BBC's The Master Game

The Master Game chess program from the BBC has been issued on DVD in response to online interest, including lobbying by bloggers like Mark Weeks and the obvious consumer interest in the program evidenced by many popular copyright infringements on YouTube.  I have compiled PGN files of the games in Series 1-7 and information for purchasing DVDs and books below.

The Master Game was the first program to show chess on television in a way that had a chance of connecting with the larger chess-playing public.  As producer Robert Toner notes:

I had seen many forms of television chess coverage, but none of them was satisfactory.  Pieces would disappear from one square and appear in another, and only experts seemed to be able to follow a game.  Also, it was all so remote, I felt no involvement with the game or the players.  What we needed was direct access into their thoughts, not the high-speed technical thoughts of a chess-playing mind, but thoughts put in such a way that anyone who knew the rules would be able to follow the most complicated game. (Foreword, The Master Game, 1979)

The system Toner developed had players compete in a knock-out tournament at a BBC studio, where the games themselves were recorded; then, about two days later, the players recreated their thoughts during the game in a sound studio.  The games were played under tournament conditions, with forty moves in two-and-a-half hours followed by an hour sudden death.  (In the first three series, with absolute knockout format, there were also rules for replaying drawn games, but in later tournaments the rules were changed to avoid replays.)  The game play was edited to a 30-minute program, so the audience did not have to endure long and unpredictable delays between moves, and commentary by the players was added.  

What made the program so successful was the fiction that the players were commenting on the games as they were happening, with the comments always expressed in present-tense form, thus creating a sense of engagement and immediacy that is not achieved in other formats, except perhaps in the now ubiquitous videos where players comment on their blitz games while in progress.  The types of comments offered by the players were also quite effective at communicating the way GMs usually choose a move, relying more on chess reasoning and intuition than the calculation of long variations, except where the position called for that.  Though we now have access to a lot of chess on video, no one seems to have invested the time and resources to create a similar product, though Maurice Ashley's Speed Chess DVD comes close, substituting exciting play-by-play commentary for the players' own thoughts.

Besides serving as excellent instructional videos, these DVDs are worth having for the living history they contain.  Where else are you going to find the great players of the 70s and 80s commenting on their games?  The Series 7 DVD also contains a bonus documentary feature about Matthew Sadler titled "The Lowdown: The Master of the Game" (1989).  Highly recommended.

Purchase DVDs
The videos can be purchased directly from Odeon Entertainment as DVDs or digital downloads.  So far they have re-issued Series 6 and Series 7, which can also be purchased from New in Chess, Chess & Bridge and other European online re-sellers. I have not been able to identify a U.S. distributor, but I had no trouble ordering from New in Chess, which always provides excellent service.  One important note: the DVDs are "Region 0" and PAL format, so they will not play on older DVD players made for the U.S. market.  I have a ten-year-old DVD player on which they do not play, but they do work on my computer's DVD player with no problem.

BBC: The Master Game Series 6. Contains all 13 30-minute programs for a total of 390 minutes on two DVDs, featuring Bent Larsen, Nigel Short, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Byrne, Tony Miles, Lothar Schmid and Jan Hein Donner.

BBC: The Master Game Series 7.  Contains all 13 30-minute programs for a total of 390 minutes on two DVDs, featuring Andras Adorjan, Nigel Short, Walter Browne, Eric Lobron, Raymond Keene, Larry Christiansen, Miguel Quinteros and Hans-Joachim Hecht.

Games and PGN File Downloads
I have annotated one of the better games in "How Passed Pawns Win 'Master Games'" on this blog, which includes several passed pawn puzzles from the series.  I have also collected all of the games played in the Master Game tournaments and posted them as separate PGN files for download or Java replay:   
Series 1 - 1975 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 2 - 1976 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 3 - 1977 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 4 - 1979 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 5 - 1980 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 6 - 1981 (PGN) (Java replay)
Series 7 - 1982 (PGN) (Java replay)

Special thanks to Tom Martinak from the Pitt Chess Archives for supplying me with the PGN files from the first three series, which saved me a lot of trouble compiling them by hand.  The Pitt Archives were taken down due to security concerns over their FTP hosting, but I understand they will eventually be available again when a new host is chosen.  I found PGN files of other games at 365chess and Chessgames.com, and some games I added by hand from the books (see below).  I have followed the books for game order and moves where sources disagreed.  Unfortunately, only very late in my research did I discover Mark Weeks's excellent zipped PGN of the games, which saved me from having to compile Series 6 by hand.  I think the files are now complete, but I welcome corrections and additions if I have overlooked anything.

Books

The copies of the books I own are wider than represented.

The books of The Master Game are out of print but available for purchase from various online sellers of used books.  I was fortunately able to purchase them both for under $10 each (with shipping), but I suspect the price will rise significantly as the series attracts renewed interest.  Both are excellent books and I hope the BBC considers re-issuing them to accompany the DVDs.

The Master Game by Jeremy James and Leonard Barden, British Broadcasting Corporation (1979).   Contains all of the games from the first three series (1975, 1976, and 1977), with a foreword by producer Robert Toner, biographies of the players in each series, and the 36 annotated games (with notes drawing from the GM commentary on the show), plus opening and player indexes.  In algebraic notation.  This is a very attractive and well edited book.

The Master Game, Book Two by Jeremy James and William Hartston, British Broadcasting Corporation (1981).  Contains 41 annotated games from Series 4, 5, and 6 (1979, 1980, and 1981), plus the game scores from the first three series.  Like the first volume, it has biographies of players and indexes.

Videos Online
There have been a number of people posting The Master Game videos online, but most have been taken down recently as the publisher has moved to protect the copyright in anticipation of re-issuing them on DVD.  Only the first two videos below are official trailers, so the others may vanish at any time.








 


Links

• The Master Game at Wikipedia
• Chess for All Ages on The Master Game by Mark Weeks
• Mark Weeks PGN Zip
• BBC: The Master Game revived on DVD, ChessBase (July 2, 2013)
• The Master Game by Jonathan Berger
• BBC's The Mater Game on YouTube by Peter Doggers
• BBC Master Game Series 1 by RedShield at Chessgames.com
• BBC Master Game Series 2 by RedShield at Chessgames.com
• BBC Master Game Series 3 by RedShield at Chessgames.com
• BBC Master Game Series 4 by RedShield at Chessgames.com
• London BBC TV 1975 at 365chess
• London BBC TV-B 1979 at 365chess
• London BBC TV-A 1979 at 365chess
• London BBC TV-final 1979 at 365chess
• London BBC TV-A 1981 at 365chess

Chess Wars

Fredb1978 has posted all of the cut scenes from Chess Wars: A Medieval Fantasy (DOS 1996).  It is rather disturbing to watch all of the possible "murders" that can be committed on the chessboard. And you have to wonder if medieval combat to the death is the most compelling storyline that can get mapped onto this abstract game.  But it is an interesting historical example of how designers have tried to jazz up chess for digital game play.  I have previously only seen the opening sequence from the game (see second video above).  The concept of having scenes to accompany each capture clearly inspired Lego Chess, though the latter has a much more fun attitude (more appropriate for children).

Fun with Don and Arnold

Don Carrelli has posted an excellent video at the Kenilworth Kibitzer, which includes commentary by Arnold Schwarzeneger.  How Arnold found time to comment on chess with all that he's going through this week I'll never know....

Chess in DC Schools

My favorite part about the chess program in Washington, DC, described here is that it gets the kids to teach the faculty about the game.  Brilliant.

Russ Makofsky, Chess Instructor

Russ Makofsky, who teaches chess at the Village Chess Shop, which he also helps manage, is featured in Channel Thirteen's "New York on the Clock" series.  Hat tip Susan Polgar.

Master Game Final: Short vs. Miles 1980-1981

I am very impressed by the historical video materials that SearchBucket and others have been posting on YouTube, especially from British television's "Master Game" series.  The games from the "Master Game" series were played at fast time controls and required the players to comment on their thinking as they played, so they are inevitably full of errors.  But it is fascinating to listen to the players' thinking.  I especially liked the Short-Kasparov game (in three parts), where Short pulled out a lucky win after practically dropping a piece.  SearchBucket's latest effort is a reconstruction of the television broadcast of Nigel Short - Tony Miles, "Master Game" final 1980-1981 based on audio only.  As usual, there are errors by both players, but that makes it all the more interesting to watch.

Interview with the Director of "Chess Movie"

Jennifer Shahade has posted an excellent Interview with the Director of Chess Movie (working title), the documentary project I've mentioned before and urged you to support (see "Chess Movie Preview" and "Support 'Chess Movie'").  As an admirer of the successful chess program at I.S. 318 and someone who has been involved in making videos myself (I am currently editing a 30-minute documentary based on about 100 hours of footage following five students through our freshman writing course at Rutgers), I know the sort of challenges that Katie Dellamaggiore has faced and the daunting task of editing that lies ahead.  I wish her the best of luck and look forward to seeing the final product.

Marshall's 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6!?

Rick Kennedy's well-researched Alekhine vs. Marshall's 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6!? at ChessCafe (originally in Kaissiber #27) would almost lead you to believe that Frank James Marshall's center-surrendering experiment against the Queen's Gambit might be fully playable.  Alekhine's notes on Alekhine - Marshall, Baden Baden 1925 suggest as much, and 12…Nxe5 13.0-0 0-0 14.Be2 Be6 would clearly have improved on Marshall's play.  However, there are two lines that Kennedy does not consider which seem to keep the line in doubt, and both are examined in Matt Pullin's excellent two-part video series from 2008 (see above).  

I always admire Pullin's objectivity, and he does his best to demonstrate Black's chances as well as White's most powerful challenge with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.Nf3! (objectively better than the natural 4.e4 Nf6! 5.Nc3 e5!) 4...Bf5 5.Qb3! and if 5...Nc6 6.Nbd2! gives White a strong variation of the Baltic (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5), as demonstrated in the game Takacs-Havasi, Budapest 1926.  Kennedy also does not mention the game Alekhine - Mooyman/Citroen, Surabaya 1933 (surprising, given his focus on Alekhine) where White was definitely better following 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.e4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nf3 exd4 7.Nxd4 (7.Qxd4 is also slightly in White's favor).  Pullin suggests Black may have a playable game here after 7....Bc5 8.Be3 O-O (better than the tempting but tempo-wasting 8...Ng4?! as Alekhine's opponents tried) and if 9.Ne6 Bxe6 10.Bxc5 (gaining the two Bishops in an open position) 10...Re8 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 he thinks Black has reasonable chances, which may be true, though Black's position is hardly inspiring.  Conclusion: Marshall's variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined may have more to it than commonly thought, but it does not inspire confidence against White's best counters.

BBC's "How to Win at Chess"

The BBC has produced a wonderful hour-long documentary titled "How to Win at Chess," most of which has been posted at zaphod319's YouTube channel.  It is also widely available for download, though not yet available for sale.  Structured rather like David Shenk's The Immortal Game, it follows an arranged game between British chess personalities Ray Keene and Daniel King (which the two players use as a vehicle for instruction) while jumping off into various aspects of chess history, culture, and competition.  Highly recommended.

Hat tip to Mark Weeks, who often posts about videos on Friday.

Support "Chess Movie"

I.S. 318 at NY State Championships

Katie Dellamaggiore, an independent documentary filmmaker from Brooklyn, is raising money for her Chess Movie, about the award-winning I.S. 318 team.  Visit her "Kickstarter" page to learn more about the project and to pledge your support.  Though they have already met their minimum goal of raising $4,000, they definitely need a lot more than that to finish this important documentary, which I think could do for scholastic chess what Mad Hot Ballroom did for kids' ballroom dancing.  Here is Katie's appeal:

Over the last 2 years I have been producing and directing a documentary about scholastic chess with my company Rescued Media.  Chess Movie (working title) goes inside one of the best junior high chess program in the nation, Intermediate School 318 in Brooklyn, New York. Many students at 318 come from difficult circumstances and 60% are from low-income families, but being part of a winning chess team gives them a unique opportunity to experience success at a young age. Justus, Patrick, Alexis, Pobo & Rochelle are 5 of 50 team members that are learning on the chessboard the skills they need to face challenges of adolescence and their working class circumstances.

In April 2009 we embarked on our first trip with the team to Nashville, Tennessee, to the USCF Super Nationals. Once we witnessed how big the scholastic chess world was, we were hooked. Over the next year we embedded ourselves with the team-- at home, at school and away at tournaments -- and slowly, the kids' individual stories began to take shape.  Please view our five minute teaser for an idea of where the film is now headed. It’s our ultimate goal to secure a national television broadcast for Chess Movie and maybe even a small theatrical release. We also plan to build a strong community outreach campaign in the hopes the film will build support for scholastic chess programs in under served communities as we have witnessed firsthand the profound effect the I.S. 318 chess program has had on its students.

Right now we have a fundraising campaign underway at Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is an online funding platform for artists to engage with their audiences and build support for their projects. Our Kickstarter campaign has been pretty successful so far, reaching our initial goal of $4,000 in just a few short weeks. But we still have 50 days to go and we need more than 4k to finish this film. When you log onto Kickstarter you will see that we are offering some really cool rewards and incentives for backers. For example a $10 donation gets you exclusive access to video updates and deleted scenes and a $55 donation secures you a "Special Thanks" credit in our film. We also offer chess-centric rewards like free memberships to WORLD CHESS LIVE and CHESS.COM but at the end of the day I hope you are most inspired to give because you love chess and are moved by the kids and their stories. We believe this film has the potential to breakdown false stereotypes about chess and present a new and fresh perspective to one of the world's oldest and most beloved games.

CHESS MOVIE (working title) from Rescued Media on Vimeo.

Mission Impossible, "A Game of Chess"

Ah, "Mission Impossible"!  One of my favorite shows as a kid.  This YouTube posting is a great find by Mark Weeks, in five parts.  You should be able to see the mate before the computer does near the end of the first part.

A Game for Two

A Game for Two (english subs, full movie) from Stelios Koukouvitakis on Vimeo.

Ah, the trouble a chess player will go through for a woman who has read Art of Attack....

Chess Rhapsodies Redux

Back in May 2009, I directed readers to the "chess rhapsodies" of Lucio Etruscus, which set clips of cinematic chessplaying to music.  Today ChessVibes offers up a complete rhapsody filmography in "Chess in cinema -- the ultimate collection" for anyone who wants to track down the films referenced in these videos.

Chess appears with incredible frequency on film because it provides an instant and visually attractive marker of distinction, intelligence, or cunning in the characters with which it is associated. To get a good sense of the sheer number of films in which chess appears, check out the website Citazioni  scacchistiche  nei  media; the blog Echecs, cinéma, TV...léger; Bill Wall's list of Movies with Chess Scenes; and the website Chess in Cinema.  For the truly obsessed, I recommend Bob Basalla's excellent Chess in the Movies.

Chess Playing New Jersey Devil

A chessplaying New Jersey Devil from Paranominal's Cryptozoology.  Why is it that the devil is always up for a game?

Chess Movie Preview

Rescued Media has posted a "teaser" for their documentary about Brooklyn's I.S. 318 chess team, coached by Elizabeth Vicary and led by Justus Williams.  It looks like it is going to be excellent, right up there with Mad Hot Ballroom. Hat tip: Jim West.

CHESS MOVIE (working title) from Rescued Media on Vimeo.

Mousemate!

It will only bother you for a couple seconds that they have the chessboard set up wrong. Hat tip ALCHEssMIST.

"Amp Can" Takes Washington Square

What GMs have to do for money these days.... Shades of "the Turk." Hat tip Lizzy.

Documentary Portraits of Chess Professionals

It is common to see in-depth video portraits of sports stars and other celebrities, but only recently have I begun to notice similar quality productions about noted chess players. There was an interesting five-part Indian TV documentary about World Champion Viswanathan Anand recently featured at the ChessBase website. And today I watched the artistic 43-minute documentary "Chess Me Out" (in Flash, or view the Quicktime version) by Davide Fasolo featuring interviews with over a dozen chess professionals, including Lev Aronian, Anatoly Karpov, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Rusudan Goletiani, Elisabeth Paehtz, and Alex Wohl. Both are worth seeing and offer some insight into the life of the professional player.

The Anand film is a typical surface portrait of a "sports star," as befits India's latest national hero. He comes across as a very affable fellow and there are some amusing stories, including one where Anand relates a conversation he had with an older stranger on a train who asked him what he did for a living. When Anand told him he played chess, the man was at first incredulous, then tried to convince him that he should really consider a much more stable profession. "After all," he said, "it's not like you are Vishy Anand!"

Fasolo's film is more meditative than the Anand piece and tries to achieve more depth and more aesthetic engagement. It is in both English and Italian (with English subtitles), and mixes black and white and color footage. It opens and closes with a Borges poem about chess and in between mostly shows the talking heads of players reflecting on various topics, from how they learned the game (most from their fathers) to how they have all suffered from their losses. There are some nice moments, including a musical interlude which shows scenes from the Olympiad, amusing footage of Ivanchuk pulling at his bushy eyebrows throughout a game, and some discussion of women and chess. I would have liked to see more reflection on what it is like to be a professional player, but I predict we will see a film along those lines in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, Fasolo's effort is very much worth seeing, and you can download a high-quality MP4 version from the his website. (Hat tip to Alexandra Kosteniuk).