Chess Masters: The Endgame

Chess Masters: The Endgame
File:Title Card for Chess Masters The Endgame.png
Genre	Reality Gameshow
Presented by	Sue Perkins
Starring	David Howell Anthony Mathurin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer	Charlie Bunce
Producer	Katy Fryer
Production locations	The Coal Exchange, Cardiff
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Curve Media Ltd
Original release
Network	BBC Two
Release	10 March 2025 (2025-03-10) – present

Chess Masters: The Endgame is a British television competition programme that first aired on BBC Two on 10 March 2025. The show is a spiritual successor to former BBC Two series The Master Game.

Format

The 12 contestants are split across two heats. The heats consist of the first six episodes of the eight-episode run, three for each side of the draw. The players compete in a series of rapid chess matches, Grandmaster puzzles, memory tests and alternative chess formats (e.g. Fischer Random) throughout the heats. Each episode consists of two challenges and an Eliminator. In the heats, winning any challenge grants contestants a guaranteed pass to the next episode. The two contestants who fail to win a challenge compete in an Eliminator to decide who progresses to the next episode and who is ultimately eliminated from the show.

In the penultimate episode, the six surviving players return to compete against one another, before four progress to the final. For this episode, the last place contestant in the second challenge is also eliminated from the show. In the final episode, two players are eliminated through challenges leading to a final match between the two remaining players. The winner of this match is the winner of the series.

Series overview

Series	Episodes	Premiere	Finale	Winner
1	8	10 March 2025	28 April 2025	Thalia Holmes

Series 1 (2025)

Final Game
Richie Kelly vs. Thalia Holmes

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	g8 black king b7 black pawn g7 black pawn a6 black rook e6 black pawn h6 black pawn a5 black queen d5 black pawn e5 white knight g5 black bishop a4 black pawn c4 black pawn d4 white pawn a3 white pawn e3 white pawn g3 white pawn b2 white pawn c2 white queen g2 white bishop h2 white pawn f1 white rook g1 white king								8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

In this position, Kelly played Qf2. A better move would have been Qg6.

The first series of Chess Masters: The Endgame began on 10 March 2025 on BBC Two, and concluded on 28 April 2025. The show was hosted by Sue Perkins, supported by experts David Howell and former Traitors contestant Anthony Mathurin. The first episode attracted almost 900,000 viewers. During the course of the series, the contestants completed challenges set by Howell, alongside playing against special guest Bodhana Sivanandan in the semi-final, and Howell himself in the final. Magnus Carlsen also made cameo appearances for memory challenges in episodes 3 and 6. Thalia Holmes won the first series, beating Richie Kelly in the final game, after Kelly missed a win and got into time trouble.

Player	Age	Nickname	Hometown
Cai Brigden	34	The Unruly Knight	London, England
Caitlin Reid	25	The Smiling Assassin	Glasgow, Scotland
Claire Gorman	50	Killer Queen	Neath, Wales
Craig Robinson	33	The Python	Spalding, England
Deema Khunda	27	The Patient Predator	Leamington Spa, England
Kelechi 'Kel' Nkwonta	39	The Action Man	Bolton, England
Tallulah 'Lula' Roberts	26	The Chess Princess	Paris, France
Navi Dhinsa	46	The Unrelenting Warrior	Kent, England
Nessie	27	Black Panther	London, England
Nick Templar	56	The Swashbuckler	London, England
Richie Kelly	63	The Strategist	Liverpool, England
Thalia Holmes	20	The Tactician	Chester, England

Ranking	Contestant	Episode				Ranking	Contestant	Episode
		1	2	3				4	5	6
-	Tallulah Roberts	IN1	IN2	IN2		-	Thalia Holmes	IN1	IN1	IN2
-	Caitlin Reid	IN2	IN1	IN2		-	Richie Kelly	IN2	IN2	IN2
-	Navi Dhinsa	FIN	FIN	FIN		-	Kelechi Nkwonta	IN1	FIN	FIN
7	Claire Gorman	IN1	IN2	ELIM		7	Deema Khunda	IN1	IN2	ELIM
9	Cai Bridgen	IN1	ELIM			9	Craig Robinson	FIN	ELIM
11	Nick Templar	ELIM				11	Nessie	ELIM

Key:

 IN1  The contestant won the first challenge.

 IN2  The contestant won the second challenge.

 FIN  The contestant won in the eliminator at the end of the episode.

 ELIM  The contestant was eliminated from the show.

Ranking	Contestant	Episode 7			Episode 8
		1	2	3	1	2	3
1	Thalia Holmes	IN	-	-	IN	IN	WINNER
2	Richie Kelly	IN	-	-	IN	IN	RUNNER UP
3	Kelechi Nkwonta	IN	-	-	IN	ELIM
4	Tallulah Roberts	LOSS	IN	IN	ELIM
5	Navi Dhinsa	LOSS	IN	ELIM
6	Caitlin Reid	LOSS	ELIM

Key:

 WINNER  The contestant won the final challenge, and was crowned the show's winner.

 RUNNER UP  The contestant lost in the final challenge, and was the show's runner up.

 IN  The contestant won a challenge, and remained in the competition.

 LOSS  The contestant lost a non-elimination challenge.

 ELIM  The contestant lost an elimination challenge, and was eliminated.

Response

Praise

The program has received some positive reviews from several newspapers. The Telegraph described Chess Masters: The Endgame as "quietly compelling", whilst The Times described the show as having "a wholesome nerdy charm". The first series of Chess Masters: The Endgame marks the first time that chess has been on mainstream TV for around 32 years.

Criticism

Chess Masters: The Endgame has also received a lot of criticism. An editor from The Guardian described the show as "so dull it's almost unwatchable". Chess Masters also recorded a 5.5% viewer share, with 890,000 viewers in the first episode, dipping to 535,000 in episode two. The final was viewed by 655,000 people. The average viewers for the same slot is 1.7 million. Others criticised the show for being over-dramatic, whilst others argued that the show was not targeted towards experienced chess players and that analysis of the games was too basic.

External links

• Chess Masters: The Endgame at BBC Online

• Chess Masters: The Endgame at IMDb