Chess Masters: the Endgame

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Some of the contestants get quite a bit of coverage as 'stars' (and interesting back stories):

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni/news/item/ ... s-masters/

“Chess was a safe world for me to escape into growing up in Iraq”: Chemical Engineering alumna competes in BBC Two’s Chess Masters

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/la ... ssmasters/

Newcastle University graduate’s journey to chess glory

Both those about Deema. I doubt the 'glory' bit is a spoiler.

There will be other similar pieces out there. Not looked for those yet.

[Mark Hannon]

Deema seems to be doing something useful researching Carbon capture, rather like Botvinnik or Vidmar combining engineering with chess.
She seemed a decent player in the short clip of the game in episode 4, though her extremely weak opponent left her queen en prise very early.

[Mick Norris]

Some of the contestants get quite a bit of coverage as 'stars' (and interesting back stories):

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/alumni/news/item/ ... s-masters/

“Chess was a safe world for me to escape into growing up in Iraq”: Chemical Engineering alumna competes in BBC Two’s Chess Masters

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/la ... ssmasters/

Newcastle University graduate’s journey to chess glory

Both those about Deema. I doubt the 'glory' bit is a spoiler.

There will be other similar pieces out there. Not looked for those yet.

Interesting detail

The actual filming of the show took place a few months ago in Cardiff. It was incredible to get to know all the players, because they're all such big characters in their own right, and we now occasionally bump into each other at tournaments.

I was fairly confident in chess competitions by this point, but it’s a bit different when you have 16 cameras filming your every move! It’s nerve-wracking, and you’re probably not playing your best because of the nerves. There were times when a lot of us couldn’t complete simple puzzles, despite being strong players. What added to the intensity was all the filming was jam-packed into just one week, so I was literally eating, breathing, sleeping chess!

[Paul Habershon]

Some of the contestants get quite a bit of coverage as 'stars' (and interesting back stories):

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/la ... ssmasters/

Newcastle University graduate’s journey to chess glory

I appreciate the publicity for chess in this series and know it's not pitched mainly for club players, but it is still unfortunate that the article linked above (nothing to do with the BBC of course) perpetuates the myth about the strength of the contestants: 'Deema takes on the best UK amateur chess players'. I suppose you could argue that they are high in the pecking order of total number of 'players' who know the moves, but the number of better amateurs is still significant.

Also how could Deema allow herself to be photographed beside an outdoor chess board wrongly set up? I have often reset such boards at hotels and the seaside. It's a compulsion.

[Nick Ivell]

These are lovely people, but my general feeling is that the standard of play is very low. I don't take them seriously as chessplayers.

[Mark Hannon]

I wonder what will happen if anyone drawn to tournament chess by this series tries some of the trash talking performed by some of the male players.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Nick,

As Danny Gormally says, this programme, without sounding too snobby, is not for us.
The average home viewer will be thinking 'I could beat them.' and get sucked in.

Danny's view from episode one; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyVobNxWJgc
I was recently pointed to his vids. Good. I've watch four so far. He is not screaming and shouting at you with bells and whistles. A fireside chat with you picking up things on the Q.T.

He drifts interestingly off topic. For instance in this vid; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlu6dYCvMSU an attempt to beat a 50 correct solving run he speaks about his personal targets, his views on senior chess and his disappointment at not being asked to play for a blitz team.

Hi Mark,

...and after they win asking the arbiter where is the 'Balcony of Dreams.'

[Joey Stewart]

I wonder what will happen if anyone drawn to tournament chess by this series tries some of the trash talking performed by some of the male players.

I think it will depend largely on how much backbone is willing to be shown by the arbiters to disqualify such players, in fact if anything they really should feature something like that in the show so that viewers are not misled into thinking that sort of garbage behaviour is accepted and normalised within the chess community but I doubt they will because...drama

[Nick Ivell]

James Delingpole not impressed in his Spectator review, but I don't sense he knows anything about chess.

[Alistair Campbell]

Is anyone willing to predict the viewing figures for Episode 4?

[Nick Ivell]

Always interesting listening to Danny, but those puzzles were laughably easy.

[Roger de Coverly]

The April issue of Chess has a page "60 Seconds with Anthony Mathurin"

He says he only plays online.

[LawrenceCooper]

The April issue of Chess has a page "60 Seconds with Anthony Mathurin"

He says he only plays online.

He played in the Birmingham Rapidplay last Sunday.

[Matt Mackenzie]

James Delingpole not impressed in his Spectator review, but I don't sense he knows anything about chess.

Tbh "anything about anything" is arguably more appropriate in his case

[Mark Hannon]

If you watch “Bake Off , The Professionals” on TV you’ll see the contestants on there are at a totally different level to those on the regular Bake Off. In an analogous way to how the contestants in The Master Game stand in comparison to Chess Masters|The Endgame. A point that occurs to me is if the show wants to be representative of a wide spread minorities and genders then why have they cast 3 Black competitors and a Black commentator yet no handicapped people. Similarly compared to the typical modern chess tournament juniors and Asians seem under represented.