7/6/2013 – The very popular BBC chess-themed TV show ran for seven series between 1975 and 1982. In his previous report John Saunders described its genesis and importance in bringing chess to mainstream television. In this second part he gives us an impression of the players' live commentary that was part of the appeal of the show. Two series of The Master Game are now being released on DVD.
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John Saunders looks back on the classic BBC programme
The first two series (1975/6 and 1976/7) involved only UK players and were played as eight-player knock-outs. This was a very unusual tournament format in those days (they are still quite rare), but there were good reasons to use it: to keep the number of games (and programmes) to a minimum, and also to circumvent draws (which were resolved via tiebreaks at a quicker time limit). The first game was played at the then standard international time limit of 40 moves in 2½ hours, with adjournments. A replay was played at the rate of 40 moves in an hour, with the rest in 30 minutes, a second replay at all moves in thirty minutes and a third replay at fifteen minutes for the whole game.
Series one featured Bill Hartston (winner), Jon Speelman (runner-up), George Botterill, Tony Miles (semi-finalists), John Nunn, Michael Stean, Jonathan Mestel and Howard Williams. Hartston seemed to be on the ropes in the first round against Stean, but held him to a draw before winning the replay. He was equally lucky against Botterill in the semi-final, which went to three games, but again he triumphed after playing “any old rubbish” (his phrase, referring to 2...Ìc6 after 1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4). The tournament favourite was Tony Miles, recently qualified as Britain’s first OTB GM, but he succumbed to Speelman in the semi-final. The book of the tournament recorded that he “shed a manly tear” after this disaster.
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1.e4
1,184,215
54%
2421
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1.d4
958,932
55%
2434
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1.Nf3
286,327
56%
2441
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1.c4
184,722
56%
2443
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1.g3
19,884
56%
2427
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1.b3
14,598
54%
2428
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1.f4
5,953
48%
2377
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1.Nc3
3,906
50%
2384
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1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
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1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
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1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
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1.d3
969
50%
2378
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1.g4
670
46%
2361
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1.h4
466
54%
2382
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1.c3
439
51%
2425
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1.h3
289
56%
2420
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1.a4
118
60%
2461
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1.f3
100
47%
2427
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1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
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1.Na3
47
62%
2476
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Please, wait...
1.d4d52.Nc3"Had a feeling he might do that. Don't know anything about it, but not to worry" (Miles)Nf63.Bg5Nbd74.e3c6As Leonard Barden pointed out in the book of the tournament, Black got into a rather passive position out of the opening.5.Nf3h66.Bh4e67.Bd3Be78.0-00-09.Ne2c510.c3b611.Bxf6Nxf612.Ne5Bb713.Ng3Bd614.f4Ne415.Nh5Bxe5Black is soon in big trouble after this. Hiarcs suggests15...Qh4!?, which cuts across some of White's more ambitious attacking ideas.16.fxe5Qg517.Bxe4Qxe3+18.Kh1dxe4"I'll stop his queen going back. My attack may be unsound, but I doubt if he'll find a defence at this fast time limit." (Speelman)19.Rf4Kh820.Qg4g621.Nf6"Oh dear..." (Miles)Rad821...Kg722.Raf1Qd2!, with ideas such as e3 and taking on g2, buys Black a little time against White's kingside attack but in a practical situation the precision required to defend this position against the clock is probably unrealistic.22.Raf1 Miles' comment is much as his previous.Qd223.Qh4Kg724.Ng4"Ugh, have to play pawn to h5. I'll give this stupid game up." (Miles)h525.Qf6+Kh726.Qg5hxg427.Rxf7+Rxf728.Rxf7+Kh829.Qxd8#1–0
In the final Speelman was offered a draw in a level end-game, but turned it down with what eventually proved to be an unsound pawn sacrifice.
So Hartston’s pragmatism brought him the first Master Game title. The following year he was to triumph again and had the second trophy to adorn the other speaker of his stereo system (he made that comment just before winning the final game against Nunn). The players were Hartston (winner), Nunn (runner-up), Botterill, Miles (semi-finalists again), Short, Jana Hartston (as she then was; now known as Jana Bellin), Julian Hodgson and Peter Clarke.
GM Tony Miles (1955–2001) was one of the great stars of The Master Game
Botterill was very lucky to emerge from his quarter-final pairing with the 15-year-old Julian Hodgson, after being a piece down in one game and only scraping a draw as the flags tottered. In the semi-final Hartston was more assured than he had been against Botterill in the first series, but Miles once again succumbed, this time to Nunn. He was a bit lucky to draw their first game but he was hit by a thunderbolt in the second.
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1.e4g62.d4Bg73.c4d64.Nc3Nf65.Be20-06.Nf3e57.Be3exd4?!8.Nxd4Re89.f3c610.Bf2Nbd711.0-0a512.Qd2Ne513.Rfd1a414.b3axb315.axb3Rxa116.Rxa1d517.exd5cxd518.c5Bd7"The first decent position I've had all day. I wouldn't want to play b4 just yet because it might give his knight a square on c4. I can play Nb5, possibly it's a little early. Maybe I could play Na4, then invade on b6 and possibly get my rook to the seventh or eighth." (Miles)19.Na4?"I hadn't even considered that plan. He's going to come with the knight to b6. Perhaps I can get some counterplay on the kingside. It's really my only hope here. Well - is that a possibility? Neg4? It looks ridiculous but [at which point Nunn explained the underlying tactics] " (Nunn)Neg4!"Eh? What's this?..." (Miles)20.Bh420.fxg4Ne421.Qf4Nxf222.Qxf2allowsRxe2!which by now Miles had also seen. Nunn on his next move: "Now he's really threatening to take that knight on g4. I might consider Bh6 here. I have another move, Ne4. Forking my own knights! That's not something I do very often... [continues with analysis]... Perhaps Ne4 will give him a bit of a shock. I'm not sure he's seen that move." (Nunn)20...Ne4!"Oh, what's this? Oh dear, I take his queen and he takes my queen... ugh. Everything's attacked. Oh, this is dead. There's nothing at all..." (Miles)21.fxe421.Bxd8Nxd2Bxd4/Rxd821...Qxh422.Bxg4Qxg423.Nc3dxe424.Qe3Qh525.Nde2Bg426.Re1Qe527.b4?Bxe228.Nxe2Qb229.Kh1Qxb430.Rc1Rd831.h3Be532.Qg5f633.Qe3Qd234.Qb3+Kh835.Qc4Rd30–1
Nunn blundered in the final so once again Hartston was the winner. In future series the quality of Hartston’s bon mots (“This is an important game for theory. John has been drinking coffee during the interval, and I’ve been doing yoga. Always wanted to know which is better...”) was to persuade the programme-makers to promote him to the expert’s chair beside Jeremy James, but not before he and Tony Miles represented the home nation in the vastly stronger international line-up in 1977, headed by World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The other players were Werner Hug (Switzerland), Jan Hein Donner (Netherlands), Helmut Pfleger and Lothar Schmid (West Germany), plus the redoubtable Bent Larsen (Denmark). Hartston bit the dust in the first round, losing to Pfleger, but Tony Miles really rose to the occasion this time, despatching Schmid and Larsen in good style to reach the final against Karpov.
The 1977 Miles-Karpov final went to a third game (after Miles had done well to draw game one, and there was a steadily played draw in the second). It was played at G/30 and came down to a frantically-played heavy piece ending. Miles was under pressure, but he passed up a chance to draw when Karpov momentarily blundered.
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44.h4?A time trouble error from the world champion.44.Ke3should ensure the win.44...Ke6?Miles misses his chance:44...Kd4!, to support the b-pawn and free the rook for active service, gives him a reasonable chance of a draw.45.Kf4Ra746.Rxb5Rf7+47.Rf5Rh748.h5Rb749.h6Rh750.Rh5Kf651.Kg4Kg652.e5Re753.h7Rxh754.Rxh7Kxh755.Kf5Kg756.Ke6Kg657.Kd7Kf558.e6Kf459.e7Kg360.e8Q... yes, that's right 60 e8 and not 60 e8Q - because there wasn't a spare queen handy when they were playing the game, apparently. By the strict rules, the game should not have continued with the players pretending that a pawn was a queen, but that is what happened. What follows is the final position of the game, with Miles mated by the pawn on c1. A favourite position of chess quizmasters...1–0
The introduction of leading overseas players into The Master Game had some interesting side-effects. Previously, British chess fans had only experienced their chessboard heroes via the written word and photographs (unless one was lucky enough to have met them in the flesh at a post-Hastings simul, say), so to have them talking to us via a cathode ray tube was bliss. Those of us who lacked the deep reverence due to grandmasters and were prone to mimicry were parroting their various catchphrases and other linguistic oddities whilst playing our friends at the local club. I regret to say that I utilise the first person plural here with good reason as I was one of the irreverent brethren.
My particular favourite was Vlastimil Hort (above), with his lugubrious self-castigations, delivered in a rich Middle European accent: “Yes, yes, of course, he plays Beeshop ee six... oh, what am I to do?... Vlastimil, you play vaary slowly!”, etc.
However, probably the all-time favourite for those who like mimicking GMs has to be Viktor Korchnoi, with his odd mixture of falsetto and basso profundo, words interspersed with asthmatic breaths (like musical rests), then a rapid burst of beautifully articulated syllables, as if he were racing to make the time control. I would need a musical stave to annotate this accurately but let’s try: “Here [rest] I play [rest]... er... beeshop ee FAIVE [fortissimo] [rest] with possibEEELITY of rook [rest] c7 [rest] as in my game [rest] with [rest] AnatolykarpovinNINEteenseventyFAIVE!”. Wonderful stuff – if only Mike Yarwood had watched The Master Game. I may be mis-remembering, but I always felt Viktor fixated on the number ‘five’ – certainly this featured strongly in my own rendition of his dulcet tones.
We haven’t room for a full blow-by-blow account of seasons four to eight, but I should list the winners: 1978/79 Larsen; 1979/80 Lothar Schmid (beating a distinctly “dischuffed” Walter Browne in the final); 1980/81 Nigel Short; 1981/82 Eric Lobron; and 1982/83 (finally) Tony Miles.
Another Master Game star: the teenage chess prodigy Nigel Short
One cannot help feeling particularly sorry for Tony Miles, even though he won that last series, beating Karpov in the final, as it was never screened on British TV as the result of some stupid TV industrial action which everyone has long since forgotten about. Two years previously it had been bad enough when he had had to lower his flag to the young pretender to his crown as Britain’s top chess player, Nigel Short, and then these annoying TV malcontents deprived him (and us) of seeing him beat Karpov through absolutely no fault of his. I’ve made it worse by giving three of his Master Game disasters. So let’s finish with Tony’s triumph in the final Master Game series against the World Champion.
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1.e4
1,184,215
54%
2421
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1.d4
958,932
55%
2434
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1.Nf3
286,327
56%
2441
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1.c4
184,722
56%
2443
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1.g3
19,884
56%
2427
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1.b3
14,598
54%
2428
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1.f4
5,953
48%
2377
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1.Nc3
3,906
50%
2384
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1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
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1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
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1.d3
969
50%
2378
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1.g4
670
46%
2361
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1.h4
466
54%
2382
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1.c3
439
51%
2425
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1.h3
289
56%
2420
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1.a4
118
60%
2461
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1.f3
100
47%
2427
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1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
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1.Na3
47
62%
2476
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1.e4c6No 'disrespectful'1...a6antics against Karpov this time, as per Tony's more famous victory at Skara in 1980. Instead, Tony mimics the world champion's opening repertoire but spices it up a bit.2.d4d53.Nd2dxe44.Nxe4Nf6All the rage in those days, with several of the top British GMs being aficionados, but Miles came fairly new to it.5.Nxf6+gxf66.Nf3The following year Karpov preferred6.c3against Miles in Oslo but they transposed back to the same position within a couple more moves.6...Bf57.Bf4Nd78.c3Qb69.b4It would probably amount to 'annotation by result' to criticise this move but it certainly allowed Miles the sort of messy fight that he would relish. Karpov and his minions did their homework and diverged with9.Bd3the following year. That game proceededBxd310.Qxd3Qxb211.0-0Qa312.Rfb1and White went on to outplay his opponent in typical Karpovian fashion.9...e510.Bg30-0-011.Be2h512.0-0Be4Miles later thought he should have preferred12...Bg4here.13.Nd2Bd514.Bxh5exd415.c4Be616.a3Ne517.Re1d318.c5Qb519.Rb1Bh620.a4Qa621.f4Nc422.b5cxb523.Rxb5Na324.Rb2Nc2!?Tony could play24...Nc4to repeat the position but he must have been enjoying this complicated brawl with the world champion too much to want to stop now. Computers think he is still slightly worse but objectivity has long since gone out of the window here.25.Bf3Karpov was now down to about two minutes - Miles had never seen him in such time trouble before - while Miles himself had about five.Bd526.Re7Bf827.Bxd5Rxd528.Rbxb7?An almost unprecedented time trouble blunder from Karpov. Miles had planned28.Rexb7Bxc5+where Karpov, in the post mortem, proposed29.Bf2, when any result is still possible.28...Bxe729.Rxe7Qc6!30.Rxf7Rxc5?It's still very complicated, but Black should probably have played30...Nd4!here, when he is close to wrapping things up.31.Qg4+!f5Suddenly Black has problems again.31...Kb8?32.f5+Ka833.Qg7would be catastrophic.32.Qg7?32.Rxf5shouldn't lose, with Black's king vulnerable to attack. but Karpov blunders again in his desperate time trouble.32...Re8Now Black is winning again.33.h4Ne3!Now Black is not just winning, but winning quickly.34.Bf2Rc1+35.Kh2Ng4+36.Kg3Nxf237.Nf3Ne4+38.Kh2d239.Nxd2Nxd20–1
Two series of The Master Game are being released on DVD. Each series features all 13 original episodes in a two-DVD set. The DVDs are region-free and will work in all countries. Series Six was filmed/broadcast in 1980-1. Contestants included: Bent Larsen, Nigel Short, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Byrne, Tony Miles, Lothar Schmid and Jan Hein Donner. Presenters: Jeremy James & William Hartston. Running Time: 6 hours 30 mins.
Series Seven was filmed / broadcast in 1981-2. Contestants included: Andras Adorjan, Nigel Short, Walter Browne, Eric Lobron, Raymond Keene, Larry Christiansen, Miguel Quinteros and Hans-Joachim Hecht. Presenters: Jeremy James & William Hartston. Also included on this special edition is a bonus BBC documentary – The Lowdown: The Master of the Game – which follows the rise to international success of a young Matthew Sadler. Running Time: 7 hours.
BBC: The Master Game Series 7 (2 DVD Video Set) Trailer
Release Date: Monday 29 July - RRP £22.99 per series / CHESS Magazine subscribers £20.69 per series / £40 for both series TO ORDER CALL 020 7288 1305 or online from the Chess & Bridge Shop.
CHESS Magazine was established in 1935 by B.H. Wood who ran it for over fifty years. It is published each month by the London Chess Centre and is edited by John Saunders. The Executive Editor is Malcolm Pein, who organised the London Chess Classic.
CHESS is mailed to subscribers in over 50 countries. You can subscribe from Europe and Asia at a specially discounted rate for first timers here or from North America here.
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In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
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