What are your most embarrassing in-person chess stories? I…
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What are your most embarrassing in-person chess stories?
I once was tired of playing online and wanted to play real players, so I went to a Friday evening leisure chess tournament at a local club, for "club members & friends". Mind you, this was my very first experience playing in an in-person "tournament-like" setting.
The tournament was set to start at 8pm, and I was there at 7:30, thinking that coming with a lot of buffer would be the right idea. I actually was the first one in the room and I saw a lot of tables with chess boards already put in place. So I sat down, and a little bit later, the room started filling. A guy came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play a game. I said sure, thinking that this was just a warm-up session and that afterawards we would play the tournament.
While we were playing, I saw that another guy with long hair who was on a computer taking names from the people who registered for the tournament, so I quickly paused the game, went up to long hair guy, and had him put in my name. Then went back to playing the warmup game, lost it, and had a nice chat with my opponent about our ideas during the game.
At some point, Long Hair Guy comes to me looking slightly enraged, asking, "Where are you? We already started playing." And that's how I learned that the tournament took place one floor above, not in the room I was in...
So I quickly grabbed my stuff and sprinted upstairs, walking into a silent room with 8 tables, 7 of which with pairs that were already playing, and one seemingly waiting for me as the opponent, clock already ticking. I felt super embarrassed already because I interrupted the silence and the concentration of the players. But that's not where it stopped.
I sat down on the only empty chair, shaking my opponent's hand, trying to ignore his skeptical gaze. Once I had sorted my thoughts and looked down on the board to start playing, I noticed that all my pieces were weirdly positioned. The pawns looked all right, but the pieces behind them were just not in their expected squares.
After a moment of confusion, I looked at my opponent and said into the silence of the room: "Excuse me, but I think my pieces aren't well positioned." He looked straight at my face, saying "Yes, they are. This is called chess 960. It's randomized chess." In a dead silent room, I had just announced to everyone that I had no idea what i was doing.
Needless to say, I lost every game that night,... but I did dare to go back to the club on another night for a leisure chess tournament with normal starting positions.
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Do you have similar stories from in-person chess games/tournaments?
#games
source
I once was tired of playing online and wanted to play real players, so I went to a Friday evening leisure chess tournament at a local club, for "club members & friends". Mind you, this was my very first experience playing in an in-person "tournament-like" setting.
The tournament was set to start at 8pm, and I was there at 7:30, thinking that coming with a lot of buffer would be the right idea. I actually was the first one in the room and I saw a lot of tables with chess boards already put in place. So I sat down, and a little bit later, the room started filling. A guy came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play a game. I said sure, thinking that this was just a warm-up session and that afterawards we would play the tournament.
While we were playing, I saw that another guy with long hair who was on a computer taking names from the people who registered for the tournament, so I quickly paused the game, went up to long hair guy, and had him put in my name. Then went back to playing the warmup game, lost it, and had a nice chat with my opponent about our ideas during the game.
At some point, Long Hair Guy comes to me looking slightly enraged, asking, "Where are you? We already started playing." And that's how I learned that the tournament took place one floor above, not in the room I was in...
So I quickly grabbed my stuff and sprinted upstairs, walking into a silent room with 8 tables, 7 of which with pairs that were already playing, and one seemingly waiting for me as the opponent, clock already ticking. I felt super embarrassed already because I interrupted the silence and the concentration of the players. But that's not where it stopped.
I sat down on the only empty chair, shaking my opponent's hand, trying to ignore his skeptical gaze. Once I had sorted my thoughts and looked down on the board to start playing, I noticed that all my pieces were weirdly positioned. The pawns looked all right, but the pieces behind them were just not in their expected squares.
After a moment of confusion, I looked at my opponent and said into the silence of the room: "Excuse me, but I think my pieces aren't well positioned." He looked straight at my face, saying "Yes, they are. This is called chess 960. It's randomized chess." In a dead silent room, I had just announced to everyone that I had no idea what i was doing.
Needless to say, I lost every game that night,... but I did dare to go back to the club on another night for a leisure chess tournament with normal starting positions.
\---
Do you have similar stories from in-person chess games/tournaments?
#games
source
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