How to make chess a spectator sport? Talking Chess is the new
way to broadcast chess. Former World Championship Challenger GM Nigel Short
is playing a Talking Chess match, organized by the Iranian Chess Federation,
from 8-12 March 2013 in Tehran against GM Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, Iran’s
strongest player. There will be four standard chess games, four rapid and
eight blitz games.
Press conference with Maghami (2nd from right)
and Short (middle) before the match
Every six moves, players go to a secluded room and record their thoughts
on videocam. The live broadcast of the moves will be highlighted by the
recording of the players. It will be interesting to see how the players
think. Both may think they are ahead in the position. Or both may think
they are at a disadvantage.
Usually players give press conferences after the game and explain their
analysis. In Talking Chess, players share their analysis while the game
is going on! Neither player will be able to hear the other’s recording
although spectators in the hall will have headphones and the live analysis
will be broadcast on the Internet on the official Talkingchess site given
below.
This format may be what chess needs to enter television. Mehrdad Pahlevanzadeh,
originator of the Talking Chess Match, said that television companies in
Iran have shown great interest in the format and will make it a TV show.
Talking during the game
The idea is not completely new. A decade and a half ago, during the Intel
Grand Prix tournaments, an idea was developed to have two top players
– e.g. Kasparov and Anand – play against each other while
explaining to a host what they were thinking. Naturally the two would
be in separate locations and the moves communicated electronically. The
plan was to have them located on the observation decks of (sigh) the two
towers of the World Trade Center, in view of each other. Each would be
sitting at a board, opposite a host, who would get the moves of the opponent
by radio and execute them on the board. The host would also engage the
player in conversation, asking what he thought of the move, the position,
what plans he was mulling over, what his evaluation of the situation was.
A light would signal when the other side was discussing, in order to avoid
overlap. All this would be broadcast into a big hall filled with spectators
who could follow it on large screens, and it would be recorded for broadcast
on TV and for subsequent multimedia distribution.
Unfortunately the plan, which was developed by PCA board members the
Intel management, and was given green light by the latter, never actually
materialised. The BBC
Master Game was a prior simulation of the concept, and the Tehran
Talking Chess event is a contemporary first step in this direction. Perhaps
it will catch on – the original concept is interesting enough to
be revived and reconsidered.
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