The “Gambits”

[Joe]

It is an occupational hazard. I'm an analytical chemist and I often find myself screaming at the TV when watching CSI shows.

Or...as a bartender, watching the bozo's toss bottles around behind the bar... are you a bartender or a juggler. Or... as a realtor..... these TV real estate shows are so contrived .... such as picking one of three homes to buy--- that never happens. Or rushing to get the house ready for open house.. when everyone knows you rarely sell a house that way. What you do is pick up leads for potential buyer clients (they're out looking, right?) or potential sellers(they're thinking of selling and are gathering info about values by looking around ).
In my bartending life I've listen to all kinds "analytical" discussions.....and.. the engineers/scientists win hands down. Ya gotta love 'em. btw, these are the guys who actually calculate their tips....(notice I didn't rate their generosity) doctors and politicians are the worst.... entrepreneurs or folks in sales are near the top, but the best tippers, of course, are waiters and fellow bartenders.

 

[Kings Gambit]

I would be interested in your comments after seeing the movie....

I've finally seen the movie (mini-series) while staying at a friend's house with a Netflix subscription. We looked it up and watched all of the episodes in one evening. It is indeed a excellent movie; very well done. I did not see anything in it that undermined authenticity with respect to playing chess. Serious players do study a lot, do see winning combinations several moves in advance, do resign a lost game many moves before its actual conclusion. Modern Chess Openings is an actual publication of which I have my own copy. Also, My Chess Career by J.R. Capablanca is a famous (and loved) story of the Cuban Chess prodigy. These were mentioned in the "movie." Prodigies do play simultaneous games in exhibition, do win all or nearly all of them.

The tournament settings were true. "Touch move" is a tournament rule; one does record her/his moves. We do punch clocks. There is prize money, sometimes in the thousands for winning, etc. Soviet International Grand masters did travel and play using "seconds." Those were Soviet state-supported jobs. Tournament games are sometimes adjourned with a sealed move. In the movie Beth did not have state-supported seconds b/c that's not our system. But is was comedy that her friends analyzed her last game, which was adjourned, all night to help her out for the final day of play. Actual play appeared authentic; moves and positions of actual games were probably shown. The human interest portion was credible. Gifted kids and prodigies of the arts (including chess) are often eccentric, not social, fall victim to substance abuse and die young or burn themselves out early in life--e.g., the comparison made with the American Grandmaster Paul Morphy, the "Pride and Sorrow of Chess." Good Movie. No comparison here with the goof-ball scenes of All is Lost. Those would be comparable to watching Grandmasters play chess with the pieces set up incorrectly on the board. Now that would be sad.

 

[Joe]

I've finally seen the movie (mini-series) while staying at a friend's house with a Netflix subscription. We looked it up and watched all of the episodes in one evening. It is indeed a excellent movie; very well done. I did not see anything in it that undermined authenticity with respect to playing chess. Serious players do study a lot, do see winning combinations several moves in advance, do resign a lost game many moves before its actual conclusion. Modern Chess Openings is an actual publication of which I have my own copy. Also, My Chess Career by J.R. Capablanca is a famous (and loved) story of the Cuban Chess prodigy. These were mentioned in the "movie." Prodigies do play simultaneous games in exhibition, do win all or nearly all of them. The tournament settings were true. "Touch move" is a tournament rule; one does record her/his moves. We do punch clocks. There is prize money, sometimes in the thousands for winning, etc. Soviet International Grand masters did travel and play using "seconds." Those were Soviet state-supported jobs. Tournament games are sometimes adjourned with a sealed move. In the movie Beth did not have state-supported seconds b/c that's not our system. But is was comedy that her friends analyzed her last game, which was adjourned, all night to help her out for the final day of play. Actual play appeared authentic; moves and positions of actual games were probably shown. The human interest portion was credible. Gifted kids and prodigies of the arts (including chess) are often eccentric, not social, fall victim to substance abuse and die young or burn themselves out early in life--e.g., the comparison made with the American Grandmaster Paul Morphy, the "Pride and Sorrow of Chess." Good Movie. No comparison here with the goof-ball scenes of All is Lost. Those would be comparable to watching Grandmasters play chess with the pieces set up incorrectly on the board. Now that would be sad.

Thanks, I'm inspired to watch the series again... it's only 7 episodes including the final... my kind of mini series.