Media comments on chess

[Geoff Chandler]

(Ever found your way into that club, Geoff?)

Never heard of it. Edinburgh does have an amazing hidden history that the tourists never hear about.

They are led around like sheep to John Knox's house (it is not his house, they have no idea where he lived)
St Giles Cathedral (which isn't a cathedral anymore)
The cafe (now closed) where JKR wrote Harry Potter. (She wrote most of it Sandy Bells but as this is a kids book the publishers left out the bit about of her being in the pub.)
And Greyfriars Bobby (which is a complete myth, it never happened.)

I do my own chess tour.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Another (much shorter) variation on the same theme here."

I especially liked, "Behind her she pushed a creaking cart."...

I always doubted the Greyfriars Bobby story, when I found the dog had been seen for about 20 years.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Wikipedia seems to think a dog roughly fitting the Greyfriars Bobby description existed, but much of the rest has been "embellished".

Maybe not unlike Jesus Christ really.

[Gordon Morse]

An article on the BBC website about chess in Uganda referring to the 'Queen of Katwe' film:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgr21klenkko

[Tim Spanton]

From Winston Churchill's My Early Life:

"I am very glad there are quite a number of people born with a gift and a liking for all of this [mathematics]; like great chess-players who play sixteen games at once blindfold and die quite soon of epilepsy. Serve them right!"

[David York]

TownCrier.jpg

A mention for chess in The Colchester Gazette (which recently did a full page article on chess) was the outcome of direct marketing.
It was more of a photo feature because, frankly, chess playing is photogenic and cool. https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/252 ... 6m-revamp/

I had taken chess boards to the opening of a redeveloped public square in the city centre. On a Saturday morning, before a day of music and entertainment, it was opened with a series of speeches from local dignitaries introduced by a very loud Town Crier. Our local MP, Pam Cox actually mentioned chess playing in her speech as one of the great things the square made possible.

I played games with two chess improvers who I met for the first time on the day and said hello to several old friends. Of course publicity flyers were handed out.

Coverage of the opening event was not only in the local paper: social media accounts of the city council and commercial and political interests was extensive, and almost all included pictures of chess.
Facebook coverage (search terms)
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q= ... s%20square

FAcebookrepeats.jpg

In a separate thread I am advocating taking a chess board out ‘into the wild’ on 20 July, which is World Chess Day, because it's a great way to publicise chess and potentially get more members for chess clubs. It can be a personal initiative. https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.ph ... 18#p318418

[Bob Kane]

Looking forward to a new series of Foundation (asimov) starts on Friday apple tv , the last episode of series two contains a scene where they discuss that the "gambit" won, and the King (empire) is " castled " through an airlock into space . I would be curious to know if such chess references were in the original Asimov books.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I would be curious to know if such chess references were in the original Asimov books."

I cannot remember but I do vaguely recall reading an Asimov story where chess featured, even to the extent that the game was given.

[David York]

Looking forward to a new series of Foundation (asimov) starts on Friday apple tv , the last episode of series two contains a scene where they discuss that the "gambit" won, and the King (empire) is " castled " through an airlock into space . I would be curious to know if such chess references were in the original Asimov books.

I suspect they were -
https://www.chess.com/blog/DaveOakRidges/asimov-chess
https://dragonbishop.blogspot.com/2013/ ... chess.html