MAIN » ARTICLESChess 500, Chapter One
Games #1-#10:
Over at my shared online journal, sessodio, we are reasonably open-minded about ways to waste time, so one year ago for the first time Rawson and I played a game of chess. It wasn't literally the first team either of us have played the game, although I can only really speak for myself. It was the first time we ever played eachother. We played with real pieces on a real board with no computers involved at all. The match was screened live on the Wide Asleep Webcam and watched by at least 3 people, including the players.
As usual we mananged, quite quickly, to turn a one-off event into an almost unachievable and unnecessarily elaborate plan to play eachother 500 times. We called it the 'Chess 500', and not only was it a reasonably open-minded way to waste time, but it was also material. Precious material to give us a reason to keep a shared online journal, and something we could milk 500 times before having to think of something new to write about.
#1
Rawson was all smiles at the start of the game, he had the hopes and optimism of a first-time player because that is exactly what he was, as it turned out. 5 minutes and 14 pieces down, it wasn't looking so good. In a last feeble attempt to save himself from humiliation, the rookie backed himself into a corner but after losing his last defensive piece found his King alone with 12 in opposition. Was this a sign of things to come? Yes.
#2
The second match moved from Rawson's bedroom into my kitchen, and even took place at 2am (as the image below will unfortunately testify). The audience consisted of grant and pandy, with hendy watching in the next room via webcam footage. Rawson didn't crumble so quickly as he did in the first game, which to the casual observer would suggest improvement. In the end it was another walkover.
#3
We were at Rawson's pad for the third game in the series, and with only 497 to go the end was practically in sight. After playing one at home and one away each as it were, we decided to play online at Yahoo! Games.
"Sadly, this is the first time that I have attempted to play chess, at all, in around 5 years. I only ever learnt how the pieces moved, and not how to win a game. Thus, I have lost every one so far. I can only hope that after a few hundred games, I will pick up the jist of it. The 500th Game is planned for a location in Ipswich Town Centre. It should involve us, the middle of a large open area. A single chess board. A goastly silence, and then the disappearance of both participators for ever. Although that is of course only a plan". - Rawson
#4
This was the quickest game of the series so far, and was a bit of a wipeout for Iain who only took two of my pawns as my queen quickly penetrated and cleaned the board. We played sitting on the floor after a night out as I continued to take the challenge by the horns.
#5
We all thought this was the sixth game in the series, but oh how we were wrong. It must be the confusion of me playing some exhibition games against the local pretenders. Both David Randall and Robert Hendy unwittingly challenged me to a dual, and after disposing of both of them over two days it was back to business. Still no surprises had occurred by this point.
#6
This one was an online cross-house match from mine to his, from his to mine. By the end Rawson only had two pieces left, but this seemed mostly irrelevent since he was practically naked from the start and playing under the alias kinky_bastard_uk.
#7
"Friday night, alcohol, a game of chess and then out on the town. We decided to wack one off early tonight on the old 'deluxe' board, and now the pizza is in the oven and spirits are in the sky". - Me
#8
"I'm now 80% on the way to learning how to play chess" - Rawson
Now it is only a question of 'when' not 'if' rawson will win his first game, apparently.
#9
Let's just say this game lasted 9 moves, and the 9th move was check mate.
#10
After the first game of today lasting only about 30 seconds (#9), it only made sense to carry on. This one lasted a little bit longer with Iain taking a break halfway through to put on a sailor's hat and play a plastic guitar with only one string - which he then managed to break. It was probably this lack of concentration which lost him the game, that and his generally inept chess skills.
We had a faily large break after the 10th game - it made sense; the end of a chapter, moving to a new city, all that. We recently played the 11th game in the series, details of which can be found on our shared online journal. It will also feature in the second chapter once we reach 20 completed games. Leading scientists predict this to be sometime around christmas, if we're lucky. At the moment you would be forgiven for suggesting the contest is all over, I mean, why continue? But no, when you consider that being 10-0 up only consists of 2% of all the games that will be played, it's a very marginal lead that can be overcome very easily. I expect this to be a close one, and the person that suggested 250-250 as a likely end score could have been on to something.
"On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero" - Chuck Palahnuik
Written by J. King with quotes from I. Rawson
Over at my shared online journal, sessodio, we are reasonably open-minded about ways to waste time, so one year ago for the first time Rawson and I played a game of chess. It wasn't literally the first team either of us have played the game, although I can only really speak for myself. It was the first time we ever played eachother. We played with real pieces on a real board with no computers involved at all. The match was screened live on the Wide Asleep Webcam and watched by at least 3 people, including the players.
As usual we mananged, quite quickly, to turn a one-off event into an almost unachievable and unnecessarily elaborate plan to play eachother 500 times. We called it the 'Chess 500', and not only was it a reasonably open-minded way to waste time, but it was also material. Precious material to give us a reason to keep a shared online journal, and something we could milk 500 times before having to think of something new to write about.
#1
Rawson was all smiles at the start of the game, he had the hopes and optimism of a first-time player because that is exactly what he was, as it turned out. 5 minutes and 14 pieces down, it wasn't looking so good. In a last feeble attempt to save himself from humiliation, the rookie backed himself into a corner but after losing his last defensive piece found his King alone with 12 in opposition. Was this a sign of things to come? Yes.
#2
The second match moved from Rawson's bedroom into my kitchen, and even took place at 2am (as the image below will unfortunately testify). The audience consisted of grant and pandy, with hendy watching in the next room via webcam footage. Rawson didn't crumble so quickly as he did in the first game, which to the casual observer would suggest improvement. In the end it was another walkover.
#3
We were at Rawson's pad for the third game in the series, and with only 497 to go the end was practically in sight. After playing one at home and one away each as it were, we decided to play online at Yahoo! Games.
"Sadly, this is the first time that I have attempted to play chess, at all, in around 5 years. I only ever learnt how the pieces moved, and not how to win a game. Thus, I have lost every one so far. I can only hope that after a few hundred games, I will pick up the jist of it. The 500th Game is planned for a location in Ipswich Town Centre. It should involve us, the middle of a large open area. A single chess board. A goastly silence, and then the disappearance of both participators for ever. Although that is of course only a plan". - Rawson
#4
This was the quickest game of the series so far, and was a bit of a wipeout for Iain who only took two of my pawns as my queen quickly penetrated and cleaned the board. We played sitting on the floor after a night out as I continued to take the challenge by the horns.
#5
We all thought this was the sixth game in the series, but oh how we were wrong. It must be the confusion of me playing some exhibition games against the local pretenders. Both David Randall and Robert Hendy unwittingly challenged me to a dual, and after disposing of both of them over two days it was back to business. Still no surprises had occurred by this point.
#6
This one was an online cross-house match from mine to his, from his to mine. By the end Rawson only had two pieces left, but this seemed mostly irrelevent since he was practically naked from the start and playing under the alias kinky_bastard_uk.
#7
"Friday night, alcohol, a game of chess and then out on the town. We decided to wack one off early tonight on the old 'deluxe' board, and now the pizza is in the oven and spirits are in the sky". - Me
#8
"I'm now 80% on the way to learning how to play chess" - Rawson
Now it is only a question of 'when' not 'if' rawson will win his first game, apparently.
#9
Let's just say this game lasted 9 moves, and the 9th move was check mate.
#10
After the first game of today lasting only about 30 seconds (#9), it only made sense to carry on. This one lasted a little bit longer with Iain taking a break halfway through to put on a sailor's hat and play a plastic guitar with only one string - which he then managed to break. It was probably this lack of concentration which lost him the game, that and his generally inept chess skills.
We had a faily large break after the 10th game - it made sense; the end of a chapter, moving to a new city, all that. We recently played the 11th game in the series, details of which can be found on our shared online journal. It will also feature in the second chapter once we reach 20 completed games. Leading scientists predict this to be sometime around christmas, if we're lucky. At the moment you would be forgiven for suggesting the contest is all over, I mean, why continue? But no, when you consider that being 10-0 up only consists of 2% of all the games that will be played, it's a very marginal lead that can be overcome very easily. I expect this to be a close one, and the person that suggested 250-250 as a likely end score could have been on to something.
"On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero" - Chuck Palahnuik
Written by J. King with quotes from I. Rawson