The TV-feature that has been produced and aired by MTV’s magazine GAME ONE (that is aired by the German-language music-channel VIVA too) and that has covered JAPANESE CHESS (aka “Shogi”):
The TV feature that has been produced and aired by MTV’s magazine GAME ONE and that has covered CHINESE CHESS (aka “XiangQi):
MTV has featured CHESS
(JAPANESE style and CHINESE style) with REAL pieces (!) on a REAL board (namely with chessmen PLAYMOBIL-style – a custom-made set that me, the author Rene Gralla, has created), thus leading to the amazing fact that classic GAMING in 3D, namely classic GAMING on a REAL BOARD with REAL PIECES, has finally entered the world of ELECTRONIC GAMING on MTV.
CHESS GOES POP – at least if you do it as the Japanese (and the Chinese) do
By René Gralla, Hamburg, Germany
Just imagine that a popular TV channel that covers music and stars the likes of Lady Gaga pp. will feature a whole game of chess starting with the first move and consequently marching on until the final (and deadly) Check! Strange idea, right?! Since a game of chess is supposed to be not the thrilling stuff for TV – not to speak of a music channel like MTV or so?!
Then you should better have a look at the website of GAME ONE, a weekly TV-magazine on electronic games that both the German-language edition of MTV and the German-language music-channel VIVA air once a week. Just check out the link:
www.gameone.de/blog/2010/9/gameone-141-extended-chinesisches-schach-scharmuetzel
And then you will see cool Budi, one of the well-known young anchors of GAME ONE, whilst facing his buddy Eddy over a big board and moving red and black chessmen back and forth.
Okay, one has to be fair: That is not the usual setting of chess, that ages-old game with wooden pieces on 64 black and white squares. Budi and Eddy battle it out in the Chinese version of the Game of Games – that is called “XiangQi”, meaning: “The Elephant Game”. In Chinese Chess you do not mobilize Bishops and Rooks and Queens and so on, but fast Chariots, exotic Elephants and even Catapults (or “Cannons” as they are called in modern “XiangQi”).
Every game of “XiangQi” is mirror-image of the famous Battle of Gaixia 202 B.C. when the army of Red Han has crushed the forces of Black Chu. The board of “XiangQi” is marked by a central river that has to be crossed by the opposing forces in order to storm the palace of the adversary where the Commander-in-chief of the enemy has dug in. Therefore the scenario of Chinese Chess can be assessed to be an early version of those battle games that modern kids do enjoy in front of computer screens.
“XiangQi” is highly popular among the Chinese community world-wide. Half a billion people regularly play “XiangQi”, thus making the Asian brand of hunting down the King the most popular board game on this planet.
The foregoing facts have been reason enough for the Hamburg-based team of MTV’s magazine GAME ONE to produce a feature on “XiangQi”. “Chinese Chess is the Mother of all Battle Games, and we wanted to tell that interesting story that has never been told before”, says Simon Krätschmer, 31, who – together with Daniel “Budi” Budiman, 27 – forms the duo that has made GAME ONE the most important magazine on (electronic) games on German TV. GAME ONE’s feature on Chinese Chess can be watched on Youtube.com now:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NBXZN6MYXI
The reaction of the fans of GAME ONE has been enthusiastic. Viewers have asked for more, and they have got more, in the meantime: Simon and Budi have produced and aired a sequel – this time on Japanese Chess called “Shogi”. Herewith the clip on Youtube.com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9eZ373GS1g
And now there are rumours that there are even plans to do something on the REAL STUFF, namely the FIDE-version of chess, after an intro with CIRCULAR CHESS. Chess goes Pop – who would have expected that?!
Stay tuned – on VIVA and MTV!
Great idea!