Media comments on chess

Discuss anything you like about chess related matters in this forum.
David Robertson

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by David Robertson » Fri Jan 31, 2014 4:48 pm

It is when you fall over board

User avatar
John Clarke
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:07 pm

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by John Clarke » Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:51 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:So chess is like sailing on a table?
Well the Russian word for the rook (ladya) does mean "boat" ....
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:55 pm

[quote="Kevin Thurlow"]Cartoons.../quote]

I once saw one - in The Spectator I think - where a bunch of men are gathered around a table watching two other guys play chess.

"I'm keen to see this new variation in the Sicilian defence that Bloggs has found" says one onlooker to another.


Under the table Bloggs has a pistol with silencer attached pointed at his opponent.


Pretty sophisticated joke for a lay audience I thought.

Ian Thompson
Posts: 3551
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:31 pm
Location: Awbridge, Hampshire

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Ian Thompson » Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:23 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
I missed Matthew's follow-up comment, and never followed the link, so only just realised this article about a multi-million pound deal involving an AI company founded by Demis Hassabis had been pointed out by Mick. There is a follow-up article here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25927797

"Why has Google bought an AI company?"
BBC News - 28 January 2014
And more in today's Evening Standard. He has this to say about chess:

"I think I ended up channelling my very early years into chess because it was something I was good at that my parents could understand. Chess and games give you a lot of skills you can transfer to business or AI, but I always regarded it more as training. It was too narrow to spend your entire brain on for your entire life."

Stewart Reuben
Posts: 4542
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
Location: writer

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sat Feb 01, 2014 12:24 am

I was also interviewed by The Financial Times about Demis. I don't know when the piece will appear.
The whole matter has raised a great deal of interest. Like Demis, I made the point about chess providing transferable skills.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat Feb 01, 2014 12:29 am

Stewart Reuben wrote: The whole matter has raised a great deal of interest. Like Demis, I made the point about chess providing transferable skills.
From time to time, you make the point that chess is rare or unique in paying cash prizes to children. The Evening Standard interview notes that the profit from a chess tournament was reinvested in a computer, thereby setting up one of his careers.

Richard James
Posts: 1175
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Twickenham

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Richard James » Sat Feb 01, 2014 9:10 am

Stewart Reuben wrote:I was also interviewed by The Financial Times about Demis. I don't know when the piece will appear.
The whole matter has raised a great deal of interest. Like Demis, I made the point about chess providing transferable skills.
Stewart, it's in today's FT. You are quoted briefly. Free registration is required to read it online.

User avatar
Christopher Kreuzer
Posts: 8806
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
Location: London

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat Feb 01, 2014 4:14 pm

The Evening Standard piece claimed that it was the only interview being given by Demis. Presumably the Financial Times piece is based on talking to others? Demis was active in Cambridge University Chess Club at around the same time at me (overlapping by a couple of years, he played in a few Varsity matches). This has also reminded me of his exploits at the Mind Games Olympiads when they were in London (well, him and his brother). Seeing the references to chess in the media coverage has been interesting.

abi&timadams
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2008 4:21 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by abi&timadams » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:52 pm

The video for Chloe Howl's new song 'Rumour' features chess . Interesting.

Phil Neatherway
Posts: 662
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:10 pm
Location: Abingdon

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Phil Neatherway » Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:07 pm

What was needed was a rare type of intuition; the same faculty of mind (only much more intensified) that made a grandmaster of chess. A mind was needed of the sort that could see through the quadrillions of chess patterns to find the one best move, and do it in a matter of minutes.
From the short story "Jokester" by Isaac Asimov.

Paul McKeown
Posts: 3732
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:01 pm
Location: Hayes (Middx)

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Feb 07, 2014 11:13 am

From the Guardian today:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/quiz/2014/feb/07/daily-quiz-7-february-2014 wrote:6. Which sporting trophy is named after the 1923 and 1934 British chess champion?

Davis Cup
Stanley Cup
Thomas Cup
Ryder Cup

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri Feb 07, 2014 12:01 pm

And of course there's also Ray Keene's regular column in Private Eye.

Ian Kingston
Posts: 1071
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:16 pm
Location: Sutton Coldfield

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Ian Kingston » Fri Feb 07, 2014 6:33 pm

Kasparov comments on the Winter Olympics, comparing Sochi 2014 to Berlin 1936.

John McKenna

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by John McKenna » Fri Feb 07, 2014 8:00 pm

I absolutely refuse to believe it - until a non-white, gay (of any sex) speed skater or downhill racer starts striking gold.

Stewart Reuben
Posts: 4542
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:04 pm
Location: writer

Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sat Feb 08, 2014 3:58 am

I got around to reading 'THE CHESS PIECES'

It is set on the Isle of Lewis and the pieces are involved in the plot, but not the game of chess itself.