At last, someone discovers how to make chess fun
By Mike Pound
September 04, 2009 11:49 pm
I also have never learned to like chess. Sure, I’ve tried to play chess a few times, but I guess I wasn’t sharp enough to capture the little nuances that make the game special to so many people. One of the little nuances that I had trouble grasping was the nuance of having to wait an hour or so while the person I was playing figured out his next move. Look, I’m a pretty patient guy most of the time. But cooling my heels while someone tries to decide if he wants to move his pawn, or rook or race car (wait, that’s Monopoly) is not something I want to do.
Given my disdain for chess, I had to laugh Friday when I saw a story in The New York Times (motto: “Our crossword puzzle can beat up your crossword puzzle”) about a chess match in Kolkata, India. According to the story, chess Grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev showed up for a big match against a chess player from India having had a little too much to drink. Well, what the story said was Vladislav arrived at the chess match “in such an inebriated state that he could hardly sit in his chair and soon fell asleep, resting his head on the table.”
Finally, someone has figured out a way to make chess fun: Drink heavily. If I knew it was possible to play chess drunk, then I might have taken it a little more seriously. That’s why a lot of folks like to bowl: You can drink while you bowl.
You can’t, as far as I’m concerned, take part in a NASCAR race while drinking. Nor is it a good idea to drink while hunting (are you listening, certain former vice president?). That’s why I don’t like to drive race cars or hunt.
The story in the Times said a newspaper in India ran photos of Vladislav sleeping and organizers’ “futile attempts to wake him up.”
Is that great or what?
Source: http://www.joplinglobe.com
It’s funny though.
GM Kevin Spraggett has reported this on his blog spot and posted some history on people who have done similar things in chess history.
This guy is an idiot and is practicing the anti-intellectualism so common among those who don’t understand. “If you don’t get it, mock it,” is their motto.
GM Balinas wrote in his 1976 Odessa Files a story about Anatoly Lutikov, a former Moscow/Russian champion who can actually play lucid chess even when intoxicated:
«I sympathized with Lutikov because it seemed to me that he could not win his fight against the bottle. It had already affected his professional chess life. The Soviet Chess Federation would no longer allow him to go out of the country to play, I was told, because of his drinking habits, but Lutikov is still a great player.»
http://members.lycos.co.uk/csarchive/balinas.htm
Balinas recounted the time that Lutikov, who was obviously inebriated, and with strong breath of alcohol, offered a draw to one of his Odessa GM opponent.
Lutikov’s opponent of course declined the draw offer, and insisted on playing their game knowing that Lutikov was drunk.
He got smashed by Lutikov and lost the game.
So that is how Lutikov got the reputation of playing tough and lucid chess, even when drunk.
Maybe chess players might try a swig or two before their game? But of course you have to stay awake throughout the game.
But wait, then ETOH could be a performance enhancing drug then?
its a classic moron thats bad at a game so instead of becoming good at the game its much easier to cut that game down and try and bring it down to his low level. even if he played for years he knows he doesnt have what it takes to be good.
its similar to people that make the statement well a certian person is only good at that one thing and nothing else. what the person is essentialy saying is its better to be mediocre at many things than excel at one thing. to be good at anything of value you can only focus on that one thing . instead of raising there game to the person there cutting down its much easier to try and cut that person down to there pathetic level.
i just wrote to this loser. heres his email and i encourage you to write to this lowlife. mpound@joplinglobe.com
your just a pathetic joke. instead of becoming good at chess you cut it down to your low level. you dont have the mind or the work ethic to excel at a game that requires both. you would never be good at the game of chess if you played everyday for years and you know this. its so much easier to put down the game with your disgusting mockery than become good at it. your jealous that you cant be good at a game that is considered one the most intellectual board game on earth. jealous your small pea brain cant comprehend the nuances of such a great game. people like you with small little minds shouldnt be allowed to have an opinion on anything that requires great mental skill and discipline. go play rock papers scissors because thats about the only game your pathetic little mind could probaly comprehend. your a disgrace of a human being.
Can’t figure out what wolverine’s deep feelings are, except making out the words moron and pathetic.
Fact of the matter is Vlad Tkachiev is a super GM and a French champion, and is not really bad in chess.
Is he a classic moron? Not if he is sober. Yes, if he is inebriated, as well as anyone else when they are drunk.
But what is a classic moron, may I ask. Vlad was sleepy, right? Was he peeing all over the place, or cussing people, or showing them his penis, like Jim Morrison did in front of the stage in Florida?
But alcoholism is an illness, and we do not really call ill people morons do we?
Albeit that their actions are unexcusable, or called moronic, they should be made aware that there are dire consequencies of their actions, and they should be accorded, rather, forced to seek treatment.
And for Vlad, he needs all the help he can get, because, historically, chessplayers do not make good patients, in terms of behavioral modifications.
They are so fixated with the game, and continue to plod on and on, and then they die.
My 2 swigs, I mean 2 cents.
I’ll drink to that wolverine man.
Just plod on and on with your moronic and pathetic views man and you will live long.
i wasnt talking about the chess player that was drunk.
im talking about the guy who wrote the article and was mocking chess. he was putting chess down and equating it with bowling because both games you can do while being drunk. i dont think you read the article or my comments. if you did and have a hard time figuring it out you need serious help..you must have an extremly low iq or are just plain illiterate.
i shouldnt have to explain this but obviously you have a grade 3 reading comprehension and have a hard time understanding what you read. maybe i should use pictures so that your whiskey brain can understand better.. isnt that how they explain things to monkeys..use pictures and write in big words with one syllable .. your as stupid as the guy that wrote the article..