Chess on TV

Chess on TV (Master Game)

IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 25th February 2012

IM Malcolm Pein reports on Magnus Carlsen's TV interview and looks back at chess on TV in the UK.

There has been an almost complete absence of chess from UK television screens since Channel 4 and BBC2 produced competing programs in 1993 on the world title match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short that was held at the Savoy Theatre in London. Prior to that, there was theMaster Gamethat ran in the 1970s and ended in 1983. I cannot think of an activity, played and enjoyed by some many millions of people that is so completely ignored by television commissioners. It's something I am going to address in the coming months. Computer analysis and modern graphics enable us to bring the game to life for an internet audience and they can give insights into matches for anyone, regardless of whether they play the game.

Some of the Master Game programs from the 1980s can now be seen on Youtube and they are well worth a look.

Chess recently received a boost in the USA with the airing last Sunday of a documentary on Magnus Carlsen on the program 60 minutes. A search for Magnus Carlsen 60 Minutes will take you to the 12 minute feature and lots of other shorter videos. Much of the program was shot at the 2011 London Chess Classic. There is also a link to the 60 Minutes interview with Bobby Fischer in 1972 which I found fascinating.

Here is one of the earlier battles from theMaster Gamein which Nigel Short, then a schoolboy, came up against one of the strongest UK players at the time, Bill Hartston. On realising he was losing a piece, Nigel utterred something like: " I wish I had my peanuts " Today's puzzle is to find the winning combination.

N Short - W Hartston

BBC TV Master Game 1976

English Opening

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.g3 d5 6.Bg2 e5 7.Nc2 d4 8.f4 exf4 9.Bxf4 Nc6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Qxd4 Qxd4 12.Nxd4 Bb7

Hartston had sacrificed a pawn for some play on the white squares. In practice it was quite difficult to counter.

13.Nd2 0-0-0 14.N4f3 Bb4 15.0-0-0 Rhe8 16.Ne5??

(16.Rhe1!)

William Hartston

Nigel Short

Position after 16.Ne5??; Black to play and win.

Answer:1

6...Bxd2+ 17.Rxd2 Rxd2 18.Kxd2 g5! 19.Nxf7 Ne4+ 0-1

In view of 19...Ne4+ 20.Kc1 gxf4 21.gxf4 Rf8! 22.Ng5 Rxf4 23.Nxh7? Rf7 trapping the knight

A brilliant King's Indian played by John Nunn in which many standard themes appear: exd4 followed by Re8, the breakout with d6-d5!, a7-a5-a4 to pressure the queenside and open the 'a' file, the sacrifices on e4 and h4 to exploit the unprotected bishop on h4 and take control of the dark squares.

A Miles - J Nunn

BBC TV Master Game England 1976

King's Indian

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.Be3 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Bf2 Nbd7 11.0-0 a5 12.Qd2 Ne5 13.Rfd1

(13.b3 perhaps)

13...a4 14.b3 axb3 15.axb3 Rxa1 16.Rxa1 d5! 17.exd5 cxd5 18.c5 Bd7 19.Na4? Neg4! 20.Bh4

John Nunn