Media comments on chess

[Stewart Reuben]

Geoff Chandler >Tennis has no comparison to chess. The rule about a second serve is akin to taken a move back.<

That aspect indeed is very different, But there was one occasion I had to make an important decision on behalf of the BCF. So I phoned the LTA to find out what they did in similar circumstances. The Davis Cup captain responded and told me their rule.
In the end I made a different decision, based on social grounds. But their method would have been perfectly reasonable had it gone to court.

Obviously I am being deliberately coy about the situation.

[Kevin Thurlow]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-54806021

BBC website reports that Vishal Bhardwaj plans a Bollywood movie based on an Agatha Christie novel(!) It then says...

"And only a handful faintly stood out, including a few Christie rip-offs. Years ago, Bhardwaj says, he wanted to make a film inspired by a wildly popular and irreverent detective TV series Karamchand, a carrot-eating, chess-loving sleuth, played by Indian actor Pankaj Kapur."

Sounds intriguing.

[Stewart Reuben]

Kevin, I have never heard of Bhardwaj. But note, it only said he wanted to make such a film.
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Today's Sunday Times has an article on page 34 of the main section about 'Queen's Gambit'. The author Simon Usborne said there is evidence of chess becoming more popular because of the series - particularly among females. Sales of chess sets are up 130% at John Lewis.

[JustinHorton]

Kevin, I have never heard of Bhardwaj. But note, it only said he wanted to make such a film.

Although the TV series was actually made

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Sales of chess sets are up 130% at John Lewis."

Good - I hope they have improved the diagram on the box since I was last in John Lewis.

[JustinHorton]

Anyway while we are on chess on the screen, I saw V for Vendetta last night and I was sure that at one point, in an early scene where Natalie Portman first finds herself in V's hideaway, I briefly saw a chess set. And I think I did.

[Stewart Reuben]

Justin. Bob Basalla did not just write the book 'Chess in the Movies'. He has also compiled a huge additional list of films where chess is mentioned, however briefly.
V for Vendetta is included, so you were not dreaming.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Stewart,

Bill Wall did a list chess scenes in the movies. He has 1746. It's an old list, that number will have risen by quite a bit now.

https://www.oocities.org/siliconvalley/ ... movies.htm

Hope you are well and keeping out of the way of this virus thing.
Lara Barnes has just told me (via facebook) Alex McFarlane is in ICU.
My thoughts are for him and Lara, I hope he recovers.

[Simon Rogers]

Hi Stewart,

Bill Wall did a list chess scenes in the movies. He has 1746. It's an old list, that number will have risen by quite a bit now.

https://www.oocities.org/siliconvalley/ ... movies.htm

Hope you are well and keeping out of the way of this virus thing.
Lara Barnes has just told me (via facebook) Alex McFarlane is in ICU.
My thoughts are for him and Lara, I hope he recovers.

I sure I am speaking on behalf of all forum members and guests.
We are all thinking of Alex and Lara. We all hope Alex pulls through.
Alex and Lara do so much for Chess across the North of England.

[JustinHorton]

Justin. Bob Basalla did not just write the book 'Chess in the Movies'. He has also compiled a huge additional list of films where chess is mentioned, however briefly.

Where is the list?

[Simon Rogers]

Kevin, I have never heard of Bhardwaj. But note, it only said he wanted to make such a film.
**************************************************

Today's Sunday Times has an article on page 34 of the main section about 'Queen's Gambit'. The author Simon Usborne said there is evidence of chess becoming more popular because of the series - particularly among females. Sales of chess sets are up 130% at John Lewis.

Also in the Sunday Times Culture Section 8th November. TV Guide Page 30 and Page 31.
On Demand The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)
"Based on the 1983 Walter Tevis novel about a female chess prodigy, this seven-part drama written and directed by Scott Frank is a strong contender for Netflix's show of the year. Never patronising, this is that rare mini-series that drops you into a believable fictional world and asks you to keep up. Which you do, largely because the whole thing looks so spectacular and features a perfect cast. At its centre is Anya Taylor-Joy who plays the young 64-square master with a mesmerising deadpan sensuality, but Thomas Brodie-Sangster is almost her equal as knife-wielding grandmaster Benny Watts. Heartbreaking, witty and ludicrously addictive, its final masterstroke is to turn that most cerebral and sedentary of pastimes into an edge-of-the-seat spectacle. "

[John Sellen]

Daily Mail online today
"Meet Netflix's new British pawn star: The Queen's Gambit is the surprise lockdown TV hit about an orphan girl with issues who can beat grandmasters... and it's made chess as sexy as hell"

[John Sellen]

From my local newspaper The Argus today
"Brighton chess stabbing:
A DANGEROUS man stabbed a woman after squabbling about her chess playing ability."

Happily she recovered after hospital treatment
The man got 3 years in prison so will have plenty of time to indulge in his interest in chess !

[Neill Cooper]

Today's Times Arts Section has a great 2 page article on The Queen's Gambit, featuring David Howell and Jovanka Houska

[Mick Norris]

There was talk of The Queen's Gambit this morning on Radio 5 live with Adrian Chiles; all very positive