Chess on TV

Discuss anything you like about chess related matters in this forum.
David Sedgwick
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by David Sedgwick » Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:21 am

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:18 am
One of the times I saw the original production of Chess, the Musical, I noticed several pieces were missing from the set after the interval. Bill Hartston was the chess advisor, so I asked him what had happened. He told me when the actor stormed off at the end of the first act, he always threw the pieces on the floor. They couldn't find all of the during the interval. So they played the game with an incomplete set.
Hmmm. Would the Director really have tolerated the actor behaving like that night after night?

That sounds like a typical piece of Hartston flippancy to me.

Mick Norris
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Mick Norris » Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:48 am

There was a chess game in Doctors yesterday lunchtime on BBC1, but I didn't catch much of it; it may be on iPlayer if anyone wants a look
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:27 am

"Hmmm. Would the Director really have tolerated the actor behaving like that night after night?"

He could have been acting?

From memory they had people coming on stage to do scene shifts whilst the music continued, (I have seen several productions, so maybe that's a different one) so whoever picked up the set might have mislaid pieces, which the artistes kicked to one side to avoid spraining an ankle when dancing. Remember that directors might not think a chess set essential to a musical about, er, chess.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:52 am

Hi Matt,

"Even if it is a composition, does it really matter? Its not such a bad one."

Yes but the fun is the chess quest. The Who, What, Where, When and How? (more about that later.)

I watched the episode again, The Bishop is on d3 and the Rook, Knight and pawn are on Black's side.
So care has been taken to set this up. I suspect it's from a tampered with game, possibly an unheard melody
and the bits and pieces have been tidied up for the screen shot.

The board is correct and the players are pressing their clock with the hand they moved the piece with.
Stewart earned his money as an advisor. Pity the game used is news to him.

CHESS QUESTS - I Love Them. (I'm writing a book about them!)

When I found out MCO 9 finished a variation with an 'unclear' symbol but was actually mate in two. The Quest was on.

This place had a copy of the MCO 9...

Image

..but wanted £9.99 for it, sod that, so I ripped out the relevant page....

Image

Found the offending line...

Image

This is the 'unclear' position (white to play)



I got three blogs, two articles and a whole chapter in my book 'Chess Quests' out of that one variation.
(I also go got a lifetime ban from McSweens bookshop.)

NickFaulks
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:01 am

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:52 am
..but wanted £9.99 for it, sod that, so I ripped out the relevant page....
Couldn't you just have taken a photo of it in the shop?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Stewart Reuben » Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:18 am

David > Would the Director really have tolerated the actor behaving like that night after night?<
The actors would only do what the director told them to do. Trevor Nunn has a reputation for knowing what he was doing.
Of course Bill may have been making a flippant comment. But it does explain why, one performance I saw a complete set and another incomplete. But your note caused me to look up his book on the making of the musical. I found, I had completely forgotten, he had autographed my copy to me as The Arbiter.

Kevin. I don't know whether you saw the first production. But there were two banks of TV screens on each side of the stage showing 64 squares and some delightful chess positions that Bill must have designed. The show opened with a ballet of a game, the chess designed by Bill. I think Trevor Nunn hhad noticed it was about chess. But he took over at very short notice.

Kevin I would have charged you for the book.
Nick. In those day people didn't carry around photos.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:41 am

NickFaulks wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:01 am
Couldn't you just have taken a photo of it in the shop?
Hi Nick,

It was 2015, my mobile does not take pictures or download apps. It's a phone.

I have only 4 chess books but over 600 torn out loose pages from chess books I could not afford.

I got my chess set by nicking one piece at a time from hobby shops.
It took 32 trips around various shops but it was worth it even if the pieces do not always match up.

For a board I draw one on the coffee table using coloured chalk which I nick from the grand kids.

NickFaulks
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Mar 24, 2021 11:56 am

It's grim up North.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:37 pm

Back on the quest.

In the golden olden days giving odds was the norm but a lot of these games never made the main databases. Luckily I have a copy of this:

Image

A book (pub 1981) that has solved quite a few Chess Quests in the past. (A Chess Questers Bible if you will)

Pause here to here to think what it would be like if we had no databases. This book would up to something volume 221.
(I was going to be a smug gums and use Roman Numerals there (CXXII ) but when I'm questing I stick to the basics.)

Before the score of the game if it was at odds then the odds are marked: <Ra1> Queen Rook Odds. <Nb1> Queen Knight Odds etc.
So I have been going through it looking for <Ra1> and then the last few moves to find a plausible match.
I doubt if I'll see it as I suspect it is from a puzzle book or perhaps even the result of someone's on site fertile imagination.

The good news is I'll spot something else interesting in this book and a new quest will begin.
I have many quest on the go, I've still not given up what chess book did Len Deighton use in his 'Funeral in Berlin.'

Reg Clucas
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Reg Clucas » Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:56 pm

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 10:52 am

When I found out MCO 9 finished a variation with an 'unclear' symbol but was actually mate in two. The Quest was on.
Interestingly, the same error is in MCO 11, the only difference being that the 9...N-R3 line has been relegated to a footnote. And it only cost me £3-75! (though that was over 40 years ago)
.
Screenshot from 2021-03-24 12-52-38.png
Screenshot from 2021-03-24 12-52-38.png (234.17 KiB) Viewed 778 times

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:03 pm

"Kevin. I don't know whether you saw the first production. But there were two banks of TV screens on each side of the stage showing 64 squares and some delightful chess positions that Bill must have designed."

Yes, (I was impressed that the chess made sense) and then many years later I saw a local production, then later yet one run by Craig Revel-Horwood which toured. The dance sequences for "One Night in Bangkok" were interesting... I have found "Chess" (the musical) on youtube, (whilst looking for something else!)

e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSGnU1kBQXk&t=1513s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrlI0XyAwWs&t=47s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOWC_iQh3fY

AT 1h 54m in the last, "Florence" leaves the stage to drag Garry Kasparov out of the audience and on to the stage.

You're obviously not an ancient Roman Geoff, 221 would be CCXXI (whether or not followed by a b)

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:07 pm

Well spotted Reg,

Do you think you could rip out the page and sent it to me. :D

Apparently, if I recall, it is MCO 11 but not in MC0 10.
Something rings a bell about MCO 13 and a doomed quest about not being able to find the quoted game.

I'll check my blogs.

Reg Clucas
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Reg Clucas » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:35 pm

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:07 pm
Well spotted Reg,

Do you think you could rip out the page and sent it to me. :D

Apparently, if I recall, it is MCO 11 but not in MC0 10.
Something rings a bell about MCO 13 and a doomed quest about not being able to find the quoted game.

I'll check my blogs.
Actually I've just noticed it is not the same, the line in MCO 11 stops after 15.Q-Q5

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Wed Mar 24, 2021 1:37 pm

Back...

In the thread to link to my blog we have someone posting:

"MCO 12 on page 82, note L lists Hájak-Richter, Prague 1949 9... Nh6 10. Ba3 Bb6 11. Rd1 Qg4 12. Bb5 f6 13. h3 Qxe4 14. Bd3 Qf4 15. Qd5 unclear. MCO12 is in descriptive notation but I substituted in algebraic notation.

MCO13 on page 106, note O does not list the players and changes the line at move 9 for Black. 9... Bb6 10. Rd1 Qe7 unclear.

MCO14 on page 28, note M says Black has an improvement suggested by GM Larry Christiansen on move 8. dxe5 Bb6 9. Nbd2 dxe5 10. Ba3 Na5 11. Qb4 c5 12. Qb2 Nxc4 (-+), Christiansen-Grétarsson, Yerevan OL 1996.

Someone else will have to provide MCO15. I never got it because of such bad reviews."

That kicked off the quest to find the Hájak-Richter, Prague 1949 game.

the thread link is:

https://www.redhotpawn.com/forum/linked ... ead.163059

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Chess on TV

Post by Geoff Chandler » Thu Mar 25, 2021 4:20 pm

A friend of mine has found it. (thank you)

Image

It is puzzle no 43 on here: (scroll through the names under 'start position'

http://www.akronchessclub.com/Games/tac ... tehard.htm

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