Rook's Rudimentary Resources - ChessVideos.tv

Josh Specht called my attention to his excellent ChessVideos.TV site back in February of this year (at that time it was called ChessVideos.com). What is ChessVideos.TV, you ask? Josh explains:

ChessVideos.TV is a community driven site where anybody can record and upload and videos of themselves playing chess or analyzing games. Of course, our resident chess expert, Josh Specht is always there to provide his expert analysis whether in the forum or through his videos.

Did I mention everything on the site is FREE! All you need to do is register for access to the discussion forums and from there you can view the entire collection of videos - which are organized into the following categories:

• Beginner's Videos


• Int/Advanced Videos


• Game Analysis Videos


• Endgame Lesson Videos


• Chess Puzzle Videos

In the realms of education (I'm a former teacher) we had the saying "Tell me I forget, show me I remember, involve me I understand." Well, the "show me" part is definitely here, but what's even better is the "involve me" part is also present thanks to this neat little twist:

Our secret is to embed the videos directly in the forum, so you can conveniently view and discuss the videos at the same time!

There is a lot of interesting stuff here. Of course, the quality of the material varies quite a bit (both the presentation and the information) but this is to be expected given the "community' nature of the site. Even so, you are bound to find some items that will not only entertain you, but educate you at the same time. With the recently added live "chat room" and the ability to search for a particular video the site keeps getting better.

In addition to the videos, you'll also find a "puzzle of the day" and a set of very useful chess blogging tools:

• Puzzle of the Day - An interactive chess puzzle (you can make the moves right on the board). Currently, there are over 100 "Past Puzzles of the Day" you can also try.


• Diagram Generator - Simply set up the pieces on the board (or generate them from FEN) to create a Chess Diagram which you can add to your blog (the resulting chess diagram is hosted on the ChessVideos.tv server and you then link to it).


• Game Replayer - Paste your PGN chess game into the text box and your are given a link to play back your game using their replayer, or you can post the game in their forums, or you can grab some code to display the game on your blog or website (Like the diagrams, the games are hosted on their servers permanently - the won't be deleted unless you ask.)


• Puzzle Creator - Uses a wizard to set up and generate a chess puzzle - complete with hints. You can replay the puzzle from their link or grab the code to use in your blog or website.


• Qoute of the Day - "Every day we will pick a new chess quote, which you can insert right into your web page or blog. Inserting it is simple and every day it will update automatically with a fresh quote!" Cool - I'm using it now - look in the upper left of this blog page.

Overall, because of the usefullness of this site and that fact that it is free, I would rate ChessVideos.TV a definite 4-out-of-4 stars!

Look for the next installment of the series Rook's Rudimentary Resources each Monday.

The Future of Internet Chess is Arriving Soon..

Microsoft had just announced their incredible new "Surface" computing platform (for details please see www.microsoft.com/surface and the article at Popular Mechanics).

This new computer system will revolutionize the way we play chess on the Internet. See for yourself in the "Microsoft PlayTogether" demo video from Microsoft TechFest 2007.

Note: You can also access the video at the bottom of the 3rd page of the Popular Mechanics article (www.popularmechanics.com/surfacecomputing).

Very cool stuff!

"The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer" Cable TV Special

PROGRAM LISTING

The Mad Genius of Bobby Fischer - Repeat. "The tactics Bobby Fischer used to become
one of the world's best chess players."

... is showing on the Game Show Network (GSN) ON September, 23rd from 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT. You can find the GSN channel and program guide for your region here.

I probably watch TV less than 98% of the American population - maybe about 4 or 5 hours per week. However, because we have a Microsoft Media Center PC I can search the program guide for the word "chess" - which is how I came across the program when it aired back in August. It is now being repeated if you care to see it.

Needless to say, the show is less about chess than it is about the tragic life of the man himself. However, I did find the show interesting because there was a lot of video of Bobby Fischer playing chess from his early career up to the point when he abandoned serious play. The other great thing about the show is that they interview many famous US chess personalities. After hearing some of these names mentioned for years and years it was nice to actually match their names up with faces.

The 2nd half of the show had a lot of coverage (and video) too but it was less interesting from a chess perspective and probably of more interest to behavioral psychologists.

Whatever one thinks about Bobby Fischer, with all of his appalling behaviour and hateful invective, he did inspire a whole generation to get involved chess and made the game an exciting thing for those of us growing up in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies.

NOTE: The picture above is from the Time Magazine covering the 1972 match - which I still own and treasure to this day.

Chess on TV?

Would you, or anyone you know, actually watch a game of chess on TV for entertainment?

ChessBase News has an interesting article that proposes an idea that might work. Hey, if it can work for TV poker why not chess?

ChessBase columnist, Steven A. Lopez, makes the claim "Yes, chess on TV works if you do it right. The whole trick is to engage the audience."

Read the article - I think he might have a workable idea. What do you think?