Was Sherlock Holmes A Chess Player ?

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

She never mentioned children. Not even in reference to Florida. In canon she does have a sister though.

[jesskayding]

Although she never mentioned having children, would still think it'd be kind of neat if she did.

[Pawse]

As far as I'm aware, Holmes is not a chess player, but there was a scene in the Granada version where he was sitting on the edge of a table which had a full chess set upon it.

[jesskayding]

He played chess w/ Mycroft. I'm convinced @ this point that you all are just playing devil's advocate. Sherlock certainly doesn't use that chessboard as decoration for his coffee table.

 

However I don't think he's a chess player, he simply knows how to play. He probably plays board games as much as he watches television.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, it does seem reasonable to assume that BC's Sherlock knows at least the rudiments of chess, even though we can't say for certain since we've never actually seen him do it.

 

But I believe Truthhunter's original question concerned Conan Doyle's Holmes, and the jury is still out on that one.

 

[jesskayding]

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I can't think of any story in canon where Holmes and Watson play any kind of what were called parlour games. Toby might remember something.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Could be Holmes and anybody, though.  Maybe a ploy that Holmes used a time or two to put a villain (or a reluctant witness) at ease?  Or he might have briefly referred to playing chess with Mycroft at the Diogenes Club?

 

Is there an online searchable Holmes?  If so, then looking for the word "chess" might settle the question.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

There are some rare quotes but nothing conclusive as to not Sherlock did play the game.

[jesskayding]

Can't find Sherlock playing chess, but was able to find Benedict playing chess in the infomercial below.

 

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3657-60rLPM# (Share from CM Browser)

[Carol the Dabbler]

And that may be as close as we're gonna get!

 

[jesskayding]

 

Exactly my point!

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

I notice that Mark should probably remove his wedding ring. Per Mycroft is single. 

 

Maaaaaaybe it's a sign...

 

[jesskayding]

do you mean he's possibly crazy?

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

I dunno. In the show they pay a lot of close attention to detail, so maybe it wasn't a mistake that Mark left his wedding ring on.

[jesskayding]

Well the production team had two obvious editing mishaps in SO3,so I don't know. But Carol made the point that he wears 2 rings & apparently that's not the wedding finger.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Ah, well, shoot. I thought I was onto something. :/

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

And it has been noted that Not-Anthea wears a similar ring. So it may be some sort of secret society thing. Or maybe the Diogenes is no longer an exclusively male club.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

Probably the Diogenes thing. It's the 21st century, so of course women would be allowed more freedom than way back then.

[jesskayding]

Hmmm.

[Bendydoodle Cantaloupe]

I did try to read The Hound of the Baskervilles for a report in 4th grade, but then I remembered that I couldn't (and still can't) read Olde English.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I've never seen the stories written in olde English, I don't think. I know he is writing that in the early 1902  while living at Undershaw.

[Arcadia]

I think they mean old English, not Old English.

 

I was lucky, the first one I read was an annotated copy, it really helped. That, and having read a lot of Dickens when I was younger. But yeah, I can't really get into the "canon", altho it's nothing to do with language; I'm just not that riveted by them. Altho I suspect the later stories are better than the earlier ones?? I'll try again, someday.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I love the annotated volumes.I have both Baring-Gould and Klinger.

[Arcadia]

Yeah, I just got it by accident cuz it had the best cover art. But it really helped.