Playing Strangers at Hollywood Beach 2: I Did It Again!

INTRODUCTION

Every summer in the last week of June, my family and I take a little staycation to beautiful Hollywood Beach in South Florida. We stay in a hotel there for a week and make the most of every minute down by the ocean. The trip has become the highlight of the summer for us.

Since I simply can't last a whole week away from the game of chess, on last year's trip I had the thought to bring my chessboard with me to try to play with some random strangers down by the beach. It was just a goofy idea and I really didn't expect much of anything to come from it, but I was shocked by the results. I got four random people to play a game against me and even made some cool new friends.

Then, once we got back from the trip, I decided to write a blog chronicling my whole adventure and received tons of positive feedback from it. I even inspired fellow Top Blogger @SheldonofOsaka to write a blog of his own where he played chess against strangers at a music festival.

So needless to say, my goofy idea turned out to be a really good one. The whole thing was genuinely lots of fun.

Because of the success of it all last year, I thought: why not try to do the same thing again this year? I set my chessboard up on the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk with the hope to once again attract some chess players to come play me in a friendly game. It was a great time last year and I knew it could be again this year.

I made a couple of small upgrades this time around. Last year, I hadn't considered making a sign to draw attention or anything, so my "sign" was literally just a paper plate that I took from a random restaurant with the words "Play me in chess!" written in marker 😅. This year, though, I was a lot more prepared. My mom, who is a significantly better artist than I will ever be, made me a nice-looking, simple but effective sign on a big poster board.

I also added a "cash prize" for anybody who could beat me to give people another reason to be interested. My mom did a good job of making it seem like a much bigger deal than it actually was when she was making the sign (the prize was really just 10 bucks lol).

But other than those things, pretty much everything was the same as last time. I was ready to go out and play!

ADDITIONAL DETAILS

- There's again no time control, as I decided that I didn't want these friendly games to have a clock

- I play white in some games and black in others

- All of these people are random strangers who saw my sign and were interested in a game

GAME VS. JIM

My first challenger actually happened to be eating at the same restaurant on the Broadwalk as my family and me, and he saw my sign that was resting next to the table. I hadn't even been trying to get an opponent yet, so it was certainly a surprise when he came over. I kid you not, he read my sign out loud as, "Do you have what it takes to beat me at cheese?". So that gave me an idea of how this game was likely going to go 😅...

Once he figured out that I was referring to a board game and not a dairy product, he started to trash talk, telling me that I was going "down to the ground". That was exactly what I wanted to hear, so I quickly finished off my breakfast and went out to play him on one of the restaurant's tables.

As we were setting up the pieces for the game, I learned that his name was Jim and he was from Chicago. He said it had been a while since he'd played chess, but that he would crush me anyway. I was entertained by his pre-game speech and excited to play.

That was a wire-to-wire victory for me, and although it lacked much excitement, it was a good way to get the day started. The fact that I got my first game before I was even set up to play was a fantastic sign.

I thanked Jim for the game and for his kindness. He told me that I was very smart and that he would get back to playing chess so that he can beat me the next time he sees me. And with that, I said goodbye to my new friend Jim and began to seek a spot in the shade to set up my board for the day.

GAME VS. AUSTIN

I had just finished setting up and was starting to analyze my game against Jim when my next challenger approached. He sat down and introduced himself as Austin. He told me that his chess experience was mainly playing Chess.com in class (relatable). He looked back and told his friend group that had been walking with him and was now hovering around the board that it was time for him to "lock in". His friends, being true friends, responded by telling him that he was cooked 😄. Guess we'll just have to see...

For having really only ever played chess at school, I thought he played quite well. I thanked him for the game and said goodbye to my new friend Austin and his friend group.

GAME VS. LOGAN

I decided to call it a day after a while, but the next day I returned to the same spot to continue playing. Like the day before, it didn't take long before I received my first challenger of the day. He said his name was Logan and that he hadn't played chess in a while but he would give it his best shot (I found that was a recurring theme among my challengers).

We played one game and it was pretty stale (I won a knight on move 5 🫤), but he challenged me to a rematch immediately afterward, which I gladly accepted. The second game ended up being a lot more worth including in the blog...

Although in the end it was the same result as the first game, it was a good game because there were some good tactics. I was happy about a couple of the moves I played. That bishop sacrifice was pretty nice and that checkmate was cool. I thanked Logan for the games and went out to try to attract some more opponents.

GAME VS. PAUL

My next opponent and who I presumed to be his son sat down and agreed to play me in a game. I could tell that he didn't speak much English, but I understood enough to find out that his name was Paul.

Paul and his son began conversing in a different language and continued to talk to each other for the whole game. It was a little uncomfortable. I didn't know how to make small talk since I couldn't decipher a word they were saying 😐. I decided to just let my chess do the talking.

Even though I won again, I want to give some real credit to my opponent. I could tell that Paul really knew what he was doing. He played a good opening and kept it close. He clearly has a tactical eye as well, but unfortunately, he made a few oversights in a row and I prevailed. I said thank you and goodbye to Paul and his son and began to pack up my chess set. I was satisfied with what I had done over the two days and ready to call it quits.

CONCLUSION

I actually played even more games than the ones I mentioned in the blog, but the majority of them were me teaching people how to play chess by playing games with them, so not exactly peak entertainment. Even still, it was cool to be able to teach this great game to so many people I don't even know. I hope they all go and take chess to the next level. Here are the pictures:

One thing that has become clear from doing this both this year and last year is that a beach probably isn't the best location to find strong competition. However, to me, it's not as much about the competition (although some stronger opponents would be nice...) as it is about just playing some chess games and making some new friends. Those were my main goals when I had this idea last summer.

So at the end of it all, I got to play double the amount of games as last year and also had double the fun! Plus, I didn't lose my 10 bucks! 😄

Both times I have done this it has truly been such a blast. I'm now looking forward to doing it again next year!

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Cya next time!