When I was in school I used to play chess a lot, and was fairly good at it. Or, at least, everyone else sucked, as I won more than I lost. But I hadn't played in many, many years. When we bought the new house, Greg set up his glass chess set in the pub, and since then we've been playing from time to time.
I'm not very good anymore, I lose about 90% of the time, but it's still fun, and I hope I'm learning and slowly getting better.
Last night, though, I pulled off a real coup - I not only won a game, but won it in very few moves. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have done this, and I didn't even plan it out, it seemed to me to all depend on sheer chance - I couldn't have done what I did without Greg taking just a certain series of moves right at the beginning of the game, which he happened to do. The only 'skill' involved on my end was recognizing the opportunity.
Here's how the board looked at the end. It's kind of hard to distinguish the pieces, since they're glass - the frosted glass is white, and the clear glass is black. The easiest thing I can say is that all of my pieces (I was black) are still on my side of the board (the bottom of the picture) except the two that were captured, and the Queen, which is marked, as is the white King. I only moved 3 pieces, two of which were captured.
I can't remember exactly how this worked, but the gist was this (and I don't use that chess language, so bear with me). Greg moved out the pawn in front of his Queen's bishop, and I moved out the pawn in front of my King. We each moved out a bishop, and promptly each captured the other's Bishop, then one pawn apiece. I moved my Queen out to the far left side, right in front of my pawns. On my next move was when I noticed that I had a clear shot all the way down the board to two spaces over from Greg's King, and nothing could capture me there. So I moved, and said "Check" ... then looked a little harder, and said "... mate!" I hadn't even realized it was till I did it.
I'm really surprised he let me do that, as he's usually very good at chess, and would never have left himself open like that. But in the game before this one (which I lost), I captured his Queen - something else he never lets happen. So I think it was because it was late and he was tired. But hey - I'll take it.
I'm paying for it this morning, however ... I stayed up waaayyy too late last night. Fortunately, I only have to work till 2:30 today - I think I can manage 5 hours one way or another. Oy.
I'm not very good anymore, I lose about 90% of the time, but it's still fun, and I hope I'm learning and slowly getting better.
Last night, though, I pulled off a real coup - I not only won a game, but won it in very few moves. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have done this, and I didn't even plan it out, it seemed to me to all depend on sheer chance - I couldn't have done what I did without Greg taking just a certain series of moves right at the beginning of the game, which he happened to do. The only 'skill' involved on my end was recognizing the opportunity.
Here's how the board looked at the end. It's kind of hard to distinguish the pieces, since they're glass - the frosted glass is white, and the clear glass is black. The easiest thing I can say is that all of my pieces (I was black) are still on my side of the board (the bottom of the picture) except the two that were captured, and the Queen, which is marked, as is the white King. I only moved 3 pieces, two of which were captured.
I can't remember exactly how this worked, but the gist was this (and I don't use that chess language, so bear with me). Greg moved out the pawn in front of his Queen's bishop, and I moved out the pawn in front of my King. We each moved out a bishop, and promptly each captured the other's Bishop, then one pawn apiece. I moved my Queen out to the far left side, right in front of my pawns. On my next move was when I noticed that I had a clear shot all the way down the board to two spaces over from Greg's King, and nothing could capture me there. So I moved, and said "Check" ... then looked a little harder, and said "... mate!" I hadn't even realized it was till I did it.
I'm really surprised he let me do that, as he's usually very good at chess, and would never have left himself open like that. But in the game before this one (which I lost), I captured his Queen - something else he never lets happen. So I think it was because it was late and he was tired. But hey - I'll take it.
I'm paying for it this morning, however ... I stayed up waaayyy too late last night. Fortunately, I only have to work till 2:30 today - I think I can manage 5 hours one way or another. Oy.
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