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The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
BBC Two's Chess Masters: The Endgame divides opinions as winner is crowned
BBC Two's Monday evening show Chess Masters: The Endgame reached its final this week amid a continuing debate between experts, who found it patronising, and social players, novices and children who enjoyed its light touch and focus on personalities. The series was placed in a testing environment, the 8pm slot, sandwiched between the intellectual heavyweights Mastermind and University Challenge. Viewer numbers, as supplied by Broadcast, peaked in the first week at 890,000, then gradually dipped to a low of 535,000 on Easter Monday before rebounding to 655,000, a 5.5% share of the viewing audience, for the final week. However, Charlie Bunce, director of programmes for the series production company Curve Media, said in an email to that the first episode had attracted just under 1.2m viewers, describing that as 'a great success', and that in the rest of the series the programme had 'held its share'. has a full pictorial report on the series. The grandmaster presenter, David Howell, created innovative challenges for contestants, including pawn races, memory tests set by his friend Magnus Carlsen, puzzles involving checkmates in one, two, three, four and five moves, and mini-simultaneous exhibitions, all part of the elimination process to produce a single winner. English Chess Federation sources believe that the decision whether to commission a second series is in the balance. BBC policy is often to allow a new show a couple of series to find its target audience. The Richie v Thalia final was decided when the older player, a piece up, chose 1 Qf2? in the diagram, got into time trouble, and was beaten. There is now an entire 32-page thread on the English Chess Forum about Chess Masters, with its detractors complaining about excessive hype by Anthony Moturin and the difficulty of following the puzzle solutions, while its advocates praise the soft approach needed to bring new players to the game. What do Guardian readers think? Tell us in the comments section. Following Freestyle successes for Carlsen, the world No 1, and setbacks for the Indians led by the 18-year-old world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, the next major tests in classical chess are approaching. On Wednesday the Superbet Chess Classic Romania starts in Bucharest, with world top 11 players Gukesh, Fabiano Caruana, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Alireza Firouzja and Wesley So all in action. Bucharest will be followed by Norway Chess at Stavanger, starting on 26 May, where the six competitors in a double-round all-play-all are Carlsen (Norway), Hikaru Nakamura and Caruana (US), Gukesh and Arjun Erigaisi (India) and Wei Yi (China). Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Each will have an individual motivation. Carlsen will want to show continued classical supremacy, a strong Nakamura result will provide impetus for him to qualify for the 2026 Candidates, Gukesh will need to prove that he really deserves his world crown, Caruana will aim to restore his previous No 2 status, while Erigaisi and Yi will try to confirm their places among the super-elite. Meanwhile, April has been a good month for England's best players. Nikita Vitiugov, the former Russian who is now England No 1, scored 2.5/3 in the competitive German Bundesliga. Shreyas Royal, 16, England's youngest grandmaster, achieved solid 2500+ performances at Reykjavik, Iceland, and Menorca, Spain, while Supratit Banerjee, 11, surpassed a 2300 rating and so qualified for the Fide Master title. At home, GM Peter Wells won the English Senior 50+ championship while WIM Natasha Regan captured the women's crown. Paul Townsend and WGM Sheila Jackson took the 65+ titles. 3970: 1 Qa6 Na5 (to stop 2 Qb7 mate) 2 Qb7+! Nxb7 3 Na6+ and if Ka8 4 Ndxc7 mate or Kc8 4 Ne7 mate. Richie v Thalia: 1 Qg6! (threat 2 Rf8+! Kxf8 3 Qf7 mate) Qd8 2 Rf7 Bf6 3 Nd7! with no reasonable defence for Black.
North Wales Live
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Live
Salvage Hunter Drew Pritchard's major 'all good thing must end' announcement leaves fans stunned
Drew Pritchard, the North Wales 'rock star' of Britain's antiques trade, has shocked fans by calling time on his Salvage Hunter career. Having presented 245 episodes of the hit TV show over 14 years, his 20th series – already filmed – will be his last. The Conwy-born dealer hinted he may be quitting TV altogether, preferring instead to focus on the restoration of his Georgian town house in Bath, Somerset. Drew is also hoping to spend more time with his other great love – 'messing around with my old cars'. The antiques guru has been hailed a 'junkyard genius' for the way he finds treasures in other people's scrap. Having made his TV debut in 2011, he said his Salvage Hunter stint had been an 'incredible privilege'. Drew announced he was bowing out in an Instagram video filmed at his house in Bath, which he moved into two years ago after selling his 1820s townhouse in Conwy town. Disappointed fans begged him not to go, saying that getting a new presenter would be like 'replacing the shark in Jaws with a dolphin'. Salvage Hunters, produced by Curve Media, and shown on Quest TV, followed Drew as he travelled Britain in search of antiques from shops, fairs and mansions to restore and resell from his Conwy base. Along with his old house, much of his collection was sold to fund the purchase and renovation of his 'dream' period property in Bath. Perched on a vintage leather armchair, and wearing his trademark black glasses, Drew said: 'They say all good things must come to an end, and the next series of Salvage Hunters, which we shot last year and airs in the autumn, is my last. Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now 'When I got the gig to do Salvage, I was determined to give as an honest representation of the antiques trade that I possibly could. I strived to represent the fun and the excitement and the history and the beauty of it all – and the hard work and the living that is to be had from it. "So, what am I going to do next? Well, I'm just going to continue what I've always done, which is to continue antiquing, and I'm going to carry on messing around with my old cars, and I'm going to finish my house.' Salvage Hunters has become a global hit attracting 22 million viewers in 52 countries. For the teenager who left Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy at 16 with no qualifications, being picked to front the show was transformative, cementing his reputation as a respected antiques dealer while turning him into a TV personality with fans around the world. Over the years, some 19 expert co-presenters have joined Drew on the show, including ex-wife Rebecca. Several, like Alister Dryburgh and Viki Knott, have become firm friends in their shared quest to uncover hidden gems. Though he's leaving, Drew is sure the show's magic formula will continue to lure viewers. He said: 'The programme is now in the very safe hands of some really good dealers, some good friends ... Al and Viki and one new dealer that's not been announced yet. Please give them a chance, OK, like you did with me. Trust me, please do, it'll be worth it." Thanking viewers for their support, Drew added: 'The production team on Salvage has been like a family to me these last 15-16 years. In fact, there are many crew who have been with us from day one. That is a very special and rare thing in television and I would like to thank everyone at Curve for their tireless work. 'It's been an incredible privilege for me to grace your screens and I can't really thank you all enough for it, I really can't. So everyone, take care, thank you so much.' Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Fans saluted Drew for the way he transformed people's approach to home interiors. More than that, the man with the Midas touch was celebrated for changing perspectives through his 're-use and renovate' mantra. Applauding Drew, an antiques emporium said his successor has big shoes to fill. Its owner said: 'Thank you for educating us for free and for making millions of homes around the world less boring. It was more than just fronting a TV show, you created a movement taking commercial items and using them to decorate your home. 'It's going to be incredibly hard for anyone (else) to bring something new to the table. I can't help thinking it's going to be like replacing the shark in Jaws with a dolphin. We shall see!'
