I attend a chess club once a week here in town. It meets in the evening at the bakery which has a nice room in the back where groups can get together.
I mostly watch games. I know how to play, and have done so a few times, but when they play timed ones, I REALLY sit those out. I can't play well under time pressure.
However, I truly enjoy watching games. It's like a sport to me. And I learn a lot from watching other people play. There is one man in particular who is very willing to answer my questions when the game is over as to why he made some of the moves he did. He can even set the board up in the configuration where I have my question! My brain does NOT work that well, I have to tell you!
Anyway, this week two of the top players had a game which I sat and watched. The player on the left is the acknowledged best in the club. At a certain point in the game, the player on the right had his pieces in a configuration I had never seen before! It was so unusual I snapped a picture with my phone.
Two knights, in the front, the king and a bishop behind, and in the last row a rook, the queen, and another bishop! Wild!
The player on the right actually won the game playing entirely defensively which among the games I have watched doesn't always work out so well.
I happened to be sitting in the chair at the table, but as they were finishing up their game, almost everyone was standing behind me watching to see how it was going to end.
It was a great game!
I could be quite content to be a spectator for a very long time. Who knew chess could be so exciting???
