CHESS MASTERS: FIRST LOOK AT NEW BBC GAMESHOW HOSTED BY SUE PERKINS

Across eight episodes, passionate and highly-skilled players from all backgrounds will battle it out across a series of rapid chess games before one will be crowned the title of Chess Master.

With six million regular players in the UK, 605 million adults playing regularly across the world, and celebrity fans including Anthony Joshua, Madonna, Will Smith and Lily Cole, chess is becoming a global phenomenon.

In addition, keep an eye on proceedings and providing expert commentary will be three-time British chess champion and grandmaster David Howell; and expert chess coach and former Traitors contestant Anthony Mathurin.

Host Sue Perkins said: “I’m so excited to be hosting Chess Masters, where twelve talented amateurs from across Britain are pitted against one another in the world’s oldest game.

“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 will make that wait worth while.”

Chess Masters is an 8x30’ series for BBC Two and iPlayer.