GM tv performances in the 90s and a documentary from the 80s

[MJMcCready]

Bloody hell, didn't think I was that far behind the times.

[Nick Burrows]

I looked for both on youtube but can't find any records of either. And lastly, as seem of you may know, the BBC produced a documentary on the 1988 Chess Olympiad, and was presented by Stephen Fry, it focused on the English team's attempt to win it and was called Grandmaster Clash. Does anyone have it?

Somehow this documentary passed me by, i didn't know it even existed. After looking at some of the links to the old Kasparov v Short match, the youtube algorithm just presented it to me. It's very good!

Grandmaster Clash - 28th Chess Olympiad 1988 with Stephen Fry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zopb7VD ... l=RobClark

[MJMcCready]

I looked for both on youtube but can't find any records of either. And lastly, as seem of you may know, the BBC produced a documentary on the 1988 Chess Olympiad, and was presented by Stephen Fry, it focused on the English team's attempt to win it and was called Grandmaster Clash. Does anyone have it?

Somehow this documentary passed me by, i didn't know it even existed. After looking at some of the links to the old Kasparov v Short match, the youtube algorithm just presented it to me. It's very good!

Grandmaster Clash - 28th Chess Olympiad 1988 with Stephen Fry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zopb7VD ... l=RobClark

Excellent work Nick. Long time since I last saw it.

[Neil_Hickman]

Sadler and McShane probably made the right decision.
Blackburne's financial plight towards the end of his life was such that the BCF mounted an appeal to raise funds for his support. The leading woman player of the late 19th century, Mary Rudge, was described as living a life of "genteel poverty". More recently, Smyslov, the man who had a plus score over Botvinnik in World Championship matches, died in penury.
Though I rather liked the comment when McShane did superbly well in the Tal Memorial, along the lines of "Would we have loved Tal so much if he'd worked for Goldman Sachs...?"

[MJMcCready]

Money is more important than chess, for sure.

[Andrew Smith]

A YouTube documentary video that popped up on my phone last week was ' American Gambit'.
It was Kasparov taking on the youth of the USA in a clock simul around 1988/89 ( Patrick Woolf, Stuart Rachels, Alex Fishbein , Ilya Gurevich, Vivek Rao and Daniel Edelmann.) It was really interesting/entertaining. If you havent seen it, its well worth looking it up ( apologies if you have already discussed it!)

[James Plaskett]

Leonard Barden contributed this -

The pic was taken by Adams's father, who acted as team captain. The team dynamics were not without incident. Before the start Hennigan and Mortazavi asked that Sadler should be replaced by their buddy James Cavendish, who was top board for the B team, but this was refused.

That refusal to have his buddies´ wish granted does not meet entirely with my displeasure. For at the ARC Masters of, I think, 1988, James Cavendish sauntered up to my post mortem with Ali Mortazavi and asked,

"Did you buy your GM title? Or part of it"?

To my response of,

"If you go around talking to people like that, Mr Cavendish, you´re likely to get your teeth knocked out", he shouted
back,

"You MUST have bought the title!"

There were quite a few other witnesses, too.
Rather than knocking his teeth out or suing him I just wrote to his mother and said that it said quite a lot about his upbringing.
(Btw, two years later when winning the British Chess Championship with a score of 9/11 in the strongest field ever assembled and against the strongest opposition anyone ever faced (Average ELO of my oppnents 2491) including nine Grandmasters, and clocking up what was then - and I believe to this day remains - the highest ever rating performance recorded by a winner of the British, I cannot pretend that I was 100% heartbroken when the guy I put to sleep in the second round was a certain... James Cavendish.)

[Jonathan Rogers]

There is a protocol on this forum that we don't discuss the behaviour of juniors, or dig into people's past behaviour when juniors, without good reason. Everyone behaved badly, occasionally, between the ages of 13-16 (well all right, I cannot think of an example concerning Sadler, nor Loz, but generally ....)

[Neil_Hickman]

Money is more important than chess, for sure.

Well, no. Nobody with any sense is going to write "Money, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy".
But it pays the bills and keeps body and soul together. To my earlier post I could have added gentle Carl Schlechter, nearly-World-Champion, starving to death at the end of the Great War.

[James Plaskett]

There is a protocol on this forum that we don't discuss the behaviour of juniors, or dig into people's past behaviour when juniors, without good reason. Everyone behaved badly, occasionally, between the ages of 13-16 (well all right, I cannot think of an example concerning Sadler, nor Loz, but generally ....)

What, even when, qua junior, they commit acts of criminal libel, John?

And, Señor Hickman, when years ago I said to Nigel Rose, "Money does not make you happy", he retorted,

"Lack of it make you pretty unhappy."

[MJMcCready]

Money is more important than chess, for sure.

Well, no. Nobody with any sense is going to write "Money, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy".
But it pays the bills and keeps body and soul together. To my earlier post I could have added gentle Carl Schlechter, nearly-World-Champion, starving to death at the end of the Great War.

Have you read The Genuis of Chess Misery? Plenty of examples there.

https://en.chessbase.com/post/rogoff-on ... islocation

[Jonathan Rogers]

There is a protocol on this forum that we don't discuss the behaviour of juniors, or dig into people's past behaviour when juniors, without good reason. Everyone behaved badly, occasionally, between the ages of 13-16 (well all right, I cannot think of an example concerning Sadler, nor Loz, but generally ....)

What, even when, qua junior, they commit acts of criminal libel, John?

And, Señor Hickman, when years ago I said to Nigel Rose, "Money does not make you happy", he retorted,

"Lack of it make you pretty unhappy."

"Criminal libel" is emotive and inaccurate. But in any event my answer would be yes, people at 16 do not behave well. By all means correct them at the time. But unless we are talking about serious illegality, keep it private.

[James Plaskett]

No thanks, Jonathan. He committed an act of criminal libel which very much pissed me off and I'm proud of posting it here.

btw, re one of the themes of this thread - Stephen Fry and chess - the character of Onno Quist in this film was stipulated to be played only by Stephen Fry when the author of the book sold the film rights to Tim Krabb'e 's brother, Jeroen. Jeroen both directed and starred in it.

And the character of Onno Quist is based on... Jan Hein Donner!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1iuCzz-fn0

[Neil_Hickman]

(Is this a private spat or can anyone join in?)
As a mere (thankfully retired) lawyer I hesitate to point out that (a) the making of admittedly defamatory as well as childishly rude statements would have been slander, not libel and (b) the offence of criminal libel was abolished, when section 73 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 came into force in January 2010.
You gave the best possible response, Jim, by handing the offender his hind parts on a plate (compare Jan Smejkal post-the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia marching into the playing hall at Hastings, ignoring Vasily Smyslov's proffered handshake, smashing him, and marching out).
We don't actually disagree about money, Herr Plaskett. As the result of various jammy accidents during my professional career I am comfortably off and should never need to worry about money during the rest of my life. Lack of money would indeed make me unhappy. But if someone now wrote me a cheque for 100 grand, it wouldn't make me any happier (or, being realistic, any less Eeyorish).

[James Plaskett]

Neil, er, sorry for confusing slander and libel. And it happened before 2010!

Btw, I happen to think money very much CAN make you happy. 250,000 tax free pounds certainly cheered up my family.

(Sorry mate! )