Media comments on chess

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Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Wed Apr 21, 2021 6:44 pm

Matt >I think it was Larsen who said top players like himself should only resign when it is obvious to the spectators why they have done so.<
It was indeed Bent who said that. I have had visions of his going up to spectators when it was his move, enquiring, 'Now you do understand why I am going to resign?'
I have only seen snooker players concede when they needed to snooker their opponents two or more times in order to win the frame.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is a law unto himself and indeed sometimes does odd things.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:35 pm

Not sure it counts, but I have been reading Barack Obama's autobiography and on page 457, he refers to "chess master Garry Kasparov". It's an interesting book. Only 300 pages to go.

In contrast, Nicholas Rhea's "Constable Around the Village", book 3 in the series that became "Heartbeat", has an incident where "Eugene Peterson" and "John Henry Tyler" travel from Yorkshire to London every Thursday to play chess, and are incredibly good (one beat a Russian GM). I was under the impression that these books are the police equivalent of James Herriot, so are factual, but the names are changed for obvious reasons. But, maybe he put fiction in as well? The implication is that it's 60s.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:03 pm

Kevin > travel from Yorkshire to London every Thursday to play chess, and are incredibly good (one beat a Russian GM).<
That all seems wildly improbable.
Travel to London on a Thursday to play chess. Even in the 70s that would normally have been Friday for weekend tournaments and Saturday for county matches.
Beating a Russian GM. Once every few years in a simul, perhaps. I don't think I met a GM until 1965 when I moved to New York. I had played against Tolush in a simul in the 50s - no, it was he who gave the simul!

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Apr 27, 2021 7:16 pm

Monte Hellman has died and the Guardian obituary is here. Scroll down.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:30 pm

WORLD SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP this evening
Robertson v Wilson frame 12. 'It was like a game of chess. You make the position so difficult, your opponent makes an outrageous move that is successful''
I m paraphrasing what was said. BUT, of course, it is wrong. Chess is not like that.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:19 pm

The Crown, series 4 episode 8, has two chess references. In the opening sequence there is a montage of brief depictions of different sets of people throughout the Commonwealth listening to a speech by the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947, and in one of these depictions a game of chess is being played. Later in the episode there is another montage, this time of different households reading a story in the Sunday Times, and the camera shot moves across a scene, showing us a chess set and then Prince Charles.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:41 pm

Ad in Daily Telegraph 24 April 2021 Money Section. Only just noticed. About 1/3rd page.
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON Investment Management.
A small is boy is playing on a full sized chess board. He has played 1e4. On the other side is a robotic arm that has yet to mke a move.
The news is that the board is set up correctly!

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by LawrenceCooper » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:04 pm

"It's a game of chess at the moment" A comment on the snooker as Bingham-Selby gets slightly bogged down in a lengthy safety exchange. At least it reminded me to check on the Aronian-Carlsen & Mamedyarov-Nakamura games!

Gordon Morse
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Gordon Morse » Sat May 01, 2021 9:45 am

Interview with Gary Kasparov in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/ ... tin-russia
I was a victim of a series of accidents, as are we all.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sat May 01, 2021 5:09 pm

Note in Ray Keene's article in the weekly called 'THE ARTICLE

Notice for collectors of chess memorabilia
The chessboard used in what was arguably the most important chess match of the 20th century will be sold at auction by Heritage Auctions, Mayfair, at their Sports Auction over 6-8 May, 2021. The likely reserve will be in the region of £100,000.
In 1972, Bobby Fischer (USA) and Boris Spassky (USSR) descended on Reykjavik, Iceland for the World Chess Championship. With the world watching and the Cold War looming large in the background, Fischer and Spassky played 21 games. The Championship was won 12½ to 8½ by Fischer. It was the first time ever that a natural born US citizen had won the official World Chess Championship and it ended a 24-year Soviet domination of the game.
“The 1972 World Chess Championship remains to this day the most studied and celebrated series in the history of the game,” said Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage in a press statement. ”It’s revered both for the elite level of play and for the geopolitical USA vs. USSR climate in which it lived and breathed.”
Both players signed the board at the end of the championship. For more information on Fischer vs. Spassky, Reykjavik 1972 see my columns for TheArticle of 17 April this year “American chess meteors”, and two from last year: “Piscator Rex: the chess tragedy of Bobby Fischer” and “Fischer, Spassky and words with double meanings”.
Raymond Keene’s latest book “Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle, is now available from Amazon, and Blackwell’s.

Geoff Chandler
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat May 01, 2021 7:01 pm

Hi Stewart,

I follow Ray in 'The Article' in fact he is the only person I follow anywhere on social media.
I just do it to get a reminder when he has posted something.

Image

£16.95 - that is about all I have left in Christmas book tokens after recently going on a book buying spree.

I've read all the articles, they are good, but I've read them. So I might skip this but I'll browse it first.
Ray often links to games at chessgames.com - I wonder if he gives the game in the book. (surely yes).

https://www.waterstones.com/book/fifty- ... 1843822295

Mick Norris
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Mick Norris » Sun May 02, 2021 10:14 am

Listening to Radio 5live this morning, the F1 commentator said today's race will be close and a chess game in the pit stops

Is it my imagination, or are there more of these analogies being uttered now, maybe because of the Queens Gambit popularity?
Any postings on here represent my personal views

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JustinHorton
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by JustinHorton » Sun May 02, 2021 10:46 am

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Sat May 01, 2021 5:09 pm
Raymond Keene’s latest book “Fifty Shades of Ray: Chess in the year of the Coronavirus”, containing some of his best pieces from TheArticle
According to His Serene Highness they're all equally brilliant
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Mike Gunn
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Mike Gunn » Sun May 02, 2021 10:54 am

There was more "It's a game of chess out there" in yesterday's BBC commentary on the Selby v Bingham snooker semi-final. The play was so slow (Selby 's Petrosian like tactics) that they over-ran the time allocated the time allocated in the aftenoon session to complete the match and it had to be adjourned to the end of the evening session, apparently the first time this has been necessary at the snooker world championships.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: Media comments on chess

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sun May 02, 2021 11:38 am

Mike > it had to be adjourned to the end of the evening session,<
Shaun Press, Alex McFarlane and I are writing a History of the Laws of Chess. Last night I added in a note that both snooker and tennis have had problems with games going on too long. I've never noticed this problem with poker or bridge and know too little about other sports.

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