NY Times Chess Feed The Guardian (U.K. Chess Blog) The Telegraph (U.K. Chess Blog)
Looking for a way to cool down during the summer months? Why not try a game of Ice Chess?
The pieces are made of ice, all you need to do is order a set of ice cube trays from Think Geek, add a little food coloring and you’re ready to go. If you want to make a tasty treat, you could also substitute fruit juice to add color to the pieces (but the board may become sticky when the ice starts to melt!)
Needless to say, speed chess is a must for this type of match.
Have you ever wanted to think like a grand master? Check out the following profile of Magnus Carlsen as he explains the thoughts going through his mind while he is interviewed by Bob Simon. The video contains an amazing demonstration of Carlsen playing 10 simultaneous blindfold games.
Readers of this blog might wonder why we have written articles on all aspects of chess except chess in the cinema. There are a couple of reasons why this subject has been on the back burner for so long.
The first reason is that there are a number of blogs out there that have already covered this subject to death. The other, more relevant reason can be summarized in an old axiom: “Never go to see a movie about a subject that you are very knowledgeable about – because you are bound to be disappointed!
The most obvious example of this kind of silliness is the courtroom drama. Good films about lawyers and hopeless cases are very dramatic and almost always end with a climactic battle ending with a positive verdict.
Go try and see your favorite trial movie with a friend who is a lawyer and you will get a completely different perspective.
As any chess player knows, the same thing happens in movies that feature chess. Most of the time, the pieces aren’t set up correctly. If they are lucky enough to get them in the right positions, the usually set them up backwards with the right-hand rook on a dark square.This all comes to mind because I recently watched a movie called “Five Fingers” with Laurence Fishburne. One of the main characters is a chess player and engages in a series of matches with one of the other characters in the film.
Everything seems ok until there is a sequence when the manual clock is supposedly low on time. Unfortunately, when the close-ups of the clock show the dials at about 5 minutes to 6, meaning that there aren’t only a few seconds left. The tension mounts, time ticks away, and every close up shows that the flag is not ready to fall, then a magical bell dings to indicate the flag has fallen! Yikes! It’s too bad the writer and director didn’t know that wind-up clocks don’t come with a bell.
All that being said, there are a few good movies with chess themes that get the tension right and don’t have embarrassing cliches. Here are a few movies that get it right:
a chess champion. The movie opens with a dramatic scene at a championship match. The writers should be applauded for using the famous sequence from the 1960 Boris Spassky – David Bronstein match for the USSR championship. The board setup is almost identical (except for a couple of pawns) and the villain is named “Kronsteen”.
Here in the US, we always talk about chess and what is going on in our neck of the woods (especially in New York), but sometimes we forget to take a step back and see the big picture.
So, to keep the global perspective, we have added a link to FIDE to the front page. This site is an excellent resource to read about global tournament events with the highest rated players. We’ve also added a short list of the top 5 players in the world. It is interesting to note that all of these players are rated above 2,750! The top player on the list, Veselin Topalov is rated above 2,800 and is also featured in the attached You Tube link in a humorous commercial. The good news is that you don’t have to know Bulgarian to get the jokes.
Speaking of big, we’ve also updated the news section with a feature on the world’s largest chess game. Check out the article to see what a board “4 football fields square” looks like.
However it is also entertaining to learn that there are many celebrities out there who are also fascinated with the game. In this post we will explore two examples, Humphrey Bogart and Howard Stern!
Humphrey Bogart was a lifelong chess enthusiast who used to hustle people for dimes and quarters in New York City parks and at Coney Island. He insisted that a scene with him playing chess should be included in Casablanca. Off screen, he was a certified USCF tournament director and actively participated in the Hollywood Chess Club. He was supposedly a very strong player, probably expert class and was able to draw 6 time US Champ, GM Samuel Reshevesky during a simul.
The game below, which can be found in its entirety with some other transcripts of his games on www.chessgames.com is a contest between him and his wife Lauren Bacall. The game starts off as a Ruy Lopez, then moves out of the book …
At this point, Bogart secures the advantage, with a little help from his wife – 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 13. Bxc6 Bxc6 14. Nxe5 Bxg2 15. Rg1 Bh3 16. Rg3 Be6 17. d4 c6 18. d5 cxd5 19. cxd5 Bxd5 and Bogart went on to win a piece and the game. The rest of the transcript is … 20. c4 Be6 21. Re3 f6 22. Nd3 Kf7 23. Nf4 Rae8 24. Nxe6 Qb4+ 25. Kf1 Re7 26. Re1 Rhe8 27. Nd8+ Kf8 28. Rxe7 Rxe7 29. Qxe7+ Qxe7 30.
Rxe7 Kxe7 31. Nxb7 1-0
Howard Stern is best known as the polarizing radio figure who loves to push the boundaries of humor by discussing politically incorrect topics and/or conducting outrageous interviews.
It turns out, behind the scenes he is an avid chess player and student of the game! Back in 2006, he began discussing his interest in chess on his radio show and even had Susan Polgar on for a serious interview.
In October 2008 the New York Times wrote a piece about his recent marriage to Beth Ostrosky and his obsession with chess. The article mentions that he is a frequent player on the Internet Chess Club and has also worked with a chess coach in order to bring his rating up to about 1600. A visit to his my space page lists chess as his 2nd most important interest (behind making love to his wife)!
The game below is one of two featured in the NY Times article. In this game, he employs the offbeat Budapest Defense to dispatch with an unsuspecting opponent:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Bc5 4. h3 (diagram)
and now tactics come into play after … Bf2! 5. Kf2 Ne4 6. Kf3 Qh4 7. g4 f5 8. gf Rf8 9. Ke3 Rf5 10. Nf3 Qf4 11. Kd3 Nf2 and white resigns.
Stay tuned for future articles on famous chess players. If you are hungry for more, go to the Fun Stuff / Trivia page for a quiz on other chess playing celebrities.
US Chess League
Here’s an idea that isn’t as wacky as Chess Boxing. Greg Shahade, known for his interest in Chess and Poker, also is one of the founders and supporters of the US Chess League.
A blog about the Suffern Chess Club, news, trivia, and other items regarding the world of chess.
Suffern Chess Club* 