Magnus Carlsen: The world chess champion thinks it would be close if he played Beth Harmon of "The Queen’s Gambit"

[Go4Broke]

Apparently, the entire chess world is watching "The Queen's Gambit". Former world chess champion Gary Kasparov was a consultant for the Netflix series. I don't even play chess and I'm into it.


Magnus Carlsen: 'Chess has not been very kind to women over the years'

On his Instagram feed, Magnus Carlsen imagined a photoshopped match against Beth Harmon, the fictional heroine of Netflix’s smash hit chess series The Queen’s Gambit. “I think it would be close,” he wrote.

In reality, Carlsen stands alone at the top of the global game, the unrivalled great of his generation. But he says there is no reason a real world Harmon could not one day succeed him – if a game with a notoriously chauvinistic history can become more hospitable to its prospective female superstars.

“This is a problem that’s been around in chess for a long time,” the Norwegian said in a Zoom interview. “Chess societies have not been very kind to women and girls over the years. Certainly there needs to be a bit of a change in culture.”

Carlsen has a couple of amused reservations about the TV series – like the way its players are often stunned by a checkmate move they hadn’t seen coming, which “never happens” – but its portrayal of Harmon is not one of them.

One of the show’s best features, he said, was the rebuke it offered to more primitive voices in the game. “I love the fact that once Beth started to have results and once it became clear she had great ability, there was not a lot of ‘I don’t think she can be any good because she’s a girl’. All of that disappeared. It was very, very pleasing that she was judged by her ability and not her gender.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...s-interview-queens-gambit-beth-harmon-netflix

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov on What The Queen’s Gambit Gets Right

The Russian grandmaster explains what he contributed to the hit Netflix series.

slate.com

The Kasparov interview in Slate:

Netflix’s popular miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, which follows a young chess prodigy as she ascends the ranks of U.S. and world championship tournaments, has earned widespread praise from chess enthusiasts, historians, and even professionals for its startlingly accurate portrayal of chess gameplay and the world of high-stakes competition. Much of the reason The Queen’s Gambit has avoided the mockery that so many other depictions of the game have received is that the show’s creators consulted with chess heavyweights, including instructor Bruce Pandolfini (who advised the novel The Queen’s Gambit is adapted from) and grandmaster Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion considered by some to be the greatest player ever. I spoke with Kasparov to learn more about his work on The Queen’s Gambit, what the show gets right about chess in the ’60s, and how it compares with other on-screen depictions of the game. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity

 

[BleedGopher]

In a former life I was a nationally ranked chess player. I played in tournaments all over the country and I still play casually. I do hope to play competitively at some point down the road.

Queen's Gambit has been all the rage in the chess world and rightfully so. It's a fantastic show, the technical aspect of the game itself in the show is fantastic and not a surprise that Kasparov served as a consultative for the show. Great stuff.

Go Queen's Gambit!!

 

[BleedGopher]

Checkmate! The chess business is suddenly booming

Chess, a game that can be traced back at least 1,500 years, is suddenly one of the coolest games topping wish lists this holiday season and retailers are struggling to keep it in stock.

The game’s popularity can be explained by two big factors: People are spending more time at home during the pandemic, and the popularity of “The Queen’s Gambit,” a Netflix show that follows fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon.

After the show premiered in October, sales of chess sets spiked by 87 percent in the United States, while book sales about the game rose 603 percent, according to market research firm NPD Group. The sudden gains come after flat and negative growth in those categories, according to the report.

“As Covid-19 hit, board games became more popular, and I’ve consistently commented in my reports that the basics will do well, chess being one of them,” said Gerrick Johnson, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets who covers the toy industry. “But again, no one knew chess would explode. Now it’s kind of too late. Retailers can increase orders and the makers can ship what they have from the warehouses, but they won’t be able to make more and satisfy demand until next year.”

Jeff Myers has operated The Chess Store, an online retailer devoted to the game, since 1999. He said he’s never experienced demand like he’s seeing in 2020.

“Me and my wife watched ‘The Queen’s Gambit' together and thought, ‘Wow this is a great show’ and we wondered if it would help the business,” Myers said. “From the day we watched it until now, business has really picked up.”

Checkmate! The chess business is suddenly booming

November sales are three times last year's levels, one chess store owner said.

www.nbcnews.com

Go Chess!!

 

[Go4Broke]