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Thanks Hans. Most people throw in the towel once they start a family, but I still gave it the old college try.
One more anecdote, on a recent cruise sans kids. There turned out to be a chess "meet-up" every sea day at 2pm. It seemed like the ancient mariner and the old man of the sea turned up, and they were both competent chess players. The gentleman I was playing dropped an exchange, grumbled, then proceeded to positionally tie me in knots and bag the full point. Complimenting his skewer, he revealed that he had played in the 1971 Canadian Open ("won by Spassky".) He told me he was the same age as Fischer, so when I replied that makes you 82! he had to think about it and was rather impressed, reminding me once more that he hadn't played in 50 years.
Anyway, we played on a couple more days, and with a draw and a win I was able to steady the ship. He said he taught his fellow "inmates" at the Senior's home now how to play and they loved it. In fact, he mentioned that his wife had always encouraged him to get back into chess, having met him after he stopped playing.
"Really..." I pressed, though his quick interjection blew me away:
"She has no idea what she was talking about! With my obsessive personality if I had gotten back into it I wouldn't have stopped!"
The other venerable gentleman? Well he was a shade younger and had been pummeling all comers, laughing all the way, when I finally sat down to play him on the last day. He was up a pawn in a rook endgame when the laughter started to fade. Like a hoover vacuum cleaner my rook started approaching his overextended pawns. His excellent King position only allowed for a better view of the munching to come. When the dust settled he was borderline distraught. So, I did what I do best, offered to get him a drink and a rematch, played the French defense, left my King exposed down to his trousers, and got checkmated violently. Cue the laughter.
Oh, I almost forgot his claim to fame: "Fischer gave a simul in Montreal in 1969 and I got a draw against him!"
Sheesh. Quite the eclectic passenger list.
My favourite opponent though, and probably the oldest, but with the softest eyes, was one whose claim to fame was simply: I taught my son how to play, and we still play together over fifty years later. Maybe it hit me more because he also happened to mention his son by name - Alexander.
One more anecdote, on a recent cruise sans kids. There turned out to be a chess "meet-up" every sea day at 2pm. It seemed like the ancient mariner and the old man of the sea turned up, and they were both competent chess players. The gentleman I was playing dropped an exchange, grumbled, then proceeded to positionally tie me in knots and bag the full point. Complimenting his skewer, he revealed that he had played in the 1971 Canadian Open ("won by Spassky".) He told me he was the same age as Fischer, so when I replied that makes you 82! he had to think about it and was rather impressed, reminding me once more that he hadn't played in 50 years.
Anyway, we played on a couple more days, and with a draw and a win I was able to steady the ship. He said he taught his fellow "inmates" at the Senior's home now how to play and they loved it. In fact, he mentioned that his wife had always encouraged him to get back into chess, having met him after he stopped playing.
"Really..." I pressed, though his quick interjection blew me away:
"She has no idea what she was talking about! With my obsessive personality if I had gotten back into it I wouldn't have stopped!"
The other venerable gentleman? Well he was a shade younger and had been pummeling all comers, laughing all the way, when I finally sat down to play him on the last day. He was up a pawn in a rook endgame when the laughter started to fade. Like a hoover vacuum cleaner my rook started approaching his overextended pawns. His excellent King position only allowed for a better view of the munching to come. When the dust settled he was borderline distraught. So, I did what I do best, offered to get him a drink and a rematch, played the French defense, left my King exposed down to his trousers, and got checkmated violently. Cue the laughter.
Oh, I almost forgot his claim to fame: "Fischer gave a simul in Montreal in 1969 and I got a draw against him!"
Sheesh. Quite the eclectic passenger list.
My favourite opponent though, and probably the oldest, but with the softest eyes, was one whose claim to fame was simply: I taught my son how to play, and we still play together over fifty years later. Maybe it hit me more because he also happened to mention his son by name - Alexander.
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