pawns and nobles
This knee-high chess set is set-up in a public square in Leeds. It was deserted when I was there, which made it look a bit forelorn and strange.
Something about the history attached to this game that's been with us for so long...strategy, power, challenge, rainy afternoons. I never really did learn to play it properly.
Something about the history attached to this game that's been with us for so long...strategy, power, challenge, rainy afternoons. I never really did learn to play it properly.
posted by Elizabeth at 11:35 PM
1 Comments:
I learnt to play chess... very badly. Interestingly (if you take chess as a metaphor for life), I played a completely defensive game. I could never attack - spending the entire game protecting my position. Essentially, I would stall the game and we would both die of boredom.
I learnt to play in Belgium, in a cafe called the Greenwich (which they pronounce as it's spelt, not as the Brits say it). It's an old, smoky bar in the centre of the city. It's filled with chess boards and other games which smoking men play all day. The servers yell their orders (une bière svp, ein koffie als du blieft!) over the sound of chess players hitting the timers as they finish each move.
The Belgian painters Escher and Duchamp used to hang out in that bar, as did Sartre and de Beauvoir when they were in Brussels.
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