reports :-

"Trump backer questions 5D chess"

DeAnna Lorraine (prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist and Trump backer) thinks he might not have a grand plan to retain power.

"Because we have so much trusted this plan, we always think he is playing 5D chess. So anything that looks questionable, we think OK, its a strategy. ...
We've got about 25 days... and we're gonna know for sure - is Trump really a 5D master chess player who is gonna decimate the swamp?"

Apparently, "Proponents of the QAnon theory believe the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles who are plotting against President Trump."

[Matt Mackenzie]

Some aren't sure if he is even playing 1D chess, tbh

(and I am then reminded of the late Alexei Suetin's comment on the abortive 1991 Soviet coup - "they went for Scholar's Mate")