Media comments on chess

[Roger de Coverly]

I believe there's a mention of chess in the new issue of Private Eye. Is this the case?

Yes, it name checks the latest investigations by the Streatham blog into the archive of annotated games and their reuse.

[Geoff Chandler]

I get the Eye, I was wondering if anyone had spotted this:

Private Eye No.1354. 29th November - 12th December 2013, page 8.

[Roger de Coverly]

After he agreed to pay a $500,000 deposit for the marketing rights for 11 years — he says no money has yet changed hands — one of his first steps was to try to create a brand and organization that stand apart from the governing body. His brand is called “World Chess,” with its tagline: “The best mind wins.”

The relationship between Paulson/Agon and FIDE has been unclear since April. The branding of the recent match as the FWCM seems to emphasise the FIDE connection at the expense of "World Chess" or Agon.

But what to make of this item on the FIDE site?
http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... p-set.html

That's the Agon/Pentagram set from the Candidates Tournament.

Having seen the set at the Torquay bookstall, I wouldn't welcome it in general use. The fairly obvious problem is that the King and Queen are too similar, particularly when viewed at the natural player's angle of a three quarter view.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Roger,

So you can't sleep either.
We will have to get Carl to set up a blitz insomniac site.

"Having seen the set at the Torquay bookstall...."

Some of the other lads on here might not have seen the sets and chasing
links which can be avoided with a little effort by the poster is tedious.

So.....



Agree it looks naff and expensive.

What's wrong with the standard plastic set and a green/white roll up board?

[Kevin Thurlow]

http://www.rollonfriday.com/TheNews/Eur ... fault.aspx

and the website mentioned...

http://www.svw.no/?lang=en#

[Angus French]

That FIDE World Chess Set costs $470 - or at least it does from http://fidechessset.com/shop/.

FIDEWorldChessSet4.jpg

The blurb says: "the pieces conform to the exact height and shape of the Parthenon’s pediment". Does that explain why the knights look like a toilet with overhead cistern?

[Roger de Coverly]

That FIDE World Chess Set costs $470 - or at least it does from http://fidechessset.com/shop/.

Chess & Bridge have it for £ 275 including the board.

The site looks like FIDE's first venture into on-line commerce, not that there's any way of ordering and paying for the set, or indeed any real indication who and where you are buying it from. As the USCF and other Federations that have gone commercial discovered, there are financial risks involved in being a principal in the Books and Equipment business.

[Stewart Reuben]

Surely it is Agon marketing a new set, which has the blessing of FIDE. Of all places to launch it, I would have thought the Candidates in London was the most inappropriate.
Why bother to make small changes to the standard Staunton design? Why reinvent the wheel? If it ain't broke, don't mess with it.
The price is OK. But I would still purchase the original Jaques which is incomparable. I remember showing Korchnoi an ivory/bone one for potential use in the 1983 Acorn Computer match against Kasparov. He gasped with admiration when he saw it. It had been used in 1883 for Zukertort's great triumph. Unfortunately it is red and white and the two Ks weren't used to that. What provenance that set would have then had!

I was very surprised at how finicky Kramnik was about the pieces at the end of the World Cup in Tromso.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

A picture of chessboxing is one of the pictures here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-25151612

You have to flick through the pictures to get to the chessboxing one:

"Nikolay Sazhin (left) of Russia competes against Italy's Gianluca Sirci during their heavyweight World Championship chessboxing match in Moscow. Chessboxing alternates between a round of chess and a round of boxing in three minute intervals"

[Stewart Reuben]

Saturday 30 November. Fox TV 7pm.
'Endgame'. A new series about a retired World Chess Champion turned armchair detective.

[Roger de Coverly]

Saturday 30 November. Fox TV 7pm.
'Endgame'. A new series about a retired World Chess Champion turned armchair detective.

Sky Channel 124

Some background
http://www.tvwise.co.uk/2013/11/fox-acq ... s-endgame/

[Stewart Reuben]

'COMPUTER CHESS'

I assumed this would be shown at my local Curzon Cinema in Richmond. I learnt today that there are no plans to do so.
It will be shown at the Curzon, Shaftesbury Avenue
Tuesday 3.12 11.35am
Wednesday 3 and 4.12 and Thursday 12.30
That will conclude the run.

[David Sedgwick]

I'd like to broaden the topic slightly from media comments to media questions about chess.

Last night (Friday 29th November)I witnessed a hilarious conversation between Ray Keene and a journalist following the opening of the World Memory Championships in Croydon. (http://www.worldmemorychampionships.com)

I happened on the scene just as the journalist was asking Ray about his nickname, but it wasn't the nickname one might have expected.

The conversation went something like this:

Journalist: How did you come by your nickname of Grandmaster?
RDK: It's not a nickname. It's a title I was awarded by the World Chess Federation, FIDE.
Journalist: Do you play chess?
RDK: Yes. I write the daily chess column in The Times
Journalist: Oh. Have you ever played in a chess competition?
RDK: Yes. I was British Champion in 1971.

(Edited as I missed a bit out.)

[Stewart Reuben]

That must have been the most ignorant journalist you have ever come across.
For an early Lloyds Bank Masters.
journalist 'How many people are playing?'
'128'.
How many boards and sets are used in the competition?'

[Stewart Reuben]

ENDGAME

It is always refreshing when the GM isn't the villain. He is a retired Russian World Champion living in the US and his various quirks are explained. It was a rather lame, but sensible, story coming to a denouement well before the credits. It had a rather unnecessary facetious tone.
After one season in the States, it was not renewed. I'll watch the next episode, it passes an hour harmlessly. Would I do so without the chess connection? Hmm.