Somehow, they still keep coming. There are still long-running British crime series that somehow passed me by. Heartbeat was aired on ITV from 1992 until 2010. You can think of it as a more subdued version of Midsomer Murders and, if you do, you wouldn’t be far off. Like Midsomer Murders, it is set in a small fictional place somewhere in rural Britain and it shows the dealings of the local police force. But the plots are far less outrageous and the crimes are generally much more minor. 1
Not in this episode, though! You see, there is a young Russian coming to town for a simultaneous exhibition and, as a side event, there is an exposition of rare and valuable chess sets — and they get stolen! A crime of these proportions if a great challenge for the policemen, of course. And, with a plot like this, it naturally also offers a challenge to yours truly.
There are two clear shots of the board: one from the black side and one from the white. Together, that allows for a reasonably good reconstruction:2
The white pieces are definitely where they should be and the identities of the black pieces are also correct, but their position may not be entirely accurate. But for what is only a casual game between two casual players, this isn’t half bad.
It is, however, half of what I’ll show you. Some five minutes after this, we see a game from the simultaneous exhibition. The grandmaster has white, of course, and he has bishop more deep in the endgame:
His opponent, a local young talent who lent his name to the episode title, plays Rg1 here. It’s perhaps not the most difficult tactic, but it’s a neat little stalemate trick nonetheless. After a couple of seconds’ thought, the Russian suggests they call it a draw — which is, after all, what it is.
So it seems like not only the plots are more plausible than in Midsomer murder but the chess scenes, too. Or perhaps it’s just that the people who play reasonable chess commit for less serious crimes.
Realism: 4/5 There are no strange things in either position, except that white has a rook more in the first one — and that can easily happen in a game between patzers.
Probable winner: In the first one white, in the second one nobody.
1. [In fact, it’s entirely believable that, in the Heartbeat village, some people are still alive.] ↩
2. [Thanks to a reasonably good diagram editor.] ↩