Hi everyone,
I am new to this site,so please be patient with me.
Does anyone remember the Master game on BBC TV in the late 70's & early 80's?I am trying to find some of the programs.
I've tried the BBC,does anyone know where I should go next?
Thanks in advance.

I don't, but you could try ChessGames.com Online Chess Games Database which has nearly all big games ever played. But then you'd have to know at least one of the players' names...

Hi Sean,

I tried to find footage as well but couldn't, nothing on YouTube for example. I was going to use some of it for a piece I wrote on Chess Tales.

Let me know how you get on in your search.

It would be great to see Nigel Short beating Gligoric again, or Christiansen getting abusive.

Best regards, Roger

p.s. a book of the first series was on eBay this week

Hey, and welcome to the forums Sean!

I've put out the call for you.

Hi everyone,
thanks for your replies.It is good to know you remember this great program.If we all keep looking it is bound to turn up.I have e-mailed the BBC and they were not that enthusiastic about the program or Chess.
Thanks for your efforts.

Sean,

can you let us know who you emailed at the BBC... maybe a bit of mass lobbying might persuade them to look properly into their archives.

My understanding is that the BBC were digitising all their old material that hadn't been destroyed. Fingers crossed.

Hi,
My reply from The BBC was info@bbc.co.uk.

In a search which caused a Safari crash, it appears that the show(s) are
not available. In fact not even listed.
Shop PBS
The above is the PBS listing of available material.
In the U.S. the show(s) were on PBS (weekly).
chessmovies.com the best source for chess movies
Does not list the product.
I have to wonder if the series were on tape or film.
Recalling the series, if it were the same shows as on the BBC
it had the look of film.
Film ended up in two ways: One, films were stored a warehouse and protected by gas to prevent breakdowns.
Or film companies cut the films and used the pieces as runners.
We have to hope the series ended up in some warehouse.

I remember this programme with affection and am sure that its format would still work. In The Master Gameby Jeremy James and Leonard Barden (BBC 1979) collecting the games of the first three series,'75-'77, the producer, Robert Toner, in his foreword writes:

"I had seen many forms of television chess coverage, but none of them was satisfactory. Pieces would disappear from one square and appear in another, and only experts seemed to be able to follow a game. Also, it was so remote, I felt no involvement with the game or the players. What we needed was direct access into their thoughts, not the high-speed technical thoughts of a chess-playing mind, but thoughts put in such a way that anyone who knew the rules would be able to follow the most complicated game" (p.7)

He certainly succeeded. He also states the programmes were video taped. According to the book a million and a half people watched this programme in Britain. Could a similar programme be as popular now? I think it could.