jamesesq
Member since Nov-03-05 · Last seen May-15-07
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| I learned to play chess in the navy when I was seventeen. I loved the game and soon became the ships champion. Although it appeared that I had a talent for chess, it was too bad that I never got any training so I became a wood-pusher who sometimes showed moments of brilliance. I did become a tounament player later in my life and I won the Chess problem solving competition, featured in the newspaper 'The South China Morning Post' in 1988. (And funny enough, there has never been another competition since! so that makes me still the reigning champion of Hong Kong.)I got a silver plate to prove it! I am retired but I still assist young players! The most exciting game I ever played was against the champion of another ship, who was determined to beat me. We played our match aboard an old disused tug-boat in the port of Mena al Amaidi in the Persian Gulf. We were in the middle game, when suddenly the shout came out, "The ship is sinking!" several times we heard the call but we didn't show any emotion and continused to play. What was happening was that the tug-boat which was tied up to the wharf had sprung a leak and was just slowly sinking to the bottom! When there was a foot of water in the dining room where we were playing, there suddenly appeared at the door a Kuwaiti sailor, we both gave him a quick glance and our visitor seemed to be searching for words! He obviously appraised the siuation. Here were two 18 year old apprentice officers dressed in 'tropical white' uniform, engaged in a game of chess! The sailor could not give us an order, so he stated calmly, "Gentlemen the ship is sinking!" and vanished into thin air! When the water was waist high we both stood up silently, still staring at the pieces on the board, then the water reached the the table edge, all the fans had stopped since the power had failed so we were sweltering in the heat of the small space and we were sweating profusely, like we were both hypnotized we stared at the game as the water trickled onto the table and gently flowed onto the board and the pieces began to move by themselves as they became buoyant and started to float, like our gams was dissolving before our eyes!
Outside someone banded on a pipe, we looked at each other now already neck-high in water, Suddenly we were swimming out the door and received a great cheer from the crowd on the wharf when we surfaced. |
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