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Date: 13 Apr 2008 15:05:15
From: Rich Hutnik
Subject: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/12/numb3rs-checkmate-video/

Episode name is "Checkmate".

A pretty good episode actually.

- Rich




 
Date: 15 Apr 2008 13:10:48
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
On Apr 14, 10:49=A0am, Rich Hutnik <[email protected] > wrote:

> Anyhow, on this note, if there was a well done TV show that involved a
> chess player playing in tournaments, that's true to chess in that they
> get the name of the moves, set up, etc... correct, would people here
> watch it?

I suspect that, indeed, if the show was any good, it would attract a
lot of the people who are interested in Chess - at least who have any
time left to watch TV. The real question would be, though, would
anyone else watch it.

Ah, and have you caught my other post recently? Ages ago, I had
thought of getting chess unstuck, and felt that I could offer another
alternative to shaking up the openings that might be more palatable
than FischerRandom.

And 1/3 - 1/3 for a draw would presumably have some effect - in
tournaments, but not matches - on draws. But it's precisely the
matches, not tournaments, that attract the most attention from
spectators.

I didn't think I could come up with an idea that would get Chess out
of the less splashy and exciting mode it's been in ever since
Steinitz. Chess players will play what gives them the best chance of
winning in any individual game, and I didn't see any reasonable way to
drive a return to the days of Labourdonnais-McDonnel or Anderssen-
Kieseritzky.

But then I heard about how _komidashi_, requiring the player who
placed the first stone (Black) in Go to win by more than X points to
win, did just that for Go. So, based on that, I thought about how one
could modify Chess in an analogous manner to what was shown to work
for another game.

I finally came up with a notion. In terms of 10 points per game, for
checkmate by White the split is 10/0, a draw is 5/5, and checkmate by
Black is 0/10, the same as we have now.

But forcing stalemate also counts for a win - 8/2 for White, but 1/9
for Black.

And, to narrow the space for draw by insufficient material even
further, bare King also gets to be a win - 6/4 for White, but 2/8 for
Black.

The idea is that White is encouraged more to take risks and go all the
way for checkmate, and Black is rewarded well for even managing a bare
King victory. The game is made balanced, and the players are pushed
away from defensive play, without changing the rules of Chess (much).
(A rule needs to be present to allow a player baring the opponent's
King to press on for checkmate at his choice when that is possible as
well.)

I had thought to give some points to Black for drawing, but 4/6 turned
out to be too much; it would have stopped the scheme from working the
way I wanted, because except for a points offset that would cancel out
as players alternate colors, the effect would have been to penalize
Black instead of rewarding Black.

John Savard


 
Date: 14 Apr 2008 09:49:42
From: Rich Hutnik
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
On Apr 14, 1:52 am, "[email protected]" <[email protected] >
wrote:
> I wacthed a little of the show. They were calling a Nimz-Indian, first
> a Sicilian then a Grundfeld. They then showed a capture on d3 that was
> imposiable and called it d6. The final shot of the Chess Set has the
> black Knight on f8 and Bishop on g8. This spoiled the show for me.
> Terry

In the show, they showed a checkmate that happened 3 moves in that
wasn't a fool's mate. I will say that Numb3rs was somewhat a
promising sign, but unless the media starts showing the game
correctly, chess is going to have a hard time picking up chess
enthusiasts to continue to follow anything. Messing up the basics of
how the pieces are set up, shows contempt for players of the game,
which is not good.

Anyhow, on this note, if there was a well done TV show that involved a
chess player playing in tournaments, that's true to chess in that they
get the name of the moves, set up, etc... correct, would people here
watch it? If there are over 30 million people who play chess in the
USA (please correct this number if you have a better number), that
should be enough of an audience for a TV show, right? Maybe it could
be something like Numb3rs but instead of math, it is involved with
chess somehow.

- Rich


  
Date: 14 Apr 2008 12:08:11
From: Erich Schneider
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
Rich Hutnik <[email protected] > writes:

> Anyhow, on this note, if there was a well done TV show that involved a
> chess player playing in tournaments, that's true to chess in that they
> get the name of the moves, set up, etc... correct, would people here
> watch it?

A major subplot of the recent TV show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor
Chronicles" deals with chess - specifically, someone producing an
advanced chess-playing program (named "The Turk" after the famous 18th
century automaton) that may wind up becoming the world-destroying AI
"Skynet". One episode shows it playing in a tournament against other
programs. I don't know how authentic the chess was, though.

--
Erich Schneider [email protected]


   
Date: 14 Apr 2008 16:05:07
From: Jason Maxwell
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
"Erich Schneider" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Rich Hutnik <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > Anyhow, on this note, if there was a well done TV show that involved a
> > chess player playing in tournaments, that's true to chess in that they
> > get the name of the moves, set up, etc... correct, would people here
> > watch it?
>
> A major subplot of the recent TV show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor
> Chronicles" deals with chess - specifically, someone producing an
> advanced chess-playing program (named "The Turk" after the famous 18th
> century automaton) that may wind up becoming the world-destroying AI
> "Skynet". One episode shows it playing in a tournament against other
> programs. I don't know how authentic the chess was, though.
>
From comments on the sf.tv newsgroup the chess was accurate, even if a key
piece of terminology was used incorrectly.

An episode of House featured chess as well, apparently its a popular pastime
on the set, according to the DVD extras about the episode.

Jason




 
Date: 13 Apr 2008 22:52:57
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
I wacthed a little of the show. They were calling a Nimz-Indian, first
a Sicilian then a Grundfeld. They then showed a capture on d3 that was
imposiable and called it d6. The final shot of the Chess Set has the
black Knight on f8 and Bishop on g8. This spoiled the show for me.
Terry


 
Date: 13 Apr 2008 17:52:07
From:
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
On Apr 13, 7:58=A0pm, Rick Jones <[email protected] > wrote:
> Rich Hutnik wrote:
> >http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/12/numb3rs-checkmate-video/
>
> > Episode name is "Checkmate".
>
> =A0 =A0 Which was also the title of an old '60s era TV show which showed a=

> chess board during the title sequence. It was a detective show if memory
> serves me.
> =A0 =A0 Yep. IMDB to the rescue:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053491/

Used to watch that show regularly in my early teens. I don't recall
any chessboard in the opening titles. Instead they showed a bunch of
swirling liquids, like different colors of paint mixing. It's seen
very briefly at the begining of this clip from 1962:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DJg8asTWuLz4


  
Date: 14 Apr 2008 18:37:40
From: Rick Jones
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
[email protected] wrote:
> On Apr 13, 7:58 pm, Rick Jones <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Rich Hutnik wrote:
>>> http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/12/numb3rs-checkmate-video/
>>> Episode name is "Checkmate".
>> Which was also the title of an old '60s era TV show which showed a
>> chess board during the title sequence. It was a detective show if memory
>> serves me.
>> Yep. IMDB to the rescue:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053491/
>
> Used to watch that show regularly in my early teens. I don't recall
> any chessboard in the opening titles. Instead they showed a bunch of
> swirling liquids, like different colors of paint mixing. It's seen
> very briefly at the begining of this clip from 1962:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg8asTWuLz4

Hmmm, that is not the opening sequence that I remember for the show.
Perhaps they changed it from one season to another. Then again, it's
been 40+ years since I've seen it so who knows what sort of tricks my
memory is playing.

--

Rick Jones
Remove the Extra Dot to e-mail me

The Lake Erie & Oregon Railroad
http://www.geocities.com/seventysixinchesoffun/

I married my wife for her looks...but not the ones she's been
giving me lately!


 
Date: 13 Apr 2008 18:58:50
From: Rick Jones
Subject: Re: Chess is the theme of an episode of the TV show Numb3rs
Rich Hutnik wrote:
> http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/04/12/numb3rs-checkmate-video/
>
> Episode name is "Checkmate".

Which was also the title of an old '60s era TV show which showed a
chess board during the title sequence. It was a detective show if memory
serves me.
Yep. IMDB to the rescue: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053491/

--

Rick Jones
Remove the Extra Dot to e-mail me

The Lake Erie & Oregon Railroad
http://www.geocities.com/seventysixinchesoffun/

What do you get when you cross Cape Canaveral with Lawrence
Welk? A countdown that goes, "And a 10, and a 9, and an 8,..."