- Chess of the Grandmasters
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Claus Spahn presenting the Chess of the Grandmasters TV programme with Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in 1996. Photo: WDR.
Chess of the Grandmasters (original title: Schach der Großmeister) is a former German TV programme. The programme was devised, supervised and presented by Claus Spahn.
Contents
History
Between 1983 and 2005, the programme was broadcast once a year by Germany's Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) broadcasting corporation. The concept of the programme was that two Grandmasters played a game of chess against each other that was commentated and analysed by two Grandmasters, Helmut Pfleger and Vlastimil Hort, and later also analysed by the chess program Fritz. The winner received the WDR TV Chess Award and had the opportunity to defend the title against a new challenger in the following year.
The invited players included Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Leko, Jan Timman and lot more. The first game was played in 1983 by Chess Worldchampion Anatoly Karpov and the strongest German player at that time, Robert Hübner. In the final broadcast in 2005, the two commentators Pfleger and Hort themselves played against each other.
In 1995, Kasparov won a two-game match (1½-½) against the Chess Genius 3 computer program. This contest attracted great attention in the media, because Kasparov had shortly before lost against this program in a Fast chess tournament in London.[1]
Examples of games
a b c d e f g h 8 
8 7 
7 6 
6 5 
5 4 
4 3 
3 2 2 1 
1 a b c d e f g h Hübner - Kasparow 1992, position after 14. ... f7-f5. Hübner played 15. Qe4xf5, after 15. ... Nd7-f6 there was no square for the attacked queen and Hübner resigned.The most remarkable games in the series included the victory of Judit Polgár, aged just 14 at the time, against the experienced German Grandmaster Rainer Knaak in 1990, as well as the defeat of Hübner against Kasparov in just 15 moves in 1992.
Judit Polgár – Rainer Knaak, Chess of the Grandmasters 1990
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 (the Winawer Variation of the French Defence, ECO code C18) 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.Ne2 Qxe5 10.Bf4 Qf6 11.Bg5 Qe5 12.cxd4 h5 13.Qh4 Qc7 14.Bf4 Qa5+ 15.Bd2 Qd8 16.g4 e5 17.dxe5 Bxg4 18.Rg1 Qd7 19.f3 Be6 20.Nd4 Nbc6 21.Nxc6 Nxc6 22.Rxg7 Qc7 23.f4 Nxe5 24.fxe5 Qxe5+ 25.Kf2 Qxg7 26.Rg1 Qb2 27.Bb4 f6 28.Re1 O-O-O 29.Rxe6 Kb8 30.Qxf6 Qa2 31.Qd4 Rc8 32.Bd2 Ka8 33.Be3 Rxc2+ 34.Bxc2 Qxc2+ 35.Ke1 Qb1+ 36.Kd2 Qa2+ 37.Kd1 Qb1+ 38.Ke2 Qc2+ 39.Bd2 Rf8 40.Qxd5 1-0
Games and results
Pfleger, Hort and Spahn at Cologne 2005The tables below list games than can be played (Java Script).
TV Chess Award:[2]
Year White Black Result Game 1983 Robert Hübner Anatoly Karpov Remis (1983) 1984 Viktor Korchnoi Robert Hübner 0-1 (1984) 1985 Robert Hübner Jan Timman 0-1 (1985) 1986 Tony Miles Jan Timman 0-1 (1986) 1987 Jan Timman Susan Polgar Remis (1987) 1988 Jörg Hickl Susan Polgar Remis (1988) 1989 Eric Lobron Judit Polgár Remis (1989) 1990 Judit Polgár Rainer Knaak 1-0 (1990) 1991 Judit Polgár Gerald Hertneck 0-1 (1991) 1992 Matthias Wahls Gerald Hertneck 1-0 (1992) 1993 Matthias Wahls Christopher Lutz Remis (1993) 1994 Christopher Lutz Jeroen Piket 0-1 (1994) 1995 Jeroen Piket Viswanathan Anand 0-1 (1995) 1996 Viswanathan Anand Vladimir Kramnik Remis (1996) 1997 Vladimir Kramnik Judit Polgár 1-0 (1997) 1998 Vladimir Kramnik Michael Adams 1-0 (1998) 1999 Artur Yusupov Jörg Hickl 1-0 (1999) 2000 Vladimir Kramnik Péter Lékó 1-0 (2000) 2001 Péter Lékó Viswanathan Anand Remis (2001) 2002 Anatoly Karpov Robert Hübner Remis, Remis, 0-1 (Fast chess) (2002) 2003 Jan Timman Arkadij Naiditsch 0-1 (2003) 2004 Arkadij Naiditsch Rustam Kasimdzhanov 1-0 (2004) 2005 Helmut Pfleger Vlastimil Hort Remis (2005) Other broadcasts:
Year White Black Result Remarks 1992 Garry Kasparov Robert Hübner Draw 1992 Robert Hübner Garry Kasparov 0-1 1992 Robert Hübner Garry Kasparov 0-1 Fast chess 1992 Garry Kasparov Robert Hübner 0-1 Fast chess 1995 Garry Kasparov Chess Genius 3 1-0[3] Computer 1995 Chess Genius 3 Garry Kasparov Remis[4] Computer References / Games
- ^ Wolfram Runkel: Champ schlägt Chip, Die Zeit 22/1995 (in German)
- ^ Archiv des Fernsehschachpreises results, games and pairings (in German)
- ^ Partie bei chessgames.com
- ^ Partie bei chessgames.com
- Die 25 Partien des Fernsehschachpreises und die 6 Partien der weiteren Sendungen des WDR by TeleSchach (in German)
External links
- Schach der Großmeister '97 : Wladimir Kramnik - Judit Polgar, 31. August 1997 in Köln (in German)
- WDR: Schach der Großmeister '98 - Wladimir Kramnik - Michael Adams, 16. August 1998 (in German)
- WDR: Schach der Großmeister '99 - Artur Jussupow - Jörg Hickl, 15. August 1999 (in German)
- Interview mit Claus Spahn, 12. Juli 2001 anläßlich der Verleihung des Deutschen Schachpreises 2001 (in German)
- "Schach der Großmeister" im WDR-Fernsehen am 12. August 2001 in Köln (in German)
- Zur letzten Sendung Schach der Großmeister am 24. August 2005 (in German)
Categories:- Chess competitions
- Chess in Germany
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