Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Spoilt Chess Kids

Wow! Did you see this? According to FIDE, winners of the currently ongoing Asian Youth Championships 2007 in Al-Ain, UAE will be awarded with pure gold medals! These kids are just so spoilt, you know. Just check out the venue. And 5-star accommodation? Wow!

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.
Nate: Sicilian Defense. Sign of an idiot.
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?

3 comments:

Phil Willis said...

Some of my favourite "idiots" play the Sicilian defence. Bobby Fischer included. ;)

Anonymous said...

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.

Professor Freedom said...

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.