Speaking of spoilt chess kids, tonight I saw an episode of House entitled, The Jerk. It's about some 16-year old chess prodigy that falls to some mysterious illness and the unorthodox Dr House then has to try and fix him. Problem is this prodigy is a complete dick! You just wanna smack him.
Anyway in one scene, while Dr House and the kid play blitz, the following dialogue takes place:
House: Bird's Opening. Passive approach. Sign of a coward.What the...? I suppose we can put that down to ignorant scriptwriters. Or perhaps some of you think that there are some truths in those lines?
Nate: Sicilian Defense. Sign of an idiot.
3 comments:
Some of my favourite "idiots" play the Sicilian defence. Bobby Fischer included. ;)
I didn't see the episode, but happened to see the 'making of...' show about the series. It seems that Hugh Laurie, a keen chess player in his younger days, insisted on composing a game of chess to fit the scene - as far as I know a rare effort in TV-land. I've been trying to find if the game is available - no luck yet.
Perhaps the 'idiot' comment was just his inevitable comeback dictated by his 'jerk' character, regardless of the opening played.
The show employed real masters to design a real game that fit the character's personalities. House is clearly playing 1. ...C5 in response to his opponent's Bird's opening, which The Jerk evidently believes is not a strong response here. It's still how I respond to Bird's too, mostly to try to steer the game into more familiar territory. The game is never finished, but House does discover a winning continuation--while the kid is in a coma.
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