Wallasey’s Richie Kelly is one of 12 contestants in the new TV series, “Chess Masters”, which starts tonight (Monday 10 March) at 8.00pm on BBC2 & iPlayer.
The highly-anticipated series, presented by Sue Perkins, looks to build on the increasing popularity of chess, via online platforms and “The Queen’s Gambit” Netflix series, bringing the game into prime-time. Each of the eight episodes will be screened on a Monday evening and will be available on iPlayer too.
Richie, who doesn’t appear until episode 4 (scheduled for Monday 31 March), joined Wallasey Chess Club in 2019, dominating the Premiership – the second tier of our internal league – until Covid cut that season short and put paid to the following season over the board entirely. When we returned in person for the 2021-22 season, Richie made waves in the Championship – the top division – leading for most of the season until being pipped at the post by Dave Barnes. The following season, though, he barely put a foot wrong and was crowned club champion in 2023.
We look forward to following his progress in the series, flying the flag for our club and, indeed, our region!
Various links:
BBC media pack for the series
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapack/chess-masters
Richie’s interview on that page
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapack/chess-masters#richie
Segment of BBC Breakfast about the series (10 Mar)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrL7XcP8Zug
Radio Times article (26 Feb)