myschkin: This reminds me of a trip I look in December of 06 to India. We were in New Delhi and wandering about looking at various funky shops when I saw some interesting chess sets in one. An old man that owned the shop noticed my interest and said (in broken English), "Let's play a game!"I refused, but my companions got quite excited and insisted that I play. In the blink of an eye, we were wrapped in mortal combat.
Old Indian Siddhu vs. Silman
1.g3 e5
After playing this, the old gentleman looked at me and calmly said, "Oh, pawns can only move one square at a time. That move isn't legal."
One of my companions who knew nothing about chess asked, "Jeremy, you don't even know the rules?"
Okay, perhaps the two square pawn move didn't exist when he learned the game. I acquiesced and moved my pawn back to e7.
He screamed, "Touch move! Touch move! You have to move that pawn!"
I couldn't believe this guy, but I decided to go along with it and do my bit for cultural harmony.
1.g3 e6
He now thought for 3 minutes. A bad sign!
2.Bg2 e5
A 5-minute think followed. I decided to blitz out all my moves, but still worried that the game might end up taking several hours to complete.
3.b3 Nf6
4.Bb2
After 10 minutes thought. All the while I glared at his happy face and inwardly screamed, "MOVE! MOVE!"
4...d6
5.e3
He took 15 minutes for that one! I felt like I was drowning when something occurred to me, so I asked, "You know about castling, right?"
He smiled innocently in my direction and then replied, "No, there's no such a thing. Quit cheating! But you can use the L-move."
"L-move? What in hell is the L-move?"
"You don't know this move? I am beginning to doubt that you really know how to play chess at all. Everyone knows that you can move your King like a knight once a game."
"Fine," I said, "we'll play it your way." I had decided that I'd leap across the table and choke him if he invented any new rules. Thankfully, that situation didn't arise.
5...c6!
I smiled when I played this. If you can't beat him at your game, beat him at his!
6.Nh3
Only 8 minutes for this. He seemed quite proud of it!
6...King to c7!!
<BLACK'S KING TELEPORTS to c7
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_re...;
Bam! Oh Yeah! I almost did a jig around the table but I settled for a quick chair dance. I can't remember if any other move in my chess career gave me as much satisfaction as this one.
He quietly nodded, as if giving me my props. I mated him in another 12 moves, thanked him for the game, and left. Two days later I was robbed by an Indian motorbike cop while driving about in the middle of nowhere. But even that, and the crawling beggars, and the stump people, and the burning human bodies, and the dozens of sacrificed goats, and the enormous blood-drinking insects, couldn't take away the good mood that 6...King to c7 created.
Kibitzing
