Originally Posted by thekremlin
I played in a chess tournament once.
Freshman year of college, I dropped by a chess club meeting, hoping it wasn't just a nerdfest. Well, it was, and I didn't stick with it. I did get on their email list, and got spammed for the next four years. For some reason, during my sr. year, I happened to read one of the emails, and saw "So we don't have any volunteers for the Foxwoods trip, is ANYONE interested?" Foxwoods is an indian casino not far from where I grew up. I tentatively replied "Um.... I'll go?" They said great, even not knowing who I was. So I had an expenses paid trip to New England, courtesy of a chess club I'd never attended. I instantly called my friends from Boston and told them to meet me there.
I got there, and they asked my rating. Well, I didn't have a rating, so they put me in the unrated division. I get to my first match and find out that among competitors, the only people who are unrated are 10-year old children. But 10-year-old ASIAN children. I was in for a fight. With my (already drunk) friends cheering me on (not kosher in a chess tournament), I overcame my first three opponents. I didn't demolish them. But I beat the little fuckers.
To celebrate, we started playing blackjack, and started drinking, and ended up in a nightclub until 4 AM. Fastforward, but not far, to 7 AM the next morning, and I'm up against a diabolical-looking chinese child, complete with dissapproving father standing behind him. I'm quite drunk, and don't recognize his opening.... the usually-insulting fool's mate. Twenty seconds into the round, and this little fucking chinaman stands up and yells "Checkmate!" I stare in disbelief, stand up, take a bow, and go back to my room and back to bed.
Thus ended my competitive chess career.
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