The Chess Chronicles, Part 15: Televised Chess Tournaments

 #10A is titled, "Opening 1st Game", and it sounds like the opening music for a news program, like one of the three major networks.  I wanted it to be short and sweet, so we cut bars 7-8, and used the same music each time there was anything televised having to do with chess tournaments.  The music is full of stacked 4ths and polychords (C/D, A/B, Bb/Eb, etc), to give it that authentic "newsy" sound.

As was mentioned in prior posts, the first act of Chess is loosely based on the 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer (US) and Boris Spassky(USSR).  This match was televised by ABC's "Wide World Of Sports", as well as WNET, a PBS affiliate:

WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educational Broadcasting Corporation and later as WNET.org),^[2] it is a sister station to the area's secondary PBS member, Garden City, New York–licensed WLIW (channel 21), and two class A stations: WMBQ-CD (channel 46), and WNDT-CD (channel 14, which shares spectrum with WNET).

The WNET coverage was provided by Shelbourne "Shelby" Lyman, who was an American chess player and teacher.  This coverate became the highest-rated public television program ever at that time, far surpassing viewership expectations.

In the musical, television coverage is provided by the BBC, and the commentary is provided by Walter de Courcey:

Walter acts as the broadcaster for the audience, reporting on the games and sometimes providing context or commentary on the players’ behavior. His role helps the musical frame the story in a way that mirrors real-world media coverage of high-profile chess matches.  He’s not a player or part of the tournament itself—he’s essentially the “voice of the BBC” within the show.

The character of Walter is definitely more aggressive than Shelby Lyman, and at no point is it ever insinuated that he is a chess player.  Rather, he is both the public commentator and the marketing expert.  From ChatGPT:

In Chess, Walter isn’t just a neutral commentator—he’s very conscious of the media spectacle and its effect on public interest. He recognizes that the drama between the players—the Cold War rivalry, the personalities, even their personal conflicts—drives viewership and sells the games.

This awareness makes him more than just a narrator; he’s a subtle representation of how media shapes the story, sometimes amplifying tension or controversy to capture audience attention. It’s part of the musical’s critique of how sport (or art) can be commercialized and sensationalized.

The 1960 Presidential Debates were televised, and there's no question that these TV events helped to shape the race for office that year.  The same is true of Chess, and it's something that the lead characters are all aware of ... although not all of them (Anatoly, Florence) embrace the medium as much as others (Freddie, Molokov, Walter).

The global sensation of the 1972 tournament was never matched again, with future matches covered with highlights.  The game is too slow and difficult, and none of the later players had the same eccentricity and charisma as Bobby Fischer.  It's another instance of the similarities between Fischer and Freddy:

You can raise all you want

If you raise the roof

Scream and shout and the gate increases

Break the rules -- break the bank

I'm the living proof

They don't care how I move my pieces

I know I'm the best there is

But all they want is a show

Well that's all right -- I'll be glad to oblige

S.R.O. S.R.O.

Hidden Mickey Report #1 - Summer 2025

Decided to start blogging a regular report in addition to the Facebook posts.  Sort of a summary of events, including any news, opinions, new photos, etc.  Might be monthly, but we'll see what happens.

HELP WITH THE APP FROM MARISSA D

Marissa is a good friend and an amazing singer.  We met in the church band, and quickly discovered that we're both Disneyland fans.  She's also an Easter Egg fan, and has taken an interest in Hidden Mickeys.  

She and her sister and future bro-in-law recently went to the park, and she tried out the site for the first time.  They used it the way I intended -- while waiting in line, look through the list of Mickeys, and make some new discoveries along the way.  

Everything worked great with the exception of the Checklists, which didn't seem to be updating regularly.  After asking a few questions, I realized the issue with them is that they won't update without a refresh.  So if you go to the Checklist first, then to the Hidden Mickey listing, check the box, and then use the back arrow to go to the Checklist again, you won't see it updated until you refresh the page.

Not really a "bug", but kind of an "annoyance".  Going to look into auto-refreshing checklists whenever they are viewed, but I'm not sure if all browsers will honor that from smart phones.

It's mostly good news, and I'm glad to see that the site is working the way it was intended.

OTHER HIDDEN CHARACTERS CHECKLIST?

I'm thinking about doing one of these, but it's starting to feel like the checklists will need to be organized in a different way.  I added all three checklists to the "Where To Next?" templates, so they're easy to get to.  But if I add another one, I'll have to see about adding that to the template as well.

Another option would be to add a checkbox that activates the OHCs on the regular checklists.  That way they can be filtered off and on whenever needed.  I looked into that once before, but was unable to get ChatGPT to figure out how to do it.

HIDDEN MICKEY COUNT

As of 6-Sep-25:

• 932 Sightings
• 628 Unknowns
• 225 Confirmed Hidden Mickeys
• 79 Others (Decor, Wishful Thinking, Other Hidden Characters)

The land with the most Hidden Mickeys is Mickey's Toon Town, which currently has 56 confirmed Mickeys, and 78 Unknowns.  It'll be interesting to see if Toon Town will eventually have more than half of all Disneyland Hidden Mickeys.

RECENT SIGHTINGS

The yellow Mickey above the "Sold Out" sign in Runaway Railway is one of my favorites.  I just spotted it recently, as it's pretty hard to see.  But the other interesting thing about it is that you never see ALL of it at once.  I've only been able to capture 2/3 of it on camera so far.  It's clearly a Hidden Mickey, but due to the position of all the signs, it's just hard (maybe impossible?) to see all of it. 

Maybe I'll see the whole thing if I'm in a completely different position in the Carnival room ... like maybe over to the far left when I first enter.

My other favorite from our last trip is the ballet poster that's BEHIND you when you enter Daisy's Dance Studio.  It never occurred to me to look back there until our last trip.  It's a CLASSIC Hidden Mickey, as it is placed in an area that you are NOT LOOKING AT.  The action is right in front of you the whole time.  It's a great Hidden Mickey.

That's all for this month.  As always, this is a good place to discuss Hidden Mickeys, so leave  comment if you'd like to have a conversation.  Happy Hunting!

Three Player Match, For When Your Fourth Doesn't Show Up

 Me and my golfing mates tried out this variation today, and it worked pretty well.  I had a look through the Interwebs to see if anyone else has tried this, and I'm not finding it.  If anyone spots this variation already covered, please leave a message in the comments.

Two points can be scored on any hole, as follows:

• If one of the three players wins the hole outright, he scores 2 points;
• If two players tie for best score, they each score 1 point;
• If all three players have the same score, nobody scores any points.

Handicaps apply to each hole.  When we played this today, my opponents had handicaps of 9.5 and 11.5, and I'm a 9.6.  So our 11.5 got two bumps, and at Diamond Bar Golf Course, that's holes 1 and 18.

The competition was fierce, and it literally came down to the last three putts.  If our 11.5 made his up and down, he'd get a net birdie and win the match.  If he missed it, and if I made my putt for par, I'd win the match.

He sized it up, and drained it, winning the match.  We were only playing for a dollar each, but it felt like a lot more than that.  I considered this to be a resounding success.

If two players are tied at the end, step back through each of the holes from hardest (#1 handicap) to easiest (#18 handicap).  Our 11.5 and I actually had a tie score at the end, but because he had won #1 outright (without needing one of his bumps), he took the tiebreaker.

I thought about how this could be translated to four players, and it's still do-able but the scoring is more complicated:

• If one of the four players wins outright, he scores 6 points;
• If two players tie for best score, they each score 3 points;
• If three players tie for best score, they each score 1 point;
• If all four players have the same score, nobody scores any points.

Rules for ties apply the same way.  Go from the #1 handicap hole through #18 until the winner emerges.

We played for a dollar each today, just so we would feel like we were playing for SOMETHING.

We'll see about trying the four player match on Monday.