Chess Masters: The Endgame is a BBC2 series that rides the wave of following the hit 2020 Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, which sparked renewed interest in the game of chess, with sales of chess boards and books about the game soaring worldwide.
Now Sue Perkins is hosting the new BBC2 series Chess Masters: The Endgame which sees twelve talented amateurs from across the UK pitted against one another in a number of heats and knock-out rounds.
Former Bake Off presenter Sue will help us understand the game, while The Traitors UK star and chess coach Anthony Mathrin and three-time British chess champion and grandmaster David Howell will keep an eye on proceedings and provide expert commentary.
“I’m so excited to be hosting Chess Masters: The Endgame, where twelve talented amateurs from across Britain are pitted against one another in the world’s oldest game,” says Sue Perkins.
“It’s all about psychology, strategy, smart thinking, and nerves of steel. Chess that is, not my job (which usually involves the opposite). I’m there to help us understand what’s going on in the players’ heads and make sense of what’s happening on the board. We’ve been waiting over 30 years to see chess back on our TV screens. Chess Masters: The Endgame will make that wait worthwhile.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the BBC2 series Chess Masters: The Endgame…
Chess Masters: The Endgame release date
Chess Masters: The Endgame is an eight-part reality series will start on BBC2 from Monday March 10 2025 at 8pm, with episodes running weekly at the same time and also becoming available on BBC Player.
Chess Masters: The Endgame trailer
The trailer is only a brief 30 seconds, but it introduces us to the contestants for this series and gives us a glimpse into just how gripping watching others playing chess can be! You can watch below...
Chess Masters: The Endgame — how it works and the experts
Across eight episodes of Chess Masters: The Endgame, 12 passionate and highly skilled amateur players of all ages and from all walks of life will go head-to-head in a series of rapid chess games, puzzles and knock-out rounds. Eventually, one will be crowned the ultimate chess master.
Keeping viewers up to date with tactics and strategies are The Traitors UK star and chess coach Anthony Mathrin plus three-time British chess champion and grandmaster David Howell.
Sue Perkins interview on Chess Masters: The End Game
How does the series Chess Masters: The End Game work?
Sue Perkins says: "The show is a competition format and we’ve taken 12 of the best amateurs, and we know they are the best because we use official rankings, and we have pitted them not only against each other but against our grandmaster David in a series of puzzles and challenges. Some of the games are long-form, about 10-15 minutes, which I think people might be able to watch online afterward if they want to watch the whole game. That’s for people who are either very serious about it and want to get into the nitty gritty or for those who are learning and just want some commentary and to see how things play out. There are also some very quick puzzles and brain teasers and positional things that people can easily engage with and the solutions come pretty quickly. Later in the show, there are a couple of really extraordinary games where all the remaining contestants play one person simultaneously, which is pretty cool. It’s an eliminator and there will be one winner."
Do you think the show will break down the stereotypes about the kind of people who play chess?
"I think post The Queen’s Gambit, we know for a fact that it is sexier. I think it’s very hard to know whether that trope of the classic chess player is true or whether it’s a lazy thing my brain has conjured up. The point is, now with the internet and chess.com it’s the fastest-growing sport, game, pastime or whatever you want to call it. It’s played by billions of people so you can no longer hurl around those stereotypes. A lot of the matches I’ve played are against kids in Brazil or India. All around the world, I’m engaging with people who play online and I have no idea about where they come from or who they are. I think the show absolutely does challenge that stereotype. There’s a broad range of people who have come to the show. Some people are playing because they want to leave a legacy for their kids, some people are playing because it’s a passion they picked up in prison and chess was the thing that saved them. There are members of the neuro-diverse community, of which I am a paid-up member, who find great solace and elegance in the game. There are all sorts of people coming to it. They are all at the top of their game. We know for a fact they are the best players"
Did you play chess as a youngster?
Sue says: "No, we didn’t have a chess club at school. It felt perhaps like a male-dominated thing, quite high-class, high-status men languishing in public schools and playing chess. Weirdly the only person I knew who played chess was my dad who was none of those things. He’d gone to a south London comprehensive but was extremely good at chess. He got really into it. He was so good in fact I think he thought it was a waste of time with the likes of me. I was terrible at it and had no aptitude for it. In fact, right up to his death, he was beating me. He wasn’t very well, and he was still absolutely slaughtering me when we played. It felt very much like his thing and at the time I was super into music so I was doing that instead. I’ve come to chess from doing this show. I’ve played a lot since I started doing this. There are a raft of people behind the scenes who are from various chess federations and make sure that everything is done properly. They’ve been extremely gracious with their time. So, I’ve learned a few tricks but my rating is still not great, but it’s a lifetime’s hobby. Who knows where it could lead? It’s a fantastic game. The fact that you can make a few textbook starting moves and a billion options then lay themselves in front of you. It’s quite extraordinary for a game that is just a black-and-white checkers board and some horses. I’m into it now. I’m fully invested."
If you could play anybody at chess, who would you play and why?
Sue says: "Well, I’d like to be good enough to play Magnus Carlsen the grandmaster. He’s got a sort of power and psychological potency that I think probably extends beyond the board. He’s amazing, he’s a great poker player and has that incredible command of not only patterns and systems but also the academic grounding of the game. He’s also quite maverick. I think if you’re going to wish for anything, why not wish for the best? I wish to be good enough to play the best. I have got a long way to go before I could even open the door of the building Magnus is in but one can but dream."
How does it work as a spectator sport?
Sue says: "I think what’s great is you’ve got Anthony and David analyzing key moves and I think that allows people who are entering the world of chess to have a basic understanding of what is going on. And because David is a grandmaster it can also function on a higher level for people who are more experienced. With this show, and perhaps on other shows I’ve hosted where people are making things to high standards, you can watch and enjoy it without necessarily fully understanding it. The great thing is people can just go online and they can learn the game in a very calm and restful way and I hope that not only will it be something that people who already play chess can enjoy but it will also be a gateway to those who haven’t started yet. What I like about the game is you don’t need money to play. You can make your own board, you can carve your own pieces, you can use bits and bobs around the house to be bishops and rooks and it’s about challenging your own mental capabilities and evaluating the psychology of the person opposite you. Those are timeless things. I’m not a chess master and I enjoy being part of it. I find it incredibly stimulating and enjoyable to watch. My hope is that the audience do too."
What was it like to work with chess experts David Howell and Anthony Mathrin and see their enthusiasm?
"They are just gorgeous humans. I got so much from being around them and it’s very infectious. I have very fond memories of my dad and I associate him with chess hugely so it was a show I wanted to do. But when I got on the floor, David and Anthony are so passionate and so articulate and so god-damn clever at what they do that it’s intoxicating and you get swept up in it. The filming days were long and I didn’t leave the floor for 14/15 hours and when I wasn’t working, I was playing. There were boards everywhere, there were pieces everywhere and you had crew sitting down and playing. I’d say 50 per cent of the crew signed up to chess.com whilst doing the show so from that small circle I’m encouraged that other people’s energy and enthusiasm will be infectious. They are really good people."
What mistakes do people make when they play chess?
"The people we use are extremely high-ranking. I would say that when you are playing chess on the computer it’s about pattern recognition, double checking where you are moving to and always protecting pieces. At the early stages, which is where I’m at, if you are online, then do all the puzzles because they help with pattern recognition, do all the lessons so you learn how to move pieces in companion. It’s so easy at our level to go ‘I’m going to move this there’ but actually what is so important is you need to build a suite of attacking players and pressurize certain areas of the board. But it’s a lifetime study. Some people will want to approach chess from a very academic point of view, some people will want to learn all the special moves. Sometimes I do and that is right up my alley but sometimes people just want to throw themselves in and play, which I’m not adverse to either. If I don’t think about what I’m doing, I’ll get whooped every time. Just because it’s online you think it’s got to be quick but just taking the time to go, ‘Am I covered?’ is vital. Also, be flexible. Everyone is trying to think two or three moves ahead but what they are not doing is remembering someone is countering that so you can stick with your plan but that will be the worst thing you can possibly do. Your plan will be thwarted in real-time and you haven’t got any other options. Being flexible is really important and not getting stuck on one idea. There are billions of potential moves and if you just plump for one and keep going, you are screwed."
The time clock can be off-putting, can’t it?
"The thing is for me, I can only play with a timer. I have sensory issues so I couldn’t play a longer game. It would become stressful, the idea that time would feel never-ending and unmanageable. I like very quick games and I like working in an incredibly focused way for a short period of time. The game has developed so it’s no longer these two-day battles. You can play for 10 minutes. I play a lot on the bus or the tube. I’m obsessed. It’s pretty addictive when you get going. It’s got me in trouble. My partner is like ‘what are you doing, oh it’s chess again.'"
Did things get emotional?
"Yes. Very, very emotional. It’s a strange thing to say but you make yourself very vulnerable in chess. Your thought processes, your evaluations, the way you structure your brain, the way you anticipate. It’s a battle and when you lose, it’s painful and difficult. There were a couple of times when people were almost overwhelmed by it. But that’s my job. My job is to go ‘This is important, but it’s also a game. It’s your life, it’s your passion, it’s the thing you love most in the world but at the same time you’ve always got to go back to the fact that there’s another day, another game and it’s supposed to be fun.’ There was some mopping up to be done but they were exceptionally good folk. They are all amateurs but they are the best amateurs so they are operating at a level that is very, very high. Unreachably high for most of us. You have this image of two very sober people silently moving pieces but actually what you’ll find is there’s a lot of chat, there’s a lot of gamesmanship, and people will jump up in the middle of a game in an attempt to throw the other person. There are all kinds of tricks and things. It’s a much livelier enterprise than the stereotype would have you believe."
How often are there unexpected twists in a game?
"A lot actually. If you’ve lost a queen or something it becomes very hard, but certainly in a lot of the games you’d see somebody go into the ascendance and the pressure would suddenly build and the other person would use a diversionary tactic because there’s a lot of that going on. There’s a lot of trash talk, it gets quite spicy as it goes on. And things changed. To the untrained eye, which is why we need David and Anthony, it will look like a player is smashing it but they are falling for something. There’s a trap that has been set and it springs and the game turns completely the other way. There are a lot of those moments. There’s screaming at one point. Anthony is screaming with excitement. It’s like they are commentating on the football and for people who love chess it’s every bit as exciting as Arsenal smashing it to Liverpool on a wet Sunday."
Did you watch the Queen’s Gambit and do you think that’s what has made chess cool again?
"Yes, I think in part. It’s an exceptional series and I rewatched it recently and it’s a great piece of television. A lot of very good chess players would be seen perhaps in earlier times as outsiders, outliers and people who don’t quite fit into the mainstream and so it’s just a great narrative of the odd one out wins the show. I do think that plays into this show as well. In terms of making it sexy it just puts a spotlight on how much graft goes into it. The hotness of watching someone do something sincerely and well. And that is very much in evidence. They take it seriously and it really means something. One of the guys says it was the thing that saved his life. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, how he has changed his world by being able to focus on this game and being able to be mindful and calm and stay out of trouble, it’s amazing."
Can you tell us about the contestants and any you were rooting for?
" I try not to have favorites and I think some people were more emotionally available than others but I found them all to be truly delightful and truly committed to the game. They weren’t there because they wanted to be on television. A lot of them found the television bit quite stressful and they only really relaxed when the chessboards came out. It’s my job to put them at ease. Nick’s story, the prison story is very affecting. And Cai is very easy on the eye. So, I hope in the first episode we are cutting through people’s stereotypical feelings about the classic chess player. I was delighted there were so many women playing and I think it shows that perceptions have changed. The cast list is not there as a ‘look how we can present chess as we want it to be,’ this is chess as it is. This is chess and this is who plays it. Some of them are kids. We’ve got 20-year-olds and then we’ve got someone in his 60s who is retired. It spans the whole range and I hope the whole range of audiences come to it."
All about host Sue Perkins
Sue and her comedy partner Mel Giedroyc co-hosted the shows Light Lunch and Late Lunch. They had their own daytime chat show Mel and Sue and hosted The Generation Game. The pair presented seven seasons of The Great British Bake Off. Sue has been on Celebrity Big Brother, Maestro, The Masked Singer, Last Christmas and Perfectly Legal. She also presented travelogues including Japan with Sue Perkins, Sue Perkins: Lost in Alaska, The Ganges with Sue Perkins and Lost In Thailand with Sue Perkins. She and Mel starred in the comedy series Hitmen.
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