BBC Two chess show keeps 710,000 viewers despite rocky opening week
Chess Masters: The Endgame, BBC Two's most ambitious chess programme for half a century, got off to a rocky start on 10 March, when its opening episode received some rough treatment from critics. The Guardian's Lucy Mangan called it 'so dull it's almost unwatchable'.
However, fears of a second week meltdown last Monday proved overblown. Viewers totalled 710,000, still nearly 6% of the television audience, and online comments were milder, focusing on the overdramatic commentary and the hyping of the players as 'rising stars' and 'masters'.
The producers would have been on safer ground using 'maestro', as the English Chess Federation allows this term for players performing at a 1400 rating level over a 12-month period.
Touch a piece, move that piece, is a basic chess rule for over the board games, but in episode two a player was allowed to touch his rook, then move his king, without comment.
Positively, the on demand Full Match version on iPlayer with David Howell's commentary has been highly praised, as was the BBC Four programme How to Win at Chess, a rerun of a 2009 programme with advice on improvement from GMs Ray Keene and Daniel King. This includes a rare section on chess boxing, where rounds alternate between the board and the ring until checkmate or knockout.
In Monday's third episode (BBC Two, 8pm) the second group of six players join the action. The new contestants include Kel, 39, from Bolton, who is an experienced league and tournament player and probably the favourite to win the whole competition.
For readers who would like to explore chess further, the English Chess Federation has an interactive map with the location of your nearest chess club, while details of clubs in Scotland, Wales and Ireland are here, here and here respectively.
Jonah Willow has been England's outstanding performer in the European Championship at the Romanian Black Sea resort of Eforie Nord, scoring 4/6 against strong opposition. The Nottingham 22-year-old, who already has one GM norm from Fagernes, Norway, last year, made a fine start, defeating a low ranked player in round one, then holding his own with four opponents rated 2600 or higher, before a gritty sixth round win.
Willow halved in round two against Spain's Jaime Santos, choosing a solid plan with central pressure against the Najdorf Sicilian. Then he won one of the best games of his career against Poland's Mateusz Bartel, using the rare Burn Variation of the French Defence to exploit White's inaccuracies and finishing with a clever tactic. To replay the Bartel v Willow game, click the menu at the bottom right of the link, scroll down to replay mode, then choose fast or slow as you prefer.
In round four against the strong Ukrainian Yuri Kuzubov, Willow opted for a well known drawing line in the Four Knights with multiple exchanges, but in round five he was beaten by Turkey's Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, at age 13 the youngest ever 2600-rated player.
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In Thursday's sixth round Willow scored a hard-fought win where he cleverly utilised opposite coloured bishops to attack his opponent's king. With 4/6 and five rounds to go after Friday's rest day, Willow remains well in contention for his second GM norm. His tournament performance rating (TPR) is 2593, very close to the 2600 needed.
Shreyas Royal, 16, England's youngest ever grandmaster, is on 3/6 after being paired with two of the top 10 seeds. The Greenwich teenager drew well with Armenia's Shant Sargsyan, lost narrowly to Germany's Frederik Svane, then had a sixth round setback against the Slovenian, Maksym Goroshkov, who sacrificed a knight for a crushing attack on the king.
Yang-Fan Zhou, aiming for his third and final GM norm, has 3.5/6, although against weaker opposition. Zhou scored a good draw in round six against the Italian GM Daniele Vocatero, but his TPR is only 2430, so that his norm chances are now slender. The same goes for Sohum Lohia, 16, England's No 2 junior after Royal, who also has 3.5/6, but with a TPR of only 2146 against the 2450 needed for his third and final IM norm.
3964: 1 Qf6+! Bxf6 2 gxf6+ Kxf6 (if 2…Kf8? 3 Rxd8 mate) 3 Ne4+ Ke7 4 Nxc5 and White wins with his extra knight.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Little Simz on breakthroughs, betrayal and becoming one of the UK's best-ever rappers: ‘I don't want to shy away from how I feel'
It's an unseasonably warm spring afternoon and sunlight is beaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows of a north London photo studio. When I arrive, Little Simz is out on the balcony. Wearing chunky sunglasses, a skirt and comfy cardigan, she sits on a chair with her back to the sun, eyes on the horizon, and pulls her legs up, wrapping her arms around her knees in a defensive position that's verging on foetal. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. It's curious body language for an artist at the top of her game. At 31, Simz is looking out at a city she can justifiably claim to have conquered since emerging as a teenage rapper more than a decade ago. But that's not where she's at right now. 'I genuinely felt like I could disappoint everyone,' Simz says when I ask about the making of her sixth album, Lotus. She gives an impression of what she said to her team at the start of the process. 'Sorry, everyone, this could be a big waste of your time, and if it is, I'm truly sorry, but I'm just not confident right now.' The crisis felt terminal, Simz tells me. It sprang from creative fatigue: six albums in a decade and relentless touring tends to do that to solo artists. That spark she naturally had in the studio just wasn't there this time, perhaps exacerbated by a very public schism with her friend, collaborator and producer Inflo. They are now embroiled in a messy legal battle over an alleged £1.7m in unpaid loans. She's explained the album title as a reference to 'one of the only flowers that thrive in muddy waters', but the seas she's been swimming in appear shark infested rather than just murky. She was close to calling it quits. At one point Simz sat down with Lotus producer Miles Clinton James to lay her cards on the table. 'I was just real with him. I said, 'Look, whatever you think this Little Simz shit is … I can't guarantee that's possible because I'm not even feeling it myself.' 'I just was a bit lost, to be honest,' Simz says. The first time I saw Simz perform was 11 years ago in a dark basement club in east London. She was still a teenager, making her live debut as a support act for the Atlanta rapper Future – tall, skinny and absolutely not fazed by a crowd made up of industry types as well as hardcore rap fans. Contemporary hip-hop can sometimes seem like a game of style over substance – more about the number of followers, the degree of posturing and the right connections than actual ability on the mic. Simz is an antidote to those excesses. Watching her at Glastonbury last year, she appeared with a backing band and little else, dropping into a cappella moments where her voice and lyrical ability were the only tools she needed. But even then, in that little basement back in 2014, she looked born to do it. Since that debut she has risen to become arguably the most exciting British musician of the last decade. There have been awards: a Mercury prize, an Ivor Novello, a Brit and a handful of Mobos. All of her albums have been critically praised, but the last three have cemented her as a mainstream success and darling of the critics. This year she's curating Meltdown, following in the footsteps of Grace Jones, David Bowie and Chaka Khan, and bringing herself, plus The Streets and Tiwa Savage, to London's Southbank Centre. She's also shooting two films, both still under wraps. And there have been viral online moments, too: a Chicken Shop date with Amelia Dimoldenberg where she talked about her love of Bell Hooks and Muay Thai kickboxing; and a few weeks back she freestyled with Usher after one of his sold-out O2 shows. What does she think young Simz would make of the artist she's become today? 'I think she'd just be proud,' she says, looking out over the London skyline. 'Like, wow, you actually did it. You actually did what you set out to do.' Did she have an established list of goals? 'Definitely playing the O2,' she says after a moment's thought. 'Even though that's not happened yet, it's happening.' Simz is set to play the venue in October, as part of a UK arena tour in support of Lotus. 'Even that is a crazy thing to wrap my head around,' she says. 'Or even just, like, going to the States and performing in New York, or curating Meltdown. I don't even think I knew what Meltdown was back then.' Born Simbiatu Ajikawo in 1994, Little Simz was raised in north London by her Nigerian mother Tola and three older siblings. Her father broke up with her mum and left the family home, which soon buzzed with activity thanks to a steady stream of foster children. 'I met so many different kids from all different walks of life who just became part of my family and who my mum nurtured and took care of,' Simz says. 'It was really beautiful. I gained newfound respect and appreciation for my family, knowing that it's not given that everyone has loving support … I never went a day without love.' When Simz won a Brit for best new artist in 2022, she brought her mum out on stage. 'It just really felt like she won best album that night and I just went up there to support her,' says Simz, who seems genuinely in awe of her mother. 'I thought, wow, you came to this country not knowing anyone, not knowing a word of English, and now your last born has just won a Brit … it's kind of crazy.' Growing up in north London, Simz experimented with various artistic disciplines. She danced (the hyperactive early 00s style known as krumping was a favourite); acted (starring in CBBC shows Youngers and Spirit Warriors); and rapped, appearing on stage at the O2 Academy aged 11, reciting her own work as part of a youth club also attended by Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke. The competing creative avenues were all maintained until she hit her mid-teens and a clear winner emerged. 'When I was maybe, like, 14 is when music became my world. I was just so immersed in it. This is me. This is what I want to be when I get older,' Simz says. The artists she most looked up to were Missy Elliott and Ms Dynamite. 'Watching early Missy videos … the beats were hard, so I always wanted to dance to them and make routines for them.' But what really impressed Simz was her artistry and uncompromising approach. Told by executives she wasn't thin enough, Elliott shot videos with Hype Williams in billowing black costumes that made a feature of her body type rather than diminishing it. Simz has spoken before about industry figures encouraging her to wear sexualised outfits – something anathema to an artist whose lyrical ability is their superpower. 'I don't want to compromise on that, because at that point I'd stop being myself,' she says. 'But maybe something that I wasn't open to wearing when I was 18, I would now as a grown woman … It just has to feel right.' Like her other hero, Ms Dynamite, Simz addressed the absence of her father in her lyrics. While Dynamite didn't pull her punches ('I spent 23 years trying to be the fucking man you should be / Taking care of your responsibility / Putting clothes on our back and shoes on our feet, no help' is how she addressed it on her song Father), Simz is more reflective, generous even, in her assessment of her dad, who she still has no contact with. She's written about him before on I Love You, I Hate You, a standout moment from her Mercury prize-winning album from 2022, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. Did his absence complicate her happy memories of childhood? 'It doesn't affect the memories I have growing up. It just wasn't meant to be between them … but I think there's still a lot of love there, and I'm sure my dad respects my mum having raised his children, you know? Now that I'm older, I definitely just understand that parents are flawed as well, and I get it. I've tried to not hold on to the anger, maybe that I once felt, or like this deep resentment … I'm just trying to let it go.' Was that hard to do? 'Definitely, 100%,' Simz says. 'Especially when you just internalise a lot of it. Like, did you not love me? Like, did you not …' There's a pause. 'I don't think it's any of that. I just think it is what it is, to be honest. But I've forgiven him.' That grace isn't something Simz extends to everyone. One issue that definitely isn't resolved is her relationship with Inflo, real name Dean Josiah Cover, the producer she's known since childhood and to whom she paid gushing tribute from the Mercury stage. ('I wanna say a thank you to my brother and close collaborator Inflo – Flo [has] known me since I was so young, he's stuck by me, we created this album together. There were times in the studio I didn't know if I was gonna finish this record, I was going through all the emotions … he stuck by me.') The pair met at Mary's Youth Club in north London and forged one of the most successful and close producer-artist relationships the UK has seen in the last decade. They didn't just work on Little Simz records, they were also part of Sault – the mysterious collective that also includes Inflo's wife Cleo Sol and Michael Kiwanuka. They didn't play live. Albums were dropped without warning or promotion. They oscillated between R&B, neo-soul and funk, all underpinned by Inflo's production, earning the group a Mercury nomination in 2021. But it's fair to say that a lot has changed in the last three years. Lotus feels like a breakup record of a sort, not romantic but still deeply personal, as the Simz/Inflo partnership is pulled apart and dissected. In late 2023, Sault put on a gig at the Drumsheds. It's a huge venue in north-east London that used to be an old Ikea store, which they filled with string sections, choristers and teams of dancers. Tickets were priced at £99 a pop, and sold out rapidly. One punter said it was like a mix of Kendrick Lamar's performance at Glastonbury, a Punchdrunk immersive theatre production, the London 2012 opening ceremony and Talking Heads' classic concert film Stop Making Sense, 'and it was also like nothing you've ever seen'. The whole thing cost around £1m, which Simz claims she mostly bankrolled, lending the money to Inflo. Simz's legal team says she also made significant payments to her former producer to cover recording costs. Inflo's legal team disputes the details of the claims but he is yet to comment publicly; the case is ongoing. 'Clarity' and 'directness' are the two words Simz uses to sum up her mindset going into the recording process for Lotus. From the opening track Thief, it's clear what she's focusing on. There are barbs ('You talk about god when you have a god complex, when I think you're the one who needs saving … '), score settling ('We went for 100 down to nought, and yes it is all your fault … your name wasn't popping until I worked with you') and accusations ('This person I've known my whole life, coming like the devil in disguise. My jaw was on the floor, my eyes have never been so wide … '). It's all delivered with a snarl and a driving bassline that wouldn't sound out of place on a Nick Cave murder ballad. Her track Lonely features the lines, 'Team falling apart and I'm caught in the crossfire / You selling me lies and saying I must buy'; while on Hollow she raps, 'You want the best for me allegedly / But all you got is evil eye and jealousy … You was moving like one leech.' Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Simz describes the schism as 'a bit of a violent ending' and she doesn't leave anything to the imagination on the record: there's not an olive branch in sight. Although Inflo isn't mentioned by name, it doesn't take a forensic investigator to figure out who the chorus 'Selling lies, selling dreams … Thief!' might be aimed at, while 'I feel sorry for your wife' appears to be a reference to Inflo's partner, Cleo Sol. These are Fleetwood Mac levels of animosity. Surely there must be huge anxiety before airing all these things in public? 'I really just put my life out there and my diary essentially,' she says, sounding like rap's answer to Rachel Cusk. 'I just wanted to be true to the emotion, what I was feeling, and document it, and not shy away from how I feel about stuff, because I don't want things to eat me up and fester.' She emphasises that the desire for openness is about her mental health. 'Because I do think they eat you from the inside out. So for me to not let that happen, I needed to talk about it in so many different ways … from a place of pure hurt and anger and frustration, to a place of sadness.' Simz has spoken before about her experiences with therapy, in order to cope with seeing friends go to prison, and after the 2018 murder of the model Harry Uzoka – another childhood friend, who was stabbed in west London. Simz stayed off social media in the hours after the news broke, instead choosing to go into the studio and write Wounds, an anti-knife crime track on her album Grey Area. Now it seems the place she's working out her feelings is the recording studio. And she's under no illusions that there's a road back to working with Inflo or as part of Sault, who are still releasing new music (though the collective's Michael Kiwanuka features on the title track, Lotus). 'I'm really proud of myself that I was able to do that,' she says. 'There's a legacy built; amazing music was made and I will always love those songs. I'm super proud of that work, but it's just a new time and a new chapter in my life.' Can she still listen to the music she made with Inflo as a solo artist and in Sault? 'If you have a kid with someone and it doesn't work out, you don't just stop loving the kid,' she says after a few moments. 'You can appreciate you've made something beautiful with someone and now grow in your separate ways.' Three things kept Simz grounded during the tumult of the last 18 months: family, God (she's credited the big man with helping her get the album finished) and her partner, the model Chuck Junior Achike. You rarely hear Simz speak about her relationship: is that intentional? 'I don't think I get asked that much,' she laughs. 'I do quite enjoy having that bit of privacy, but my partner's not a secret.' Then there's her favouite way to relax: Lego. 'I haven't done it in a while, but at one point I was banging them out in a day … just ordering bare Lego, getting a bit crazy with it.' How crazy? Did you recreate Middle-earth in your living room? 'I had one similar to this landscape,' she says looking out toward the Shard and the city skyline. 'I think it was, like, the London Eye, and I set up some nice bonsai trees, flowers and a jazz band.' What's the appeal? 'It just makes me feel like a kid,' Simz says. 'I'm not really thinking when I do it … it just feels really peaceful. I just feel really calm.' Cooking for loved ones (she makes a mean plate of jollof rice) and entertaining is another key part of the Simz downtime calendar, as well as taking photographs. 'Photography is something I've loved for many, many years,' Simz says, beaming. 'I like just going out and shooting stuff.' Like what? 'Landscape stuff, or people, whatever. If I'm out in the middle of nowhere, I'll just shoot some sheep.' 'Sheep?' 'Yeah,' she says. 'They need to be represented, too!' We've swapped seats; she's now looking out over the capital, sunglasses on to protect against the glare. Amid the jokes there's a hard-won steeliness to Simz. Was it always there? Coming into the industry as a teenager, Simz says, she was 'super trusting, very open, very vulnerable' and genuinely believed that people worked in the industry because they just love music. 'That was my attitude towards things,' she says, laughing. 'People are just trying to make good art, because music's really gonna heal the world. Then obviously you get rude awakenings.' Lanre Bakare is the author of We Were There: How Black culture, resistance and community shaped modern Britain, published by Vintage Little Simz's new album, Lotus, is out now and she is curating Meltdown, 12-22 June, at Southbank Centre, London.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Jorginho leaves Arsenal, signs for Flamengo before Club World Cup
June 7 (Reuters) - Italy midfielder Jorginho has joined Brazilian side Flamengo ahead of this month's Club World Cup, following a mutual termination of his contract with Arsenal, both clubs said. Jorginho, whose Arsenal deal was set to expire at the end of the month, has joined Flamengo on a contract until July 2028. The 33-year-old Brazil-born Italy international moved to North London from Chelsea in January 2023, making 78 appearances in all competitions for Arsenal. Arsenal finished second to champions Liverpool in the Premier League in the recently-concluded season. "We can confirm that we have reached a mutual agreement with Jorginho to end his contract with immediate effect to become a free agent," Arsenal said in a statement late on Friday. Having started his career at Italian side Hellas Verona before switching to Napoli in 2014, Jorginho won the Champions League, Europa League, Super Cup and Club World Cup titles during his time at Chelsea. Capped 57 times for Italy, he won the European Championship in 2020. "Jorginho's first assignment with Flamengo will be at the Club World Cup," the Brazilian Serie A club said. Flamengo will begin their Club World Cup campaign against Tunisian side ES Tunis on June 16 in Philadelphia. The expanded 32-team Club World Cup runs from June 14 to July 13 in the United States with $1 billion in prize money at stake.
Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Bukayo Saka ruled OUT of England's World Cup qualifier vs Andorra in blow to Thomas Tuchel's plans
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BUKAYO SAKA is struggling with an injury he picked up on the final day of the season for Arsenal. The winger could miss the World Cup qualifier against Andorra as he has only trained the last two days. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Bukayo Saka is out of the England squad for the clash with Andorra Credit: Getty 5 It is a bitter blow to Thomas Tuchel's plans Credit: Getty 5 Saka also missed Tuchel's first England squad in March through injury Credit: Getty Saka returned at the end of the season after missing three months with a hamstring problem. Tuchel said: 'Until that latest injury he was more or less always available, always playable every three days. "He had this consistency in his game and in his body, which made him very unique. 'He was decisive for England, he took responsibility, he bounced back after a decisive and dramatic penalty miss (Euro 2020 final). READ MORE IN FOOTBALL 'STARSTRUCK' Grealish poses with unrecognisable Prem icon and calls him his 'boyhood hero' 'It's nice to see that he's back because he wanted to be back, and you straight away see when he comes in, he is comfortable to be with the squad. "He knows what it takes to be a national player. 'He came into camp with a little bit of discomfort from the last match against Southampton, so we took care of him and treated him individually. 'It was the first training session that he started and finished with the group today. Yesterday, he started with the group but did not finish with the group, so let's see. BEST ONLINE CASINOS - TOP SITES IN THE UK 'I'm not sure if we take the risk for this game. "The decision has not been taken, but he will be available for the Senegal match, and he plays a major role in our thoughts on how to build a competitive team.' How Lewis-Skelly could be Tuchel's secret weapon for England In addition, Aston Villa forward Ollie Watkins will play no part against Andorra or Senegal on Tuesday in Nottingham. The striker withdrew from Tuchel's party as a precaution because of what the FA described as a "minor" issue. Tuchel said: 'Ollie Watkins has a discomfort in his upper thigh or groin area in the muscle and we decided not to take any risks. "He will go home to continue treatment and we will not take any risks in case he gets an injury. It's very minor." Watkins was the top-scoring Englishman in the Premier League last season with 16 goals, one ahead of Chelsea's Cole Palmer. The Villa star scored the dramatic late winner in last summer's European Championship semi-final against Holland. Watkins' withdrawal leaves Tuchel with captain Harry Kane and Saudi-based Ivan Toney as his two centre forwards. England do not intend to bring in a replacement and so will have 25 players for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Andorra and Tuesday's home friendly against Senegal. 5 Ollie Watkins has also pulled out of the squad Credit: PA
