The Master Game was the first program to show chess on television in a way that had a chance of connecting with the larger chess-playing public.

The system developed had players compete in a knock-out tournament at a BBC studio, where the games themselves were recorded; then, about two days later, the players recreated their thoughts during the game in a sound studio. The games were played under tournament conditions, with forty moves in two-and-a-half hours followed by an hour sudden death. (In the first three series, with absolute knockout format, there were also rules for replaying drawn games, but in later tournaments the rules were changed to avoid replays.) The game play was edited to a 30-minute program, so the audience did not have to endure long and unpredictable delays between moves, and commentary by the players was added.

What made the program so successful was the fiction that the players were commenting on the games as they were happening.