Chess

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I consume a lot of chess media - mostly YouTube, and to be frank, mostly Gotham Chess, aka Levy Rozman. I have a lot of time for his content: he's informed, punchy, continually up-to-date and entertaining. I even bought his book, ferchrissakes; pre-ordering it months in advance: I have to say it's one of the best chess books I've got in my collection. Also I like his New York attitude: it reminds me of Birmingham. It's sharp, sassy and acerbic: takes no prisoners, but warm at the same time, just like Winson Green.

My history of chess media consumption goes much further back in time, however: Levy, after all, is younger than my son. I remember watching a regular, late night programme on TV, back in the mid-to-late-sixties, when I managed to convince my parents that their out-going-soon-to-be-replaced TV should - well - go to me, on its replacement by a more modern alternative. It was a Stella - I think a sub-brand of Phillips - and was for its day, impressively large: probably a seventeen-inch screen, gloriously monochrome and having just the two channels: BBC and ITV.

I used to revel in the then [TV generally finished well before midnight, just as it only really started in the early evening] experimental late-night/early morning programming of ITV, which included all manner of eccentric programming, including one which was simply about chess: specifically the analysis of over the board high-level games, mostly involving Grandmasters. Punchy it wasn't, but enthralling it most certainly was: the most unlikely of late night entertainment for my early adolescent self. I guess some things don't really change that much, just the mode of delivery...





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