English Chess Forum

Casual Chess team on Eggheads this week; did anyone see it?

Guardian opinion piece:

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -and-white

Do read the comments section on Nicks link
Really interesting

John Sellen wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 13, 2021 1:11 pm

Do read the comments section on Nicks link
Really interesting

"My wife has just left me but I don’t need her any more, I have chess." amused me.

and the guy who referred to a movie, "The Magnificent Seven Seals"

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:53 am

Casual Chess team on Eggheads this week; did anyone see it?

Appears to be the text of the episode here: https://subsaga.com/bbc/entertainment/e ... de-22.html
Team from Cardiff chess club. Couldn't see episode on the my5 site for some reason.

Eggheads Casual chess are a group who play Online

"Eggheads Casual chess are a group who play Online"

I think only due to the pandemic? It's the first time I've watched Eggheads for ages, and I see the questions are still a little "unfair" at times. The chess team got given a recipe for a cocktail and had to say which alcoholic spirit was used in it. I have no idea if the competitor were a hipster or not, but she got it. Then Barry got "what meat is used in the dish bla bla bla 'd'agneau'". I knew immediately as I had the subtitles on. As soon as he had the spelling confirmed, he said "Agneau is French for lamb.", so he didn't need a great knowledge of food and drink...

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:13 pm

and I see the questions are still a little "unfair"

I too used to think the eggheads got 'easier' questions based solely on the fact I could answer more
of their questions than I could for the other team. Sometimes an Egghead would get a pretty easy question
and you could almost see how embarrassed they were. The public team were also slipped a few easy ones.

I'm sure it's above board but if you surf about on the net you will see quite a few people complaining about it.

google: 'I Went On 'Eggheads + Oobah"

I cannot give the link because there is a sweary word in it - it's all about a lad who knocked a team
together and got on the show. He takes you through it step by step, what you are allowed to wear etc...
Although the title is silly it is well worth a read. (Oobah is the lads first name.)

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:15 am

Review of Lea Ypi's much-praised account of her upbringing in Albania includes this passage:

In the background of her tale, you might also notice the functioning public transportation, or the relative autonomy of her mother, who had been a national chess champion at the age of twenty-two.

Interesting connection with chess. For those who have not heard of her (like me): Lea Ypi (Wikipedia). She is "an Albanian author and academic [amd] professor of political theory at the London School of Economics."

I did try to find out the name and details of her mother and the year of her title, but failed. Can anyone else do better?

Good article in The Spectator from the 'Magazine' section, dated 13 November 2021, titled 'The weird and wonderful world of underground chess' by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the ... ound-chess

If you are not subscribed (I was sent the link by a family member), you get to view 2 articles free, so it should be accessible to most people.

Features Jardin du Luxembourg, a tour of the underground bar crawl-type chess scene in Paris, and Union Square and Washington Square (and a brief cameo by the Chess and Bridge shop in Baker Street).

Lovely quote here:

Chess is a universal religion. Its devotees are weird and wonderful people. Sometimes eccentric, often obsessive, always interesting, they also tend to know far more about their cities than most.

A lesson also in how to conduct yourself with airport security!

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:29 am

Good article in The Spectator from the 'Magazine' section, dated 13 November 2021, titled 'The weird and wonderful world of underground chess' by Jamie Njoku-Goodwin:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the ... ound-chess

If you are not subscribed (I was sent the link by a family member), you get to view 2 articles free, so it should be accessible to most people.

Features Jardin du Luxembourg, a tour of the underground bar crawl-type chess scene in Paris, and Union Square and Washington Square (and a brief cameo by the Chess and Bridge shop in Baker Street).

Lovely quote here:

Chess is a universal religion. Its devotees are weird and wonderful people. Sometimes eccentric, often obsessive, always interesting, they also tend to know far more about their cities than most.

A lesson also in how to conduct yourself with airport security!

For Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, I refer you to ''Labour activist wrongly accused of punching Tory adviser' https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/09/labour-a ... -11583590/

Another lovely quote from the Spectator article:

Most pieces have lead discs in their bases to give them weight and stop them from tipping over.

Yeh, right.

Although he is referred to in several newspaper articles as a 'former chess champion', his current rating on chess.com is 1860.

https://www.chess.com/member/jag02

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 14, 2021 10:20 am

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 12, 2021 9:15 am

Review of Lea Ypi's much-praised account of her upbringing in Albania includes this passage:

In the background of her tale, you might also notice the functioning public transportation, or the relative autonomy of her mother, who had been a national chess champion at the age of twenty-two.

Interesting connection with chess. For those who have not heard of her (like me): Lea Ypi (Wikipedia). She is "an Albanian author and academic [amd] professor of political theory at the London School of Economics."

I did try to find out the name and details of her mother and the year of her title, but failed. Can anyone else do better?

I could ask her personally as we're Facebook friends but she might start asking why I haven't read the book

Christopher >Union Square and Washington Square<
It is amusing he doesn't mention Central Park in Manhattan. The ambience is quite different. They DON'T play for money there.
Nor does he mention where they play very close to the New York Library.
Marshall Chess Club is still open daily in Greenwich Village, but sadly Manhattan Chess Club is no more.

There was an add before our movie with a chess theme.

However I am not sure I even vaguely understood the point they were making.
It was probably decided by some marketing execs under acid.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4yuEnY9ItqA