Elite commentary team in place for Brains in Bahrain contest

Chess Siberia

Elite commentary team in place for Brains in Bahrain contest

The best known names in chess commentary will be coming together to cover the forthcoming ‘Brains in Bahrain’ (BIB) Man v Machine contest, Einstein Group announced today, 15th Sept.

The commentary team, consisting of Grandmaster (GM), Daniel King, International Master Malcolm Pein, GM Julian Hodgson, GM Nigel Short and Frederick Friedel of ChessBase, will between them, provide both television and Internet coverage of the eight-match tournament. The match is a straight duel, between World Classical Chess Champion, Vladimir Kramnik, and a powerful, eight parallel-processor computer, running the highest rated computer chess program, Deep Fritz.

Daniel King will provide the lion’s share of the TV commentary of the match. As well as being a chess professional for many years he is an author, journalist, TV presenter, chess commentator, chess coach and games consultant. Indeed, Daniel has written 13 books, including, ‘Kasparov-Deep Blue - The Ultimate Man v. Machine Challenge,’ (1997), and has been a TV presenter and commentator on four world chess championships which were broadcast on, BBC, Channel 4, Eurosport and Star TV in Asia, amongst others. As a journalist he has scripted and presented, two, half-hour documentaries on Radio 4. Daniel is tutor to several of England’s leading players. His TV career, both in front and behind the camera, includes: chess consultant to the TV series Holby City, and Games consultant on, Cilla Black’s, ‘Moment of Truth’. In 1994 and 1995, he featured in the UK national advertising campaign for Audi/Volkswagen cars.

Daniel King, says: “This is the strongest commentary team ever assembled for television and Internet coverage of chess…and befits this long awaited showdown between the top human player and the most dangerous computer opponent ever devised. The strength of the team shows Einstein’s TV commitment to produce groundbreaking programmes that will bring the game alive to those who already follow chess and those who are completely new to it. Using the interactive presentation direct from the Fritz program, viewers will be able to follow a game even if they do not know the rules of chess.”

The commentary team’s pedigree is unquestionable: Malcolm Pein, Former British Junior Champion, writes on chess for The Daily Telegraph,is Executive Editor of Chess Monthly and was Chess Consultant to IBM during the epic Deep Blue victory over Kasparov in 1997. He is founder of the London Chess Centre and author of several books. Formerly the voice on the Fritz program, he has commentated on chess for BBC, Sky and ITN.

Julian Hodgson was four times British Champion, and is holder of the highest score in the 100-year history of the Championship. He is a full time teacher – the premier coach in four of the top public schools in the country. He has written and published many chess books and has a career in chess commentary spanning 15 years.

Nigel Short, probably the best known British chess player, and former chess prodigy, is now ranked in the world’s top twenty - a World Chess Championship finalist in 1993 who eliminated the legendary Anatoly Karpov in 1992. Nigel is Chess correspondent of the Sunday Telegraph. He was awarded an MBE from the Queen for services to chess in 1999.

Frederic Friedel,, is one of the founders of the leading chess software company and manufacterers of Fritz, ChessBase (Germany). Frederic has been a friend and assistant to Garry Kasparov since 1985 and has worked with almost all the top players in the chess scene. He is also a journalist who has made TV documentaries on computers and artiificial intelligence. For 20 years he has edited the world’s largest computer chess magazine.

For immediate release, 15 September, 2002

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