Janaka

[Scott Tortorice]

This is a very funny story:

Janaka

When was the last time you saw any of the top 100 players playing (unpaid) in a mid-week league match in some school gymnasium against a 1400 player?

Of course the real hero of league chess is the league team captain.

I was captain of Edinburgh 4 for two seasons and the act of getting 5 other players to the same venue at the same time would try the patience of a saint.

I bought a van, fitted it with chairs and this took us all over the country. It’s important to have a form of transport for league chess. Often guys are picked not on their playing ability but because they owned a car....

We chess players are a neurotic lot.

"Chess doesn't drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane." - Former British champion Bill Hartston

 

[kcdusk]

Good article. I liked it most when it was serious. It makes me wonder if chess "pros" play minimum games to protect there rating (exhotic locations, pick opponants and/or be at 100% for every game). Whereas regular chess players play all the time @ any place - games every day either in competitions, parks, internet, raking up hundreds of games without any real care for ratings. Its more about the match and beating the opponant in the next game whether your at 100% or not. Chess addicts instead of chess "pros" or "GMs".