Loads of Chess Footage
The Associated Press and British Movietone have released many, many hours of their old footage to the web, and there's a good deal of chess footage included. Here are some links, some from Brian Karen, who told me about this, and some I found doing a little exploration of my own:
1. Jose Raul Capablanca & Salo Flohr giving a simul.
2. Boris Spassky interviewed after losing the 1972 match to Bobby Fischer.
3. Anatoly Karpov giving a simul in 1977; opponents include a very young Nigel Short.
4. A long (14 minute) report on the then-ongoing world championship match between Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Baguio City in 1978. There are some mistakes made by the commentators; for instance, at one point they refer to Korchnoi as having a 4-2 lead, when in fact it was the other way around.
5. Footage of Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky, from their first world championship match in 1966.
6. Also from the great (chess) year of 1966: footage from the Havana Olympiad, including the draw between Fischer and Spassky.
7. More Spassky: six minutes or so of footage from Hastings 1965/66. Spassky went +6 but only tied for first with Wolfgang Uhlmann, a point and a half ahead of Evgeni Vasiukov and two points in front of Svetozar Gligoric and Helmut Pfleger.
8. More Hastings: the next year's event featured Mikhail Botvinnik (who won with 6.5/9) and a very young Henrique Mecking; Uhlmann came in second this time, a point behind the Patriarch.
There are doubtlessly many more gems, and I hope you'll share the best ones you find in the comments.
Reader Comments (2)
There is of course the Russian movie Chess Fever.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015673/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1a
[DM: Sure, there's tons of chess on the web. I was curious about what goodies readers might find from the just released treasure trove from the AP and British Movietone.]
Make sure to click Full Cast.
Some more to make you drool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuyMzb5_tlU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v_5hazo938
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wv8-PtWsn4
[DM: Likewise with these, but the third one was new to me. Interesting to see Donner and the young Ree in action.]
There's a short video (a minute or 2) of the moment in Argentina when Fischer beat Petrosian to progress to the match with Spassky. I read somewhere recently that it was the largest ovation Fischer ever received - amazing to hear it, and the Argentines chanting his name. :-)