The Best Chess Stories I Have To Share
[Random greeting that most people skip],
When I realized that my first blog was quite successful and fun to write, I thought it would be a good idea to post some more, especially now that I made the mistake of signing up for a blogging competition and can't disappoint my friends (who probably couldn't care less). Ok, anyway, let's get to the text before you give up reading.
I had no good idea for a topic, so I decided to share with you some stories I have had involving chess during my life... which is now already longer than I would have liked, but the only way not to get old is to die young, so I won't complain. They range from "blindfolded" games to blatant deception and happen in different countries and situations. There is nothing too special about them, but they are funny, so I hope you enjoy!
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Table of Contents
(I still cannot believe it worked, I felt like a real hacker doing it)
1. The classic pretending I don't know how to play.
3. Blindfolded chess in the air.
4. Chess during a job interview.
6. Conclusion
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1. The classic pretending I don't know how to play
The first story is something I think almost everybody of at least intermediate level has already done. If you haven't, I can only recommend that you give it a try. On this day in 2011, when I was 17 years old, a young me was having lunch with some relatives who had come to visit. Among them was a cousin of my late mother's, a degree of relationship that I have no idea what it's called.
Anyway, he saw a decorative chessboard we had on a shelf next to the TV and started talking to my father about it, saying that he was a super-mega-ultra player when younger, but that his career didn't take off because of his studies, otherwise, he would have beaten Kasparov and... well, we know how these things go, right?
Then I stepped in, hoping Dad would understand my prank.
- Is this game hard to learn? I have never tried.
Fortunately, my father didn't interrupt me to reveal the lie.
- Oh no, it looks complicated, but it's easy once you... [whatever else he said to make himself sound like a genius].
After lunch, he "taught” me how to play. Just to keep it from taking too long, I pretended to remember some things from elementary school and popular culture. My father was watching us from a distance, and I made sure to give him a sign to come closer when the "demo" game was about to start. Check it out:
I don't remember the rest of it, but I just kept exchanging everything and pretending to think more than necessary in some positions just to find a decent move that I had seen much earlier. This is how I beat the future world champion of my family in my very first game of chess. Or so he thought.
Of course, after the game, we told him the whole truth, but it was fun. Besides, with all his bragging about how great he was, I think losing with such a blunder in the opening was embarrassing for him anyway, especially since I've never been a master.
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In November 2023, I was on holiday with my husband in Australia. In Melbourne, just outside a building called the State Library Victoria, which I strongly suspect is the library of the Australian state of Victoria, there is a human-sized chessboard with giant pieces.
But on this day, instead of using the pieces to play, there was a group playing human chess, where the pieces were replaced by people. Luckily, the game was almost over when we arrived, and I volunteered to be a piece in the next one.
So it happened, and as one of the few girls there, I was the white queen, commanded by a 20-something Australian journalism student who seemed to be a beginner. I say this because he tried to switch my position with the king before the game started when we were actually on the right squares.
That's how the genius began:
You can imagine my happiness... me, a noble and powerful queen, being given the ridiculous role of trying to give a Scholar's Mate. But that's not even the worst of it.
When he hung me, I said in my language, "P* que pariu! Você tá maluco, sua anta?". Feel free to use a translator, although I am not sure it will give you the correct meaning.
Unfortunately, I can't tell you how the game ended because we had some other places to visit and decided not to wait, but based on the moves I participated in, it's not hard to guess who won.
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3. Blindfolded chess in the air
The third story happened on an airplane. It was back when I was still competing in some judo tournaments and flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to participate in a Pan-American competition. I was sitting by the window, and on the seat next to me was a friend of mine who used to be my sparring partner to prepare for big events. On the aisle was my coach.
I knew he liked chess, but we had never played each other, so I asked:
- Can you play chess blindfolded?
- No. Can you?
- No. Let's try! E4! (This was probably in 2013. Smartphones existed, but were reserved for the rich).
And so was our game:
At that moment I said "Nh4", a very common move in the Ruy Lopez, with the aim of placing it later on the f5 square. The problem? I had forgotten that it had already been exchanged earlier on f3. However, due to the presence of this other knight in f1, I think my friend was confused and began to calculate, trying to visualize the board. Suddenly we were interrupted by someone.
- Your knight can't jump to h4! You are cheating!
It was the passenger in front of me, who also happened to be a chess fan and had nothing better to do than listen to our conversation. Luckily, he had a better visualization of the board than we did, and even showed on his phone how the game was going and why my move was illegal (he showed from the beginning, so I don't think he was "watching" it live, but actually memorized it. Still, anything is possible).
Realizing that, we just gave up trying. If we could not even get to move 10 without noticing an obvious problem, we would never be able to finish the game.
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4. Chess during a job interview
I work as a children's judo sensei. As you can imagine, controlling a class full of kids with endless energy can be really challenging, so since 2019 I have had the company of an assistant teacher who is mainly there to help me take care of them all and pay attention to everyone.
Early last year, after the previous assistant left to focus on his studies, I interviewed a candidate. After the usual questions were asked and answered, I was about to invite him to the practical test, which consists of fighting against me (not important, but I like to pretend it is) and then a whole real class, where I evaluate if they can deal well with the kids, the most important thing.
But first I asked him if he had any hobbies, and he mentioned chess. The room next to ours was like the gym storage, where I knew there were some boards and pieces, so I went there and brought them back, inviting him to a quick challenge before the practical test.
I don't remember the whole game, but I do remember that he was very good and outplayed me most of the time. This was the final position (probably not exactly, but similar). Can you guess which move I played and why?
If he had taken with the pawn, it would have been a draw (a-column pawn and the promotion square is the opposite color of the bishop), so it was my last hope. Unfortunately, capturing with the king is much more natural. That's what he did and I resigned.
At least I crushed him on the mat a few minutes later. In the end, he was not the chosen candidate, but I swear it was not because of that chess game. Or was it?
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This one happened when I was learning to play in school, probably at the age of 7 or 8. I was one of the less pathetic players among the kids. One day, because the number of children in the class was odd, our teacher also sat down to play against us, in a rotation system.
When it was my turn, I was very nervous, ready to show her my potential. However, during our game, I started to feel the pressure and struggled to find the best moves. Nepomniachtchi in the World Championship really has no idea what this feels like and is nothing compared to my situation. I swear she was as good as Carlsen and as fast as Nakamura!
She even defended her bishop when I attacked it! Something mind-blowing that I had never seen any of my previous opponents do. This damned Polgár-like master did not give me a chance! How could I save myself?
I am sorry, but I obviously cannot remember the game or the exact position. I think it was more or less like this:
What happened was that, luckily, someone called her to ask a question at another table and she had to leave. That's when I made my most brilliant move ever. Taking advantage of her absence, I took her rook off the board!
Back at my table, she obviously didn't notice the trick. I was too clever for her. Adults are so stupid... they never realize how easily children can outsmart them! I don't know what that weird little chuckle was, but she was probably realizing that the game was over!
We continued to play and... I still lost.
- Good game, Leticia! But it would have been even better if you had not taken my rook while I was away.
"Damn it," I thought. "She sees everything!"
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There is not much more to say. I just hope you enjoyed the stories and found them at least interesting or amusing. An honorable mention is when I played in a children's chess tournament wearing a frog costume, as it happened right after a school play I was in. I think my teacher at the time was the same one from whom I had stolen the rook, but I am not sure which event happened before or after.
At least it brought me some luck, as I think I finished 3rd out of more than 50 kids. Again, I don't remember anything about the games, but I can tell you that in one of them, I blundered a knight by simply placing it on a square controlled by a pawn. That's why my dad and I still call hanging a knight "The Frog Gambit".
See you next time!
