OK, I have a story to share that may dispute the thread's contention.
Back in the early 90's a friend of mine and I used to frequent a hole-in-the-wall bar in Virginia on Thursday nights to take advantage of $1 pitchers of beer, and play chess. We'd order our pitchers, set up our board, and play 15 minute chess all night.
The place wasn't a "biker bar" per se, but it was frequented by lots of biker types. One night we were playing, and about two tables over these two drunk wild looking chicks were talking to these to really big leather clad biker types, while we were playing.
Suddenly, one of the girls walks over to me and my friend, knocks over our pieces (startling us, as we were engrossed in the game) and says "Y'all need to stop playing and get up and dance!"
The two big guys immediately got up and walked up to our table. I looked at my friend, and we both thought we had played our last.
To our surprise, the guys grabbed THE CHICK. One of them said " You don't f*** with the chess players!" and they carried her to the door and threw her out of the bar. They then came back over and said "Sorry dudes. F***ing chick doesn't f***ing respect the game".
Then they sat back down and we kept on playing, after explaining that it was no big deal, and that our board and pieces were intact. We learned from the waitress later that the rest of the bar patrons liked us showing up, and they wanted to make sure nobody messed with us.
Cool? Perhaps not, but sometimes you just never know!
Paul Leggett
Originally posted by Paul LeggettWhat a great story, but merely one exception. Just go to the USCF website and find me guys that dn't look like nerds. On the other hand, there seems to be lots of good looking chess chicks, like kosteniuk, the Polgar sisters, Jennifer Shahade and Pogonina. The great world chess players all look like popeye with glasses it seems. Anand looks like he'd be more believable at a public library desk. I saw a groupd of kids at a burger joint. One look and I thought they were chess types. As I approached their table I noticed foldable tournament boards, plastic Staunton pieces and chess clocks. They were doing post-mortems of their games. They had cool printouts of endgame exercises and little handheld chess computers. Not a one of them did not look like a geek.
OK, I have a story to share that may dispute the thread's contention.
Back in the early 90's a friend of mine and I used to frequent a hole-in-the-wall bar in Virginia on Thursday nights to take advantage of $1 pitchers of beer, and play chess. We'd order our pitchers, set up our board, and play 15 minute chess all night.
The place wasn't a "biker ith us.
Cool? Perhaps not, but sometimes you just never know!
Paul Leggett
- Joined
- 10 Jan 08
- Moves
- 19047
Originally posted by Paul Leggettlol all i hear is that this mean girl wouldn't let us play chess but lucky for us a BIG MAN was there to stick up for us.
OK, I have a story to share that may dispute the thread's contention.
Back in the early 90's a friend of mine and I used to frequent a hole-in-the-wall bar in Virginia on Thursday nights to take advantage of $1 pitchers of beer, and play chess. We'd order our pitchers, set up our board, and play 15 minute chess all night.
The place wasn't a "biker ...[text shortened]... ith us.
Cool? Perhaps not, but sometimes you just never know!
Paul Leggett
What image does "Captain of the school chess team" conjure up. There is possibly some justification. At my school, those who did not fancy getting murdered every week on a rugby field by neanderthals played chess (or various other activities) instead. For some unknown reason, the neanderthals were generally classed as cooler.
Originally posted by Paul LeggettYou're welcome.
OK, I have a story to share that may dispute the thread's contention.
Back in the early 90's a friend of mine and I used to frequent a hole-in-the-wall bar in Virginia on Thursday nights to take advantage of $1 pitchers of beer, and play chess. We'd order our pitchers, set up our board, and play 15 minute chess all night.
The place wasn't a "biker ...[text shortened]... ith us.
Cool? Perhaps not, but sometimes you just never know!
Paul Leggett
Originally posted by trev33I was thinking at the time "Sweet, chess board has attracted a hottie" until I realized she had baggage, but you gotta call it as you read it, I suppose!😉
lol all i hear is that this mean girl wouldn't let us play chess but lucky for us a BIG MAN was there to stick up for us.
Originally posted by bill718I don't know about you, but I make chess cool. See, it's when chess is the ONLY thing in your life besides video games and math homework that you are uncool.
No matter how you look at it, chess will never be cool. In America, chess carries with it all the social status of bird watchers. Chess players are generally looked upon as nerdy, acne faced geeks that play a game designed for Communists. While this is often far from the truth, chessplayers will always play the game because they find it interesting...not because it's popular. 😏