Friday, January 3, 2014

Watching people play chess on an elaborate chess set

Ok so I visited a shopping mall and delighted to find two people playing chess on an elaborate set (not those sad looking cheap 2½" king set that I once owned).

If someone is going to invest that much money on that I suppose they must be decent players. I hope to see a great match. Great players often take time to think about each move. Ok they move pretty fast, good, let me what we got here.

Ooh, a white bishop is taking position to catch the rook... come on black, move it! Nope black didn't. But did the bishop take the rook? Nope it made a useless move with another piece that deserved to be marked with "??". Ok a queen moved, but moved into a square that it can be taken. Boom. queen taken. That player didn't even frown. A queen sacrifice for a checkmate? Nope, as if nothing happened. The player just keep on losing pieces. Ok, a white pawn is pushed up two spaces next to a black pawn right on that same row. Ideal time for en passant. Nope, black didn't do that, probably never heard of it. That row of pawns are all torn apart and the guy still wants to castle... ok there is a bishop looking at the path of that one square that the king is moving through ok? so castling CANNOT take place. At that point I can't hold myself and told the player he can't castle there.

I am glad I was not told to "get the heck out of here". That game ended soon. and next game starts, and one player even wasn't sure where to put the queen. How hard is it to remember black-queen-on-black-square and white-queen-on-white-square? I am at least glad the lower right corner is indeed white. Ok, another game started, after pushing a couple pawns as first move, a knight did not jump toward the center but jump to the edge. What type of opening is this?

The whole idea of any game is for enjoyment. If these players enjoy playing like this it is perfectly fine. It is great that they still play with things not requiring electricity. Just about everybody play on their phones with something nowadays.

Ok do I sound like a good player? I am NOT. I am forever humbled by the chess games I have on my phone.

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