Ostomy Memories of a Chess Match

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HenryM

THERE WAS A GIRL DOWN THE STREET once who interested me.  She had a little brother.  I decided that a good way to ingratiate myself with the girl was to teach her brother how to play chess.  Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to play chess myself.   So I bought a cheap chess set and commenced to teach myself the game.  After I’d progressed to a point that I thought was sufficient for my purposes, devious as they were, I gave the chess set to the kid as a gift and showed him how to play.  His sister was impressed enough to allow me to befriend her a little more.  Everything seemed to be going according to plan until the little brother’s learning curve maxed out my meager grasp of the complicated game.  His sister, about the same time, also reached a point beyond which I could not go.  It was, after all, the Fifties.  “In life,” wrote Isaac Asimov, “unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.”  So, stymied by my own irritating limitations, recognizing that I was neither Bobby Fischer nor Elvis Presley, I moved on.  In matters of love and chess, one has to accept one’s losses and keep going.  Checkmate isn’t the end of the world.

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AlexT

I like chess, not only are you competing against your opponent but also yourself in being able to think a few moves ahead to set yourself up for victory.

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Justbreathe

Lesson learned - Ostomate isn't the end of the world either though at times one might think so

bowsprit

Fascinating game. Lots of street chess played in NYC, mostly around Union Square and Washington Square. The latter also has students from the nearby NYU. Lots of hustlers present. I was told that a good one can earn up to $800 a day. Bobby Fischer is considered by many to be the greatest player ever. He was single-handedly responsible for dismantling the Russian Chess Empire. What makes them excel at it? Some members of the opposite sex are quite good at it, though there are few grandmasters. A German girl in Washington Square, Eleanor Boesl, I still remember her name was close to it. Very few ever beat her, though lots tried.

TerryLT

Hi Henry, for some reason your post reminded me of our dog Kacey. She was a very smart girl, but her biggest weakness was her appetite, which was never satisfied. When we were on the island, she had a 'friend' down the road, a lovely Samoyed named Tula. She was a picky eater and her human left her food bowl on the front porch. It always had food in it, a situation that never would have occurred at our house. When we would walk past her house, Kacey would enter the yard and engage in a quick and perfunctory minute or two of play with Tula, then get down to the real reason for her visit, to clean out Tula's bowl of food. It was so obvious, and it made me laugh every time. I guess Tula considered Kacey a good friend, but I knew better!

Terry

 
Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister
bowsprit

No street chess in London, the weather isn't right but chess-loving ostomates can go to Fortnum and Mason and order a chocolate chess set. After playing in very elegant surroundings, you can actually eat it too! A treat for two, but hopefully your companion plays. After many cruel remarks by certain people including Grandmasters, remarks like women are intellectually inferior. A study found that women are not so well represented in the chess world because not many of them play chess as compared to men. A simple reason that many agree with now. Grandmaster Judit Polgar is a living example of how well women can play.

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