The Chess Games of Columbo's Peter Falk

If you've never seen the 1970's detective series Columbo you're really missing a great show. Peter Falk plays a frumpy and seemingly inept detective who is anything but. In the show the murderer always acts superior to Columbo, thinking they have gotten away with their crime right up until the time the detective makes his final move. Checkmate. We love to see an underdog win. And Columbo gave us that experience in every episode. And if you think about it, this whole dynamic really shows up in chess as well. An opponent can think he's winning, or think he's better than you right up until you win. Chess is one of the few areas in life that this can happen. So it makes sense that Peter Falk, as well as playing this beloved and deceptively intelligent detective also loved chess in real life.

If Columbo were searching for the chess style of Peter Falk game, and couldn't find one of his games, he might look at some the games of the man who was his teacher to find out more. So that's what we will do. He achieves a draw in the following position against Larry Evans. He plays the Sicilian as White. The Sicilian as White has to be played actively and aggressively, especially the open Sicilian. So can we assume that this might have indicated that since Falk studied with Waterman he might have tried the Open Sicilian as White? An aggressive player perhaps? Just one more question Mr. Falk, something that's been bothering me...

Peter Falk passed away June 23rd 2011. He will be missed.