BBC Two’s new eight-episode series Chess Masters: The Endgame, aired on Monday evening at 8pm between Mastermind and University Challenge, has provoked strong but sharply divided reactions, both among television critics and seasoned chess experts and amateurs.
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan called it “so dull it’s almost unwatchable”. Although when she says “the flurry of interest in chess was five years ago”, it seems that she missed the publicity bursts for the Magnus Carlsen v Hans Niemann 2022 feud and for Jeansgate 2024, as well as the tens of millions of daily internet games for the world’s fastest growing sport.
