Chess Coverage in Newspapers

It seems that coverage of chess in newspapers is not as good as before. Back in the 1980s and 1990s I used to read the chess column in The Chicago Tribune, which would appear on Sunday in the Arts section. The column was by Shelby Lyman. But its main components would be 1) a human interest story, 2) a reprint of a game from a great player of the past, and 3) a tactical puzzle, unrealted to the reprinted game. This column no longer appears in The Tribune.

In the 2000s, the other Chicago paper, The Sun Times, had a weekly chess puzzle, usually from a recent game, presented by Albert Chow, a Chicago area master, whom I have met. This weekly chess puzzle no longer exists. The New York Times and the Washington Post, however, continues with chess coverage, usually with analysis of a recently played game. The New York Post also has a column by Grandmaster Andy Soltis.

I was more impressed with coverage of chess in the British papers. Back in the early 1990s I would sometimes buy The Times of London; one reason was its coverage of the Short-Kasparov match. Also there was a small column by Raymond Keene in The Times of London --usually a presentation of a recent game. Years later I discovered that other British papers covered chess. But as there are ebbs and flows in most things, there is now an ebb in chess coverage in British papers. Grandmaster Nigel Short's column was dropped from The Guradian (and before that he was dropped from another British newspaper); another Guardian chess writer, Grandmaster Jonathan Speelman, seems to have been dropped; I haven't seen his column in months. The Guardian still covers chess , though not as much as before, and to be fair, it gives better chess coverage than many papers.

On a positive note, it seems that chess coverage flourishes on the internet, where one can post comments on games on various websites. Also, one can follow chess game live via internet feed.