BOTW: 2015.07.31

John Upper's picture
Submitted by John Upper on Fri, 07/31/2015 - 10:07

The 2015 British Chess Championship (July 25 - Aug 8)

With GMs David Howell (2698), Nicholas Pert (2562), Jonathan Hawkins (2554) and Keith Arkell (2502) as the top seeds it is not a stellar field, but the wide mix of players should make for some interestingly imperfect games.

Lo-Fi Live Commentary with Andrew Martin and Ravi Kumar: here and here

https://chess24.com/en/embed-tournament/british-championship-2015#live

http://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/2015/live-commentary/

IM Andrew Martin's Game of the Day

http://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/2015/

  

Chess Coverage Before the Internet

We live in the best time ever for chess news: with top tournaments featuring live hi-definition video, live GM commentary, and postmortem interviews and analysis with the world's best players.

Before the internet, the only way Canadians could see moving pictures of chess players were the rare clips shown on TV, usually at the beginning and end of World Championship matches. Before TV the only way was in newsreel clips shown before movies. Now, AP and British Movietone have released what they say is one million minutes of their archive footage, and some of it is chess. Here are some highlights:

 

Capablanca and Flohr Simul (02/18/1935)
Everyone is wearing suits, which is nice, but it also features the kind of dated and declamatory voice-over you'd hear parodied on Family Guy.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Chess-Display-in-Czechoslovakia/5042500735f64687854f32acc00069e5

 

Hastings 1964-65 (12/30/1964)
Includes: Tal vs Gaprindashvili.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/UK-CHESS/83a12f883ed17b5faa73a47d713bfaa6?

 

Hastings 1965-66 (12/29/1965)
6:15 clip includes: Uhlman, Keene, Gheorgiu, Gligoric, Spassky (screencap above)... and everyone wearing overcoats during play.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/INTERNATIONAL-CHESS-CONGRESS-NO-SOUND/3d752d406f144224b5d75ab7d6342b50

 

Spassky-Petrosian World Championship Match 1 (04/09/1966)
Short clips, ready for voice-over. Petrosian may have a dull reputation, but notice how often he is the one smiling here.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/RUSSIA-CHESS-CHAMPS/194bdee8edca31ebec113f1527c3be74

 

Boris Spassky Interview (Iceland, 1972)
Short but interesting.
Spassky saying what I had long-thought was only other people's specualtion about him: that he found the World Championship title a burden:


"I am not disappointed to lose this match. I don't know exactly why, but I think the life for me will be better after this match."
- Boris Spassky, Icelandic interview shortly after 1972 loss to Fischer

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/ICELAND-BORIS-SPASSKY/e34d272c1f53f210f57e69fe0f138ba8

 

Karpov Clock Simul (8/14/77)
Includes a very short interview with a very short Nigel Short, who got to play White vs Karpov.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/c0060263/a3f288480c70101d30a0a1e6b3d6885a

 

Karpov - Kortchnoi World Chess Championship (10/02/1978)
14-minute report on Baguio match: from setting up the hall, disputes about the flags and pieces, 

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/ROVING-REPORT-PHILIPPINES/7746fe2bca42a2f02018f1f0956ffee6

 

1978 Beunos Aires Olympiad (11/09/1978)

Includes:

    • USSR - Canada: Spassky - Hébert, and in the background: Polugaevsky - Day (smoking)
    • Kortchnoi (smoking)
    • Hubner (not smoking)
    • Miles (not smoking)
    • Robert Byrne (smoking)
    • Petrosian (walking)

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/ARGENTINA-CHESS-OLYMPICS/f25cb16e938879edda97c21d03a45372

 

Gadhafi v Ilyumzhinov (07/14/2011)
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov plays a friendly photo-op game with Libyan leader/strongman Mohammar Gadhafi.

http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Russia-Libya/42979803104a6b4c8f9eab5b835e2298

 

 

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