Sunday, October 27, 2013

The Chess Scene

(Some of the content below has been updated for July 2014)

What a surprise, while lazily watching TV, to discover some program that has a chess theme or a few scenes featuring the game.   For the past few months, I have monitored Dish Network using their keyword-search feature for chess-related episodes on any show.  Below is what I have come up with, and I hope they will be of some interest to you in this short blog.



Chess in Concert is the musical adaptation of the play/musical Chess.  The film has been featured on the Spanish language satellite channel Vme as Chess en Concierto.  The program has been rebroadcast many times on Dish Network and Direct TV.





Have Gun – Will Travel, a regular TV series in the late 1950s, handed Paladin, the show's intellectual gunslinger, played by Richard Boone, a search for a stolen chess set.  This last played in July of 2013 on the Encore Western Channel as Gun Shy, episode 154 of the series.

Mr. Monk and the Genius is a detective series in which Mr. Monk matches wits with a Grandmaster.  This was episode number two of season seven broadcast on the ION channel.

Law and Order Criminal Intent episode 11 of season 4 called Gone has the show's two detectives grappling with a murderous chess Master.  This did broadcast again Tuesday November 5, 2013 at 5PM Central Time on WGN.


For a full movie about a cunning chess Master with nefarious intentions, Return from the Ashes fits the bill.  Made in 1965, this fascinating B&W thriller about a desperately poor, suave gigolo/Polish chess master who selfishly plots for wealth–with lies and affairs and murder on the side.  This last played on TCM on October 3, 2013.

Chess Mom is episode six of season 4 of Dexter's Laboratory highlighting the boy genius' mom and her lack of chess etiquette during a championship tournament.  This played again on November 6th at 12:30AM Central Time on the channel Boomerang.

Frasier is consistently defeated by his dad at chess in episode 18 of season 3 called Chess Pains.
This will air again Thursday at 12:30am July 10, 2014 on the HLMRK Channel 185 on Dish HD.










Here are more shows featuring chess scenes:

Magnum, P.I.
(1986) Higgins' half brother is in a chess tournament.  Airs July 10, 2014 at 1:00pm on Dish FETV.

Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
(2013) A robot plays as a chess team member in disguise.   Airs on DISXD, Saturday July 12, 2014 at 10:30am.

Leverage
(2011) The team steal a calibration weight during an international chess tournament.  Airs on WPXX on Dish Sunday July 13, 2014.

The movie Searching for Bobby Fischer ran on the HDNMV channel 130 and 9423 of Dish Network at 10:45 PM Central Time November 8, 2013. 

The Luzhin Defence movie played on INDIE at 4:05AM and 3:30 PM Central Time,  November 9, 2013 on channel 378 of Dish Network.
Also see this link:
 http://youtu.be/CkkxIFAqlOc


To find movies and TV shows yourself, if you know how to use the search feature on your dish or cable guide, type in the keyword "chess," and see what you too can come up with.



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Chess Tournaments in the Mid-South

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A different Bluff City area chess club to visit for almost each day of the week at this link:





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