August 9, 2006

  • chess club

    Tonight I thought that I would go to the Wicker Park Chess Club and see how it was.  Well initially I went to the Lakeview-Cuyler chess club, only to find out that they are not meeting for the summer -- they could have mentioned that on their website, but I'm not bitter.  I just drove 5+ minutes to Myopic Bookstore where the Wicker Park Chess Club was being held.  If they weren't there, I could at least shop for some books.

    Okay let's see, how to describe this...  Think of a room full of very smart people, some successful, some bitter because they aren't that successful, but all very smart, now think of these individuals trying to demonstrate how smart they are by beating you at chess (I have to admit that for only a few people is this really true -- but no one likes to lose.)  Now imagine these same people trying also to tell everyone how much they know by pulling Cliff Clavin's during interesting conversations.  Well tonight wasn't anywhere near what I just described.  Except for the guy I ended up playing.  I played this guy Dennis who talked to himself and swore when I made good moves and he made bad ones.  He was sitting alone and I ended up playing with him.  He asked me my name and pulled out this square of paper on which he proceeded to write his name, my name and the word "draw".  He then proceeded to heep track of wins and losses, I broke even with him.  Seems neurosis and social retardedness almost always goes hand in hand with chess talent (this writer is the rare exception.)  He also didn't really know how to shake hands, it was like holding onto a limp fish.

    Okay, after all of this whining on my part, I kinda liked playing against real people face to face over the board for a change.  I think I'll be going as many Wednesdays as I can.