On Jan 19, 8:21 am, richardhut...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> I have asked this before on here I believe. Well, the death of
> Fischer begs the question once more. I also posted this on Boardgame
> geek:http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/278704
>
> Bobby Fischer's death is in the news, and causes people to remember
> the 1970s, when chess was king, and people tuned into PBS to watch
> chess. Chess was a culturally iconic back then. I remember reading Mad
> Magazine when I was a kid, and they actually did a spoof with a chess
> based superhero. Fischer made all the magazine covers, and it was
> WWIII on the board. It wasn't just the Cold War either. When America
> beat Russia in the Winter Olympics at hockey, and played them, there
> wasn't an outbreak of hockey all over, like there was with Chess. I
> remember when I was a kid in the 1970s, there was a chess store that
> opened up near where I lived.
>
> So, what has happened here? There is no chess on TV now. Rock, Paper,
> Scissors made it to ESPN. Hot dog eating made ESPN. Poker is all over
> TV. Scrabble is on TV also. But, there isn't chess. As far as I know,
> no one has even bothered to pick up the rights to the World Mind Sport
> Games in China either for western broadcast. The event has Chess,
> Checkers, Go, Chinese Chess, and Bridge also, and is pretty big event
> (first of its kind, and an offshoot of the Olympics). There was a
> chess championship for over $1.5 million in Mexico last year, and no
> one even knew of it, outside of the chess world.
>
> So, again I ask, why is there no chess on TV? Also, any ideas what can
> be done to get it on TV? Chess could open the doorway for a lot of
> boardgames ending up on TV, if it could be on TV and remain there. My
> take is the pacing of the moves, plus excessive amount of draws where
> players score equally for the draw, are two major factors why not.
>
> Please don't get me started about American Gladiator being back, or
> the fact that guys fixing motorcycles has a TV show. I can close by
> saying a program about people have dirty jobs actually is on TV now.
> Come on! All this and no chess?
>
> - Rich
I think the answer is because true chess enthusiasts don't watch much
TV.
I think the Internet or traditional publishing is a much better
medium. I would love to download the game records of the Mexcian
chess tournament you mentioned, especially the top games (i.e.
longest) off of an Internet site and I would pay for that.
R
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