BBC The Master Game - 1981 - S06E13 - Short - Miles

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.
Directors: Sandra Wainwright
Hosts: Jeremy James, Bill Hartston
Starring: Robert Byrne, Svetozar Gligorić, Vlastimil Hort, Nigel Short, Jan Hein Donner, Bent Larsen, Tony Miles, Lothar Schmid, Andras Adorjan, Larry Christiansen, Hans-Joachim Hecht, Walter Browne, Raymond Keene, Eric Lobron, Miguel Quinteros

[@richardhelliwell1210]

The game has, in fact, already begun... I realise that the game was just a studio mock-up of the actual game played earlier away from the cameras, but it always makes me laugh. I loved watching this back in the day with my late father on a weekday evening. A time before computer analysis took over chess at the top level and feel and intuition was more important. There are so many characters in these series as well. Loved the different accents. Quinteros always reminds me of the Mexican bandit in The Magnificent Seven! Thanks for posting.

[@richardhamblin7886]

Watching with one's late father - totally get you - 10 year old me fell in love with this. I think it had something to do with both presenters being so softly spoken. Chess just seemed so calm and logical

[@richardhelliwell1210]

@richardhamblin7886 Yes, the presenters seem to believe shouting at your audience is the norm now. Chess is a quiet, thoughtful game, not a football match. Tania Sachdev, please note.

[@germanchris4440]

@@richardhelliwell1210 It is also mainly a male game, which is incorporated in this time of a general matriarchization. (Hence the shouting.)
But worse is the computerization that has already killed the game.
In the video we see the times of true chess that will never come back, along with the personalities that no longer exist at all today (unless you hear again from, say, Ljubojevic).

[@russellfrancis6294]

I echo those feelings !@@germanchris4440

[@inguh7041]

​@@germanchris4440was Ljubo good at yelling?

[@BOORCHESS]

The soundtrack to this is fire.

[@rxw5520]

14:05 after g5 Tony had Nxd4. Distract the rook. If Kxd4, then Rc4, Kd3, Rxf4, Bxf4, Kxf7, and black is back in the game. g5 was a huge mistake.

[@boxingjerapah]

Love these!

[@matthewevansteush6461]

The calculation is the difference along with a feel for strategy,these players are a whole different level,very talented.

[@Matthew-bu7fg]

shame this isn't still a programme

[@talstory]

somehow I get as much out of these simple formats as out of expert coverage on St Louis or whatever. What a formidable player Nigel was/is..also Miles comes across well

[@desperatedan3985]

As mentioned before I wish chess was back on TV🙏

[@marcrob100]

The BBC are reviving it www.chess.com/news/view/bbc-to-broadcast-new-show-chess-masters

[@krishkarthik6930]

Wah , I was not even aware that such a tv program exists.

[@simonlaw9234]

British television in the 70s and 80s was brilliant. Sadly disappeared. Like everything else.

[@matteovrizzi]

28:30 and on the BBC the 15 year old Nigel Short toasts to his victory with a glass of champers! Good old days!

[@Jojikiba]

Check out Tony Miles on Wikipedia. Interesting read. Short said that "Tony was insanely jealous of my success, and his inability to accept that he was no longer the UK's number one was an indication of, if not a trigger for, his descent into madness."

[@matthewsalmon8194]

Felt there was a bit of rudeness towards Miles at the end - in both Nigel's comments and the presenter...maybe you can forgive a nerdy 15yr old but the bridesmaid comment was rude I thought

[@marcrob100]

Yes by Jeremy James - it seemed thoughtless.