back from camp, an optimistic pessimist
sometimes i feel like axl rose is gonna release chinese democracy before i get my rating anywhere over 1400. sometimes i worry that my methods of studying are akin to approaching a woman at a bar and saying “hey baby, you must work for UPS, cause i saw you inspecting my package.” while it’s fun, somewhat entertaining, and directed towards a certain goal, it is ultimately a waste of time and effort and an epic fail.
chess camp has changed that. i had such a kick ass time at chess camp, i learned so much and it got me energized and excited about chess and i again think i have a chance at actually learning this damn game and playing it well.
i learned about the sicilian yugoslav and english attacks as white, which seem easy to understand and play, and makes me seriously think about playing 1e4 instead of 1d4. to oversimplify things, white plays f3 and wins. damn, even i can understand that.
but then i also learned about the catalan, which i’m kinda digging, and since i already play 1d4, it looks like a really nice way to play. while analyzing games, i occasionally had the right ideas and analyzed the position correctly, meaning i actually almost know what i’m doing. i’ve learned stuff and i’m better at chess then when i started. the other great thing about camp was, while i saw how much i suck, things kind of started clicking for me. i started to understand certain concepts, i started to see things and i felt like i was really learning chess.
in the “story” that is my chess “career” it feels like everything i’ve done up to this point has been the introduction, the preface. and now i begin chapter 1, now i start. when i get back from playing in philly, i’m going to “take a break,” but not stop studying. in fact, i’m going to study harder, more focused, but more relaxed. i feel like over the last year or so, i’ve collected enough methods and ways to study and i can apply them all together and learn more efficiently and more deeply. not just learn, but sear the knowledge into my brain so i’m permanently scarred with chess knowledge that will never go away no matter how many lotions and ointments i use.
it will be kinda like going cocooon, and then busting out next year a deadly venomous chess playing man-beast ravaging and terrorizing the U1400 sections across the country, leaving a bloody trail of crying kids and adults left trembling in the fetal position from the sheer awesomeness of my skillful attacks.
the villagers will try to band together and fight me off, maybe even hiring a wandering traveler who promises he can rid them of me, but eventually defeating even him. it will be awesome. the funny thing is, even though i feel this is a possibility, deep down i still think i suck and i almost expect to get crushed even worse after my huge “studypalooza.” more on all that in the future.
for now, i’m getting ready for philly, which is in a few days. its a giant wave, and i’m standing right in front of it, my feet buried deep in the sand. no matter what i do, it will hit me and eventually wash over me. so i’m not gonna fret it, i’m not gonna worry, tense up and try to fight it head on. i’m gonna relax and go with it, let it wash over me and enjoy the ride. i’m gonna see friends, meet new friends, and have a blast.
anyone reading this who is going to the world open in philadelphia, bring your bathrobe for the inaugural “richard decredico honorary lebowski round.” whichever round that is, probably one of the evening rounds, say the evening round before the last day’s rounds, we are gonna wear bathrobes and (some of us) drinking white russians or something while we play an enjoyable game of chess.
finally, in an unrelated note that has nothing do to with chess at all, for those who care about politics, please watch this video right here
off by one day
i was gonna leave today, sunday. turns out i am going to leave tomorrow, monday. i’ll be gone for a week, no internet.
if you are in tucson, when i’m not at chess camp, you will find me either sleeping in my car, or at surly wench pub.
if you can’t find it or have any questions, you can ask wang all about it, he’s been there…
see ya in a week
i’m goin’ camping
sunday morning i wake up and drive to tucson, arizona, to do some camping. what kind of camping?
CHESS CAMPING!!!!!
i’m going to a chess camp, and for one week, i’m gonna be ensconced, immersed, dunked and held under a sea of chess knowledge. me and a bunch of 4th graders. and i’ll be the worst chessplayer there.
but that’s ok, cause i’m gonna learn something (i hope. they will try to teach me, it’s up to me to actually learn). it kinda goes along with my theory of location, which i was gonna write about sometime, so i think i’ll write about it now, cause it’s on my mind.
it seems great chessplayers come from areas with lots of chess. sounds obvious, but i was wondering, can someone who is living in an area without much chess, isolated from “the chess scene,” ever really excell at chess? perhaps with the internet and the ability to play against others online. but, you have places like st louis, arizona, new york, washington dc, where there is chess all over, you can go down to the coffeeshop or park and play chess. and see others waaaaaaay better than you play chess. with a bunch of people playing, you push each other to get better, you gather up chess knowledge like a cartoon snowball rolling downhill, becoming a huge snow boulder and crushing the town below.
i live in an area where there is me, bill, who is super awesome at chess, and my friend mike, who i play chess with occasionally. there is not much chess going on, and it seems the progress others make in a week takes me about 3 months, strictly from the sheer amount of chess others are exposed to.
i don’t know how true this theory is, but i believe location is a huge factor in chess improvement. while the internet mitigates some of the effects of “chess isolation,” i don’t think it equalizes between someone surrounded by chess and someone who isn’t.
so for one week, i will be surrounded by chess, living the chess player lifestyle. sitting around, wearing a smoking jacket and a fez, a martini in one hand, chess piece in the other. i’ll be at chess camp, making clay or macrame chess pieces in arts and crafts, singing chess songs, telling scary chess stories around a campfire while we roast marshmallows.
and i’ll be in tucson, which means i’ll probably drink at the surly wench.
then i come back, pack, and fly to philly to use whatever new knowledge i have to terrorize the U1200 section. YEAH!!!!
and when i get back, and get home, i’ll wake up, go outside, and there, on the handle of my car’s rear door, will be a bloody hook!!!!!!!!!!! (do i need to explain this?)
friday random crap in my head
went to the gym this morning, i feel all pumped and buffed and huge…i got muscles like flea bites on spaghetti….
i wonder if it would be cheating at the tournament if every move i got up, saw what one of the GMs played, and played that move? assuming my opponent would be playing the same moves as the GMs opponent, at least to a point, i would be playing better moves, unless i am copying a GM who sucks. but if i played like a sucky GM, i’d be playing 600 times better than i play now…
last night i made espresso shrimp flambeed in sambuca, a recipe from the top chef cook book. it was tasty, but the cool part was the burning pan on the stove. boy was my wife nervous… julienne a red bell pepper and a scallion, mix with olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper, put a bunch on plates. sautee garlic in butter, add shrimp and ground espresso beans, turning shrimp to coat with espresso. add 6 tbs of sambuca and FLAME ON!!!!! let it burn for about a minute or two, until it burns out and you have a thick syrupy mess o’ goodness. serve on top of the pepper/scallion mix. eat in front of the tv, watching a food network show, or for maximum effect, watching top chef… (note: i’m not trying to steal reassembler’s top chef fan blogging, i just got the top chef cookbook for father’s day cause i love that show and i used it, so there is that)
i’ve been dreaming about chess a lot. i close my eyes to go to sleep and i see chess pieces. i see chess moves. not like i see the winning unbeatable combination, but i see pieces moving, and i dream about chess pieces moving. i am either learning chess or going insane.
there will be a large number of chess bloggers in philly. this means there will be potentially be a wild party in my hotel room. since this will be the last tournament i play this year, i am going to have as much fun as i can, ratings be damned…
it’s beautiful out, i’m not working today. i think i shall do tactics for an hour, look at internet porn, go over a GM game or two, then go for a bike ride. yay friday.
anyone reading this, have a great weekend…
cool games
how is it i can beat a 1700 player, then lose to an 1100? i don’t understand that. but i did beat a 1700 and it was pretty damn cool.
standard queen pawn opening, and on move 4 i take the d5 pawn, cause that is what petrosian does, and he was a GM, so i figure i will do what he does. i bring my bishop to b5, and he chases it away with pawn moves, so he gets all developed and pawns advance and all i do is move my bishop three more times. on move 12 he plays b4, and that pawn advance was, i think, the wrong move, the move that changed it all.
it weakened a4 and gave me that square to harass the king and fuck up his plans. he attacks my knight, so i move it to a4 but instead of taking my knight with his, he takes my e pawn with his d pawn, attacking my other knight. well, fuck him, i take his knight and threated his rook. his queen takes it, then i decide to trade bishops but my knight is still under attack. instead of moving the knight, my rook does the electric slide over one space and pins the attacking pawn. he castles and i take the pawn with the rook, cause now my rook is out and can swing over to the h file, which it does. my queen goes to c2, and now i just have to get rid of the knight and mate him. he moves his bishop to protect the knight, but it doesn’t, because of the threat of mate. so i take his knight, and he has to move a pawn and i get his bishop as well, with the bonus of attacking both rooks. three pieces for a bishop, not bad. i’m up two pieces and i prepare to mate him and i use a super cool tactical rook sac to get his queen on move 32. he threatens a back rank mate, but i mate him first. corridor mate, just like blunderprone would do. i think i actually played this really well. why can’t i play like this all the damn time?
yesterday was a good day, and i again feel like i actually have a chance of making 2000 someday. i feel like, if i put the time and effort into it, although it will take a few more years, i can actually get it.
hope. false or not, i have it.
here is the game
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nbd7
6. e3 c5 7. Bb5 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bb3 c4 10. Bc2 Nb6
11. O-O Bd6 12. e4 b4 13. Na4 dxe4 14. Nxb6 Qxb6 15. Ba4+ Bd7
16. Bxd7+ Nxd7 17. Re1 O-O 18. Rxe4 Nf6 19. Rh4 Rad8 20. Qc2 c3
21. Bg5 Be7 22. Bxf6 g6 23. Bxe7 cxb2 24. Qxb2 Rd5 25. Bxf8 Kxf8
26. Rc1 a5 27. Rxh7 Kg8 28. Rh3 a4 29. Rc8+ Kg7 30. Rc5 Rd7
31. d5+ Qf6 32. Rh7+ Kxh7 33. Qxf6 b3 34. Ng5+ Kh6 35. axb3 axb3
36. d6 b2 37. Qh8#
so i beat a 1700. cool, i think i’ll go on ICC and get my ass kicked by a 1200 now.
i don’t mind the swelling and redness, it’s the itchiness that gets me
there is that weird feeling during a chessgame, that one defining moment when you can actually see and feel everything change. it’s magical.
you and your opponent are jockeying for position, setting up, moving about, feeling each other out. you both are getting your pieces in place, maybe a feint here, a jab there, see how he reacts, maybe trade a pawn off to open a file or whatnot.
and then, one of you makes “that move,” the move that is the turning point. the one move that is the small pebble that unhinges the rock that moves the boulder and creates the thundering overwhelming rock slide that rips up the forest that is your pieces and buries the town that is your king.
sometimes, it seems its only a matter of holding on long enough until the other guy makes “that move.” like russian roulette, you each take turns until the click is a BANG.
i guess it’s looking for the weakness, the chink in the armor (hey, now, why you gotta be like that?) the one little rip in the fabric that lets you get in and tear him up.
sometimes one side takes the initiative from the beginning, takes control, and just makes the other guy dance to his tune. i wish i could figure out how to do that all the time.
i also wish i could figure out how to make the other guy make “that move” on purpose. how can i get lure him into making the one move that will signal his demise? do the GMS take any position and use it to thier advantage or do they cause the other guy to fuck up first? is it imagination and creativity? do they take lemons and make chocolate mousse pie, or do they cause the other guy to supply the chocolate and then make the mousse out of that?
looking over the reinfield’s bazillion and one sacrifices today, i think i almost got a glimpse into it, i think i caught, out of the corner of my eye, for a fleeting second, how to turn a somewhat even position (with potential) into a winning position by luring a piece here and taking out a piece there.
it’s like shifting pieces in a mosaic to make a picture. and i wonder if that is how to cause “that move.”
pictures
so here are some pictures from vegas. you can click on them to make them larger.
i think some of them are kinda cool, like GM petrosian thinking
GM akobian writing down his killer move
or a showgirl
or two of the cool guys i got to meet and know thanks to chess and chess blogging, the super dapper and smart troy and the always gansta and cooler than fonzie, soon to be IM kevin the drunknknight
anyone reading this, have a great weekend and happy father’s day to any fathers out there (chessdad, blunderprone, wahrheit to name a few, and the rest of you as well)
rock on
god help me, what have i done?
so i get back from vegas, beaten and battered, a shell of a man. i was so damn depressed i actually considered sitting on the couch and watching the sandra bullock movie marathon on TBS. do you know how bad you have to be to sit and willfully watch hope floats on purpose, not as a dare, not with a gun to your head? i was in a bad way.
i seriously thought about giving it all up, playing chess for fun on icc, maybe with a buddy when we can, but mostly just saying fuck it and not looking at chess or actually studying or trying to improve with a purpose.
i read all the kick ass comments from the last post, which really brightened me up a bit. i thought about it. last night, i watched the season finale of top chef, and richard fucking lost! i did not see that coming at all. he was by far the most talented chef there, not to take anything away from the winner, she was pretty damn good, but he had a certain flair. and he lost. he must have been crushed. i bet he went home and watched a sandra bullock movie marathon.
so i thought, damn, i’m not the only one who was kicked in the nuts by life. (there are a bunch of chinese people dead, homeless, and injured from the earthquake. there are a bunch of midwesterners dead, injured and homeless from tornados and floods and fires. my life sucks and i hate it because i lost playing a chess game in las vegas, followed by a meal at a restaurant in ceaser’s palace. i know there are people who have it way worse with real actual problems, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. how fucked up am i?).
today i went for a bike ride, it was hot, long, hard, fast (yes, oh yes, pedal that bike up the hill) and i felt pretty good. so i checked the actual site on chesstour.com.
holy crap, the hotel is sold out. is that a sign from god that i should not play? see, i take things as signs from god/the gods/fate/whatever. superstitious, primitive, whatever you want to call me, i take things as signs, i read into everyday happenings and find meaning in the most random shit. i make decisions based off of meaningless events. no wonder i suck so much at chess. so far, making decisions based off of random crap has led me down wrong paths, i usually end up making the wrong decision, you think i’d learn, but no, not at all.
so i call the hotel anyway, just to see, he says they are all sold out. of course, it says so right there on the chesstour page. there is room at a hotel right down the block though, he quotes me the price, i tell him i’m with the chess tournament, he checks rooms blocked for events, and LO!!!! a room!!! available for the tournament, at the chess price.
i take this as a sign. a sign that i need to, indeed, go to the tournament, if not to get revenge, but to party and play chess in a bathrobe drinking a white russian. for whatever reason, i need to be at that tournament in philadelphia.
i’m a fucking glutton for pain and punishment, clearly i’m some sort of masochistic, self-inflicting-wound loving, danger to myself. i’m going to go to the 35th annual world open chess tournament in philadelphia.
god help me and have mercy on my soul.
the last waltz: las vegas 2008
so i went to las vegas, drove through zion national park, ate at mesa grill, saw the amazing jonathan, went to a snazzy strip club, played a bunch of chess. i was gonna write this huge awesome epic tournament report with pictures, food reviews, the whole shebang, but frankly i’m tired and don’t feel like it.
here is a condensed version:
zion is preternaturally beautiful and i’m going canyoning there.
food at mesa grill is tasty, we had wild mushroom quesadilla appetizer, duck and lamb, both well executed, perfect, creme brulee. all food was spot on, visually appealing, tasty. nothing i would go back for though, no super amazing flavors. nothing to cream your jeans about.
amazing jonathan was a bit of a letdown. good show, but if you’ve seen him on tv, you’ve seen the act.
so, the chess:
i finished 3-0. but it’s not the final score, the mere three points that is the nail in my heart, it’s the details, it’s what happened and how it happened, it’s the whole picture taken together that, as a whole, crushed me, and i’m still reeling from it.
round 1 – i’m playing a 3rd grader, nice kid. rated under 1000. he chews his snack super loud, open mouth, i can only assume he is trying to distract me. we keep playing and i’m winning. his next snack is a red banana that he can’t get open, he asks me to open it for him. kid can’t open a fucking banana. i win the game. big fucking deal.
round 2 – i’m playing an old guy, rated under 1000. he is 86, an actual living WWII veteran. he tells me his wife passed away a few years ago and he is now with a younger woman, he hopes he can keep up with her. she is 70. i call him a cradle robber. he is old but sharp, that said, he still missed a blatant queen pin, loses his queen and i win. big deal.
round 3 – i’m playing a guy who looks like his name should be “mike” and he should work construction. he has big beefy meaty hands that has seen years of tough manual labor. it’s a good game actually, close, down to the wire, i get some momentum, despite the late night at the strip club and a mild hangover, i win.
ok, so far i’ve played only people rated below me, and i’ve won. i’m not proud of my victories, i don’t feel like i’ve “earned” my wins. now instead of feeling good about myself that i’ve won three in a row, i feel under pressure.
round 4 – i’m playing another guy rated below me, a chinese guy who has won all his games so far, against people rated higher than me. i don’t’ feel right. tired and stressed, i fuck up on move 4, blundering, but he doesn’t take it. it’s a slow game, about halfway through i know i’m gonna lose, i can feel it, so i get a beer and enjoy the game. this is the first beer round i’ve lost since i started drinking during a tournament game. i don’t feel bad at all though, i played like shit and deserved to lose, he clearly outplayed me, and mentally i had lost that game before it started. i’m not making excuses, i should have played better, i didn’t, that was that. i don’t feel bad about losing, and in fact, the loss actually takes the pressure off me to have a perfect tournament, i end up having the best night’s sleep for the whole tournament. ok, i’ve lost. 0.
round 5 – i feel great, i feel refreshed, i want to play some chess, i’m ready to win. i’m playing another guy rated below me, he has only one loss but he’s beaten people rated higher than me. i decide to have fun and play and enjoy myself. it’s a fun game, he is the only one with balls to play an open sicilian, and although i fucked up the opening line i had prepared, i still get a winning game. i’m up pieces, i have a winning attack, i victory is in sight. i lose the fucking game. i lose. what the fuck!!!!!
goddammit, it’s not like i was asking to beat gata kamsky or nakamura or any of the other GMs, why the fuck can’t i win against a 900 rated guy with huge caterpillars for eyebrows that i am beating?
ok, this hurts. this is a punch to the solar plexus, and physically hurts me. did i subconsciously sabotage myself? am i afraid of success? did i choke? whatever, i lost and i hate myself. so now i’ve castled. 0-0.
round 6 – last round. i usually win my last round, and if i win, i can at least walk away with a respectable 4 points. i’m against a filipina chick who is stretching and breathing like she is warming up for an MMA bout against tito ortiz. she is rated higher than me, about time i finally played someone rated above me.
we play, she gets a good solid kingside attack going, i make what i think is a brilliant knight sac, get counterplay, turn the tables. i outplay her in the end, i’m winning, and then i lose. i’ve castled long. 0-0-0.
the last day of the tournament soured the whole thing for me, muted the taste of the food at bobby flay’s restaurant, magnified the $100 i dropped at the roulette table after dinner, made wonder why i bother and made me question my whole life. do i have free will or is it all predetermined, am i going to suck at everything i do and lose no matter what i do?
i’ve lost before, but i didn’t know what i was doing, i was learning, i was playing people better than me. but now, after a year and a half of playing and studying, i still can’t get it. the last two games stripped away any protection of excuses i may have had, left me naked and exposed to the truth. i can’t win a won game. i can’t play chess. i don’t have the mind for it, i’m too stupid. if i lose against a 1700, well, he’s a 1700, of course i would lose. but when i lose to people in my category, lose a winning game, there has to be something severely wrong and i can’t ignore it.
is it fate/the gods/the universe conspiring against me? is this all predetermined, we all have a role in some huge cosmic play, and my place is the mediocre loser who, no matter what he does, no matter how close he comes, will never ever succeed, and that’s just the way it is? zeus turns to buddah and says “hey, watch this, i’m gonna make this guy lose against someone he should beat,” and jesus adds “wait, let’s make this even more hilarious. let’s let him get ahead, make him think he is going to win, then we snatch it right out from under him! build him up so he falls farther and hits harder! comedy fucking genius!”
really, that’s how it feels.
if you pursue a lover, shower attention and affection, offer your whole heart, and you are constantly rebuked and rejected, teased and taunted, you eventually get the hint and, with a broken heart and tear streaked cheeks, move on.
i didn’t expect to win the tournament. i did, however, expect to play much better than i did. i had thought, if i do well in vegas, i’ll maybe play in philly, but now, i don’t see any reason to spend the time, money, and effort to fly to philly just to be shown i clearly don’t know what the fuck i’m doing. i can sit right here at home and see that.
if there was some sign of improvement, some hope that i might actually “get” it, maybe. but now i feel like i’m just wasting my time. i’m not learning, i’m not remembering, i’m not seeing it, i’m just not fucking getting it. i’m still playing as shitty as i did a year ago, i can’t even break 1200.
normally, 3 points would be good, i’d be happy with them. but two of those points were gimmes, and one was no big deal. i then lost to 3 people rated below me, on of them was a winning game. and my final loss was a winning game. so, i can’t say overall i played that well.
right now, it’s just not fun anymore. this will be my last tournament for the year. and i think i need a break.
panic and abhorrance in las vegas
before we begin today’s post, let’s add another name to the list of
PUSSY MOTHERFUCKERS WHO DISCONNECT WHEN THEY ARE GONNA LOSE.
i can no longer list just the ones on ICC, since this happened on FICS. from now on, they will be listed under the category of disconnecters. the perp’s handle is Goodking. he is rated higher than me, we played a game, he won, he immediately challenged me to another game. he had me lined up for a nice mate, but he forgot about my queen coming down to the last rank for a check, followed by my rook taking a sidestep for a check, which would result in his plans down the toilet. weird thing, i check him, and he all of a sudden gets disconnected. i hunted him down though, forced the game to resume, he eventually won. i ran out of time, he would have won anyway with a pawn. but he had been online the whole time, i assume he is cheating, so he goes on the list.
well Goodking on FICS,
welcome to the PUSSY MOTHERFUCKERS WHO DISCONNECT WHEN THEY ARE LOSING club.
and now lets begin the post.
tomorrow morning i drive out across the barren desert, fending of the heat, buzzards, banditos, boredom, heading out to sin city to seek riches, fortune and fame. not in the traditional ways people seek easily had riches in las vegas, not at the craps table or roulette wheel. no sir, that path has been and will continue to be too well trodden. no adventure in that.
i’m trekking out across the desert to seek glory at the vegas chess festival and i’m pretty excited. i will avoid using any “fear and loathing” references for my trip to vegas, although there will be fear, and tons of self loathing. if i have the time, i might stop off in zion park, utah, or something similarly rife with natural splendor and beauty and wonder. i’m gonna have a great time, one way or another. i am really really really gonna try and win this thing. i’m putting extra pressure on myself by wanting to win so badly, but damn, i really really really want to dominate my section. i should dominate my section. i want to play so well people think i’m sandbagging or cheating. if, halfway through, there is no hope for me, then every round after that will become a beer round, possibly a white russian round. richard says he is gonna play in the philly tournament in a bathrobe, that is a genius idea. i’m thinking of playing at least one game wearing my bicycling helmet and gloves.
if anyone is reading this and is gonna be there, i’ll be in the U1200 section, i have a bicycle tattooed on my left arm and a hardcore pawnography sticker on my clock. i might possibly be wearing a bicycle helmet and gloves. say hi, i’ll give you a sticker.
next post will be the full tournament report, tuesday, the 10th.
chess nutrition, another great idea i have
athletes all have their own sport specific diet and nutrition for peak performance. yoga people eat certain foods, cyclists have a diet, runners have a diet, fighters have a diet, etc. and they all have their own energy bars and special energy drinks. gu (i love gu), powerbars, cliff bars, tiger milk, to name a few, and protein drinks, electrolyte drinks, recovery drinks, ad infinitum.
(how about a high protien shake sucked through a meat straw, baby?)
ok, if you are not offended and still reading…
but what about chess players? what do we have? we have crappy burgers (except for in-n-out, which are the best ever) or faux mexican (mmmm, baja chicken gordita!). and those foods, while maybe tasty, are not performance enhancing.
we need chess specific energy bars. you go to a tournament, you play for however many hours, your next game is in a few hours, you barely have time to go to the nearest fast food joint and eat something shitty. you are up all night analyzing games, blitzing in the skittles room, tucking folded dollar bills into strippers g-strings, you sleep late and hardly get a good breakfast. no wonder after three days you are groggy, foggy, irritable, can’t think straight (it’s probably just me, but i’m hoping i’m not alone on this).
ok, so what if there was some kind of energy bar that is filled with stuff chess players need for maximum performance?
we have to think, so it would have stuff that promotes brain activity. collards, tuna and salmon, avocados, blueberries, broccoli, turmeric (a spice used in indian food).
we need energy for sitting there for hours, so that’s carbs and protien.
so what if there was some kind of spicy turmeric blueberry fish avocado rice bar? or maybe something a bit more tasty.
it could be called the “chess bar” and would have cool catchy names for each flavor, like alekhine almond, smith-morra mocha, sicilian salmon, or benoni blueberry.
also there could be chess energy drinks. they would come with different flavors and cool names, but would actually all be just coffee and green tea. if they dress it up and name it right and get kasparov or aronian or topolov to say they drink it, it would be a sure thing.
fuck, if nothing else, i think i’m gonna quit playing chess and just go to tournaments, set up a hotdog stand or small food kiosk, and i’d probably get as much or more business than the book dealer.
i don’t know, i think there is a niche for it. there has to be a better way to eat when you go to a tournament.
