Media comments on chess

[Stewart Reuben]

Armageddon is not recognised as chess in the FIDE Laws of Chess.

[Matt Mackenzie]

And quite right too

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Carl Portman was on 5 Live Breakfast this morning, talking about chess in prisons. Definitely worth listening to if you can spare 6 minutes out of your busy schedule.
This is the link to the 5 Live Breakfast show:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0070htg
At the moment you can click on "Listen Live" and then jump forward to 7:28 am. After today you should be able to find it on "Available now".

[NickFaulks]

World Chess claim that the The Armageddon Championship Series, being played this week in Berlin, is being broadcast on many TV channels

Can be found via

https://en.chessbase.com/post/armageddo ... urope-live.

I have just watched Mickey getting eliminated. He had KRP v KR but with only seven seconds left and couldn't bang the clock as fast as his younger opponent, so was flagged.

I suppose this is the future of chess and I'm just an old fogey, but to me it's a complete farce.

[Ian Thompson]

I have just watched Mickey getting eliminated. He had KRP v KR but with only seven seconds left and couldn't bang the clock as fast as his younger opponent, so was flagged.

I suppose this is the future of chess and I'm just an old fogey, but to me it's a complete farce.

He had his chances. Game 2 vs. Duda he was apparently in trouble earlier in the game, but when I started watching it live on YouTube the position was swinging to +3 for each player as they both missed things. Adams made the last blunder, allowing Duda to queen a pawn. Game 1 vs. Donchenko, Adams blundered a rook in a position where he had been clearly better.

If it's the future of chess, we're in trouble because this event seems to have got negligible publicity despite the organisers claims that the series would be watched by 220 million households.

[John Clarke]

I'm with Nick. There's too much stuff around now where a fast set of reflexes is all that really matters. Not just chess: there several forms of TV quiz where actual knowledge is less important than simply being able to hit the buzzer first.

[Stewart Reuben]

Van der Valk crime series on ITV1 Sunday 18 June.
Very early on there is a chess scene where van der Vlk is playing chess against his new assistant at the police station. I was unable to grasp the whole position, but at least the white square was on the right.
The assistant says m\ate in 4. They are now interrupted by such mundane matters as solving a murder.
But they keep coming back to the position. At one point van der Valk says, 'He is either very clever, or very lucky.' At the end they play out the moves and I think the assistant had got it wrong.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Did anyone here see the Countdown episode (2nd semifinal of the Champion of Champions) that was broadcast earlier this year (maybe January)? The Dictionary Corner guest did a story that featured chess. I would post it but may not remember the exact details (no spoilers for the final please, long way behind watching that series!).

[Geoff Chandler]

Van der Valk crime series on ITV1 Sunday 18 June.

Hi Stuart,

I surfed about for more information and found this programme review by Christopher Stevens: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/a ... urdle.html

"...new recruit Eddie (Azan Ahmed) challenged Van Der Valk to an open-air game of chess, and trounced him, announcing mate in four — but kept silent when his boss doubted his word.

Any chess aficionado knows that, when a player can force checkmate, nothing on earth will prevent him from demonstrating the fact. Sweep away the pieces, hide the board, stick your fingers in your ears... he'll find a way of compelling you to admit he's won."

Later down we read.

"The two-hour show lost its last shred of credibility just after the halfway mark, when Eddie casually revealed he was vegan.This clearly wasn't true. No vegan in history has ever waited so long to announce the fact."

[Stewart Reuben]

Geoff, the game I saw being played was NOT in the open air. Moreover the position on the board was left set up and undisturbed until practically the end of the programme.
I will not be watching van der Valk again.

[NickFaulks]

I will not be watching van der Valk again.

I remember thinking the same fifty years ago.

[Matt Mackenzie]

The early 1990s revival did strike me as a bit pointless, I have to say.

[Kevin Thurlow]

The earlier one with Barry Foster was quite good - I was inspired to get one of the books out of the library, and selected one at random, where he is murdered halfway through and his widow Arlette solves the crime, which seemed weird...

[Mick Norris]

I'd not thought of the library, I got Love in Amsterdam on Kindle a few years ago, but haven't found the other novels on Kindle, and the paperbacks are quite expensive

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I'd not thought of the library"

It was when the original series was broadcast, so a long time ago!