Angry from England

Whilst happily browsing the comprehensive contents of this fine website (truly outstanding - Erik, as soon as I get a job, you've got yourself a premium member) I was delighted to stumble across a link to the current Chess Olympiad which promised, joyously, a whole online channel devoted to the event. I followed the instructions, and sure enough, an icon appeared on my desktop. Has anyone else done this? As far as I can tell, they are showing nothing but a continuous repeat of the opening ceremony. As a general rule, opening ceremonies are pretty dull affairs, but this one has got to be the worst I've seen. Every time I open the channel, aflame with hope that, oh, I don't know, some grandmasters might be doing live analysis or there's an interview or something, I'm confronted by that damnable Freddie Mercury impersonator, singing (badly, I might add) We Are The Champions whilst Ice Skating. Is everyone else getting this nonsense? Am I doing something wrong?

We, the chess community, are terribly served when it comes to live televised broadcasts. The Internet is our domain, which is great, but surely in the multitude of digital sporting channels available to the modern couch potato, space can be found for chess? I counted up my sports channels today; I have seventeen. And I don't pay for any extras like Sky Sports, those are just the channels that appear on my box. Some of the sports that have appeared on these channels are:

Women’s Under 16 Soccer World Cup, Fusball, Handball, Water Polo, Ordinary Polo, 'Real' Tennis, Bowls, Go-Carting, Japanese Baseball, White Water Rafting and the Seniors Golf Tour. And many more that I can't recall.

Are the TV companies telling me that all of the above sports, noble as they may be, command a greater audience than would a top level Chess tournament? Why do we get nothing? Why was one of the most important World Championships in years, a match that finally healed the great rift in Chess, denied airtime on this multitude of channels?

With this history, it was with great joy that I downloaded the Olympiad channel, but, I swear to God, if I see that bloody Freddie Mercury one more time I may get violent.

Why? Why are we, a community of tens of millions, so badly served by television?

ED

excellent question...

Because chess makes crap TV. It is just marginally less boring than watching paint dry to the average couch potatoe.

I did once see a clip on Youtube of Eurosport covering a Kasparov-Anand match. The commentry was hilarious. "Incredible move!!" "Unbelievable!!" said the ridiculously excited commentator. I can see your point. Commentry of the type that you'd get at a football match would not work, but with a bit of innovation, with all the technology available to a modern broadcaster, good tv could be made. I ingaine a presenter, sitting with a couple of grandmasters, analysing positions whilst keeping a close eye on the match in hand, say with an in-set screen. Get the right personalities and it would be great.

It's a distant memory, but they tried chess on television back in the late 70's/early 80's. I think the show was on BBC2 and called "Master Game". Even for a chess player it was slow.

*I cannot guarantee exact factual content of the above post, it was some time ago and I'm getting no sharper.

I've found it!

http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/10581

Ha! Mr. Brooks, you are a genius. I agree that watching a match could be slow and possibly dull, but it need not be. With modern technology and good analysis, it would be fascinating. Especially for a tournement the size of the Olympiad, where hundreds of games are occuring at once.

The show was quite modern in many respects, with overlay graphics and a master sat at a monitor analysing the game. The master had some way of directing the pieces on the "computer board" and could highlight squares, files etc. The show was also edited to get the whole game in  a 30 min(?) episode, similar to how I imagine they might remake the program today. It was still painful to watch.

 Well said!

Yeah, just because I like chess does not mean it is appreciated by the majority. Face it, guys and gals, chess is for a minority of the total population who derives enjoyment from excercising their gray matter. The rest do not understand/enjoy chess. Now to host any program, you need a sponsor. Who will sponsor such an event skipped by the majority of the population? Hence no such show. quod erat demonstrandum.

I have to agree. Although if it were on, I would be glued to the television ... however I would guess that even a lot chess players would only want to see the highlights.

underlying this whole thread is the concept that there actually is good Brit television....this is a country where big brother was the most entertaining program for many years.

I tried the link and I got through. It's too bad there's no footage available!

I disagree Ray_Brooks - I thought The Master Game was great.  Also the coverage of the Kasparov/Short game in London some 10 years ago - the BBC's coverage was excellent.  Live chess would be unbearable but coverage of a completed game with analysis can be fascinating.

Like I said in my earlier thread (http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/world-chess-coverage) chess needs more coverage - the BBC didn't even bother with daily web coverage of the recent championship.  All very disappointing.

Just because chess doesn't appeal to the majority doesn't mean it shouldn't appear on television in this day and age of digital cable TV and 100 or more channels to choose from, almost all of them showing garbage. Is chess slower than gardening? Poker and Pool are sometimes on more than one channel. We have a whole channel devoted to food 24/7. The most popular sport in the U.S. is auto racing, where cars go around and around in circles with the only possibilty of "entertainment" a fiery crash. Surely there is room for chess somewhere admist all this.  

As much as I like this site, i believe it could be made better maybe with a live chess channel, hint hint Erik.

But I can totally see where youre coming from and i agree maybe with various techniques we can help this idea to develop.

Hi Ed,

To improve ur mood, just watch replay of yesterdays 1st 1 day international cricket match between England and India :-) - im sure it will take ur mind off chess for a few hours.

 Hardy Har. As if to rub salt into the wound, the England rugby team have just got a drubbing by the Aussies. Honestly, I don't know why we bother.

ED

Hi Ed,

Got a solution for that one too. Watch australians comments before series and then Indias recently concluded cricket series with australia - u will enjoy all the egg on their faces.

The biggest problem with airing chess on TV is the lack of response from the chess-playing public.  I used to work in TV and I can tell you that if the sponsers get no feedback from the public, they form the opinion that nobody is watching and therefore cancel the show.  Did any of you contact your station and tell them how impressed you were that you were watching chess on TV?  From the looks of the responses, I'd say that if you called at all it was to complain that the games were boring.  When Kasparov played Deep Blue in the drawn match I called ESPN to thank them for airing it, and through talking with the operator at the switchboard found out that I was one of only two callers to thank them--every other call was a complaint on the game, which the operator had no clue about.  If you don't support chess, no one else is going to.  And if all you can do is complain about the game aired, then they will air no game.  There are enough chess players to support chess programming on TV, but the almost total lack of positive feedback will continue to doom that idea for some time to come. 

It seems it's a good time to be Indian!

On that subject sss3006, how is Vishy Anand seen in India? Is he getting the recognition he deserves?

Those of you who have downloaded the Olympiad television channel will have noticed that they have ceased showing a repeating loop of the opening ceremony (no more Freddie Mercury!). Now, they simply have a guy walking around the tables videoing the matches. With no commentary. Occasionally, the intrepid cameraman will swing his sights to the notice boards proclaiming the competing countries. Wow, he's found Magnus Carlson. Carlson gets up... he sits back down again. He has a drink. He gets up. Who is he playing? (Cameraman slowly swings up) It's... Germany. This is not televised coverage. This is a man walking around with a camcorder.

Perhaps I shouldn't complain. It is free, after all.