Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist suje

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Mark Hannon
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Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist suje

Post by Mark Hannon » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:26 pm

I just saw in Radio Times that a contestant has Petrosian as their specialist subject. show goes out on BBC2 at 8 pm Friday 9 th of December. usually the programme is on for 7 days after on Iplayer.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:51 pm

Mark Hannon wrote:I just saw in Radio Times that a contestant has Petrosian as their specialist subject. show goes out on BBC2 at 8 pm Friday 9 th of December. usually the programme is on for 7 days after on Iplayer.
Thanks for that! I'd just decided to watch Ray Mears but this sounds much better! I'm always fascinated, with specialist subjects like this, to see how hard/easy the questions are for those with a passing familiarity with the subject (as many chess players would have). Still quite specialised, though. Wonder how often chess and chess history has been a specialist topic on Mastermind? No doubt there will be a website somewhere listing all the specialist subjects ever broadcast.

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:52 pm

I wonder who the contestant is? I think it's one of these guys:
Image

Anyone recognise any of them?

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Dec 09, 2011 7:55 pm

After getting 100% in my London Chess Classic predictions for today, I'll go for red shirt guy.

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:00 pm

If the subjects are listed on the BBC website in the same order that they will be in the show, then it will be the guy in the bird dropping shirt.

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John Clarke
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by John Clarke » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:06 pm

I'm picking him with the jacket and antique hairdo.

As for when chess has turned up on the show, I can only speak for New Zealand.

Two people (one of them myself) in the 1979 series, both doing the history and literature of chess.

Me again in 1981, this time just the history from 1450 to 1972 (out here you could appear in any number of series, subject to a minimum one-year stand-down in between).

And again in the 1982 international (and that's my last word on that subject).

One other person c1982, doing world championship matches from Steinitz to the present.
Last edited by John Clarke on Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"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.)

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:15 pm

John Clarke wrote:I'm picking him with the jacket and antique hairdo.
No way, he must surely be Mr "Field Marshal Montgomery".

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Gerard Killoran
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Gerard Killoran » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:19 pm

It's Keith Bate graded 128 from Wolverhampton.

http://www.wolverhamptonchessclub.org.uk/

The questions were absurdly difficult, Petrosian himself would have found it difficult to answer some of them.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:22 pm

Gerard Killoran wrote: The questions were absurdly difficult ...

I thought that - and also a question or two that could be answered without any knowledge of Petrosian whatsoever (e.g. one that was effectively 'who wrote My System'?)

Mark Hannon
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Mark Hannon » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:34 pm

I thought some of .the questions were pretty hard,asking about specific moves, harder than the questions I had on Fischer.
If you are interested in Quizzes thn I think Mastermind quite like chess based specialist subjects.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:40 pm

It was red-shirt guy (Ken Bate). He got 8 points from the specialist round. I stopped watching at that point and presume he didn't win. Pity the questions were so silly. The ones about openings could have been answered in several different ways depending on whether you name the main line or the specific variation. I feared some of the questions were going to be like that. I got the one where the answer was "Fisher" (as wrongly spelt by the subtitling people). The nadir came with the question about what was the sealed move for some game. Maybe it was a famous game, but expecting someone to know that is really asking too much. I expected more on Petrosian's life, family and career.

Talking of which, what is the best available English-language biography of Petrosian, if one exists? I found this: "Michael Basman has just completed a translation (from the Russian) of the absorbing chess biography of the Soviet grandmaster and ex-world champion Tigran Petrosian, which will figure prominently in Batsford's 1974 spring list". Are there any more?

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:42 pm

Mark Hannon wrote:I thought some of .the questions were pretty hard,asking about specific moves, harder than the questions I had on Fischer.
If you are interested in Quizzes thn I think Mastermind quite like chess based specialist subjects.
You had questions on Fischer? Do tell more!

PS. Never mind. I Googled it:

http://johnchess.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

Paul Cooksey

Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Paul Cooksey » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:57 pm

It is on the iplayer already, starts at 07:45.

I got 11, admittedly including one lucky guess, and under minimal pressure lying on my sofa. He is one of my favourite players.

I didn't think the questions were so ridiculous, but they were much more career than life. I'm not sure if I'd have got any more if I had prepared.

Jon D'Souza-Eva

Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Jon D'Souza-Eva » Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:57 pm

I wonder who set the Petrosian questions? According to Ray Keene, the UK expert on Petrosian is Ray Keene.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Mastermind 8pm Friday 9 December. PetrosianI specialist

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:12 pm

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:I wonder who set the Petrosian questions? According to Ray Keene, the UK expert on Petrosian is Ray Keene.
Mastermind have their own question setters, I think. I doubt they'd outsource that.