Media comments on chess

[Stewart Reuben]

ENDGAME the one hour detective series that airs Saturday 7pm on Fox.

I forgot to watch the second episode which tells you something about the quality. The third was ingenius, but unrealistic. The detective is a Russian ex-World Champion. He seems to give a simul in the hotel from time to time. The moves seem quite realistic. They use Saitek digital clocks. I couldn't see whether a chess advisor is listed, but there certainly must be one.

[Stewart Reuben]

JOAN FONTAINE

Times obituary of this Hollywood actress, born of British parents and conceived in Tokyo.
'I was conceived on a chaise longue one Saturday afternoon', she recounted. 'Father had just come home from his chess club with a moment to spare before dressing for dinner.'

Chess is and was very little played in Japan.

[Matt Mackenzie]

That is assuming she wasn't referring to the Japanese variant.......

[Stewart Reuben]

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY once again attracts the media with the plays on TV starting this evening and Ronnie Biggs death. What has that to do with chess?
You can read Ronie's 'autobiography'. But it was written by David Levy and Kevin O'Connell. That is why, when Ronnie was kidnapped and taken to Barbados, David was his spokesman.

[David Robertson]

Borislav Ivanov gets plenty of attention in the Independent on Sunday. There's also a piece by GM Gawain Jones, a follow-up potboiler that adds very little to anything except, hopefully, to his bank account.

[John Upham]

From the BBC web site:

Chess boxing: The City of London's new sport

see news item

Tim Wulfgar, the president of the World Chess Boxing Association, told the Today programme's Justin Rowlatt that the two component sports have "a great deal in common".

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Wulfgar! Sounds so much better than Woolgar.

[Stewart Reuben]

There is extensive coverage of chess in The Times of 28 December, quite apart from Ray's Saturday column.

Page 30: Master Class mainly about Magnus Carlsen
Page 34: comparing the Isle of Lewis chesspieces with the controversy about the Elgin Marbles.
Page 38-39: Magnus as The Times 2013 Young Person of the Year (already mentioned above.)

[Geoff Chandler]

"The two men stood there a moment, peering down at their battered prey
like chess masters savouring checkmate before the final kill."

page 262, Deception Point by Dan Brown.

Actually quite a good read. Political skullduggery and extraterrestrial life forms.

[John Upham]

A question from Eggheads on December 31st:

I can't quite recall the wording as I was more befuddled than usual but it was something like

Question: Which game features Staunton pattern equipment?

Options: Draughts, Chess, Backgammon (I think)

[JustinHorton]

The Spanish classical music station Radio Clásica has a show called Juego De Espejos which I suppose is a little like Desert Island Discs. Last month Leontxo García was on.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Not sure if it has been mentioned here earlier, but an article on international geopolitics by Kasparov ('How Putin's poker game makes fools of the West', The Spectator, 14 December 2013 briefly references chess:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/909 ... reat-game/

The chess connection is also mentioned in some of the comments.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Interesting article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25560162

'Natan Sharansky: How chess kept one man sane'

Article author is David Edmonds, co-author of Bobby Fischer Goes To War and series producer of Across The Board, presented by Dominic Lawson.

[JustinHorton]

El País article on women in chess. If you want it translated I offer very reasonable rates.

[Stewart Reuben]

Review of 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bringing Up the Bodies' in today' Times, by Dominic Maxwell.

The Stratford run has all but sold out, but it's likely that this six-hour game of human chess will transfer.