I was once treated to a ritual ear cleaning by my opponent.


As Conrad wrote in "The Heart of Darkness" The tissue, the tissue, the tissue.

The only time I have been distracted in a chess game to the extent I could
not think was when my opponent had her blouse unbuttoned and was not wearing
a bra. I found it very hard to concentrate on the game.

David Bohm

"Florida Chess" wrote in message
om...
I am amazed if not jealous of players who can
nonetheless focus so strongly on the game/board that they will not
even lift their gaze or be distracted by anything - though certainly
this would be negative attribute in the event of a real emergency such
as the evacuation of the playing hall. ;-)

While Korchnoy is perceived as quarrelsome,
and possibly he is, he was never good at
knowing and demanding his rights.

Wlod

I just meet this grand player last month. What a wonderful person. He just
spent 4:30 hours on the board and when the game ended he didn't take 30
secondes rest. He just turn around and started signing autographs and
shaking hands for half an hour. He did all that with a smile on his face and
a few words for each of us.

A GrandMaster and a gentleman.

Part of the reason I didn't shake his hand was he grossed me out, with those
cotton gloves and the sores on his arms. I'm no germ-phobe, but during the
game I went out and washed my hands and face half a dozen times, certain
that his microbe-laden spit was all over the board, the pieces, my exposed
body parts. I stood away from the board too, lest I inhale his pathogenic
exudations. Yuccch.

I doubt he had TB. Maybe terminal double syphillis of the lung.

I should have tried some of my fake Russian on him. He was definitely a
"szonva BICHU."


"David Ames" wrote

If a player is that sick, perhaps the TD should call the Health
Department and have him checked out for tuberculosis.

David Ames

"David Bohm" wrote in message
news:a3zUc.9966$yh.6319@fed1read05...
The only time I have been distracted in a chess game to the extent I could
not think was when my opponent had her blouse unbuttoned and was not
wearing
a bra. I found it very hard to concentrate on the game.

David Bohm

At least you had license to sit around and stare at her tits for a couple
hours though, huh? Rock on!

Regards,

Matt

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 01:16:28 -0400, "Angelo DePalma"
wrote:

}
}At the USATE last winter I played a guy who coughed like a mother****er
}during our whole game. There was literally no consecutive 15-second period
}of time in which he did not issue at least one piercing, hacking
}expectoration. It seemed the whole room reverberated from his deep,
}phlegm-driven hacking. It was the most annoying game I've ever played, worse
}than losing to Peter Winston in 11 moves in 1971. This guy was also wearing
}cotton gloves and appeared to have sores on his arms. He was a local NJ guy.
}
}I was so disgusted after the game (I lost, of course) that for the first and
}only time ever, I did not shake my opponent's hand. I didn't even
}acknowledged that the game was over. I was so ****ed off at this guy, who
}should have stayed in his hospice, that I simply picked up my clock and
}pieces, put them away, and walked out into the lobby.
}
}Wherever he is, may he expectorate his very lungs.

WOuldn't it b poetic justice to play him again, beat him to a pulp and then after the game
say, "U gotta be the most disgusting player I've played" "Stop being a grub and have some
respect for yourself & others." "Oh, and by the way I kicked your a** this X"
}
}adp
}
}"Florida Chess" wrote in message
. com...
} I witnessed an absolutely disgusting player at the USOPEN:
}
} He was a senior player with all sorts of open wounds on his arms
}
} He constantly picked his teeth (with both hands) and then would touch
} the pieces leaving fragments of decaying food/flesh on the pieces and
} board
}
} Next he would belch constantly with no effort to stop himself and just
} being a spectator many feet away I could smell a very strong, foul
} odor
}
} He also found it necesary to constantly pick his nose
}
} I wonder if his opponent shook his hand at the end of the game?
}
} Comments?
}
}
}

"Matt Nemmers" wrote in message
news:3fAUc.178513$eM2.87309@attbi_s51...

At least you had license to sit around and stare at her tits for a couple
hours though, huh? Rock on!

Regards,

Matt



Except I go to chess tournaments to play chess. I'd rather concentrate on
the game.

David Bohm

There's an A player in Chicago who wears a face mask to every tournament,
and refuses to shake hands before the game, citing health considerations.
(He never has any trouble shaking hands afterwards, though, if he wins.)

I'd like to see this guy paired against your guy. They deserve each other.

Bill Smythe

"Pierre Desmarais" wrote in message ...
I just meet this grand player last month. What a wonderful person. He just
[snip]
A GrandMaster and a gentleman.

I met him once, at the 2eme Coupe Ecole Pigier in Geneva; a 5-minute
tournament where you had to qualify for the finals to get to meet him.

I think that nobody who has met him personally would ever have a bad
word to say about him, and nobody who has read over his games can
fail to admire his great skill and fighting spirit.

Both a wonderful person and a wonderful chessplayer, a combination not
often found.

On 18 Aug 2004 12:05:22 -0700, )
wrote:

"Pierre Desmarais" wrote in message ...
I just meet this grand player last month. What a wonderful person. He just
[snip]
A GrandMaster and a gentleman.

I met him once, at the 2eme Coupe Ecole Pigier in Geneva; a 5-minute
tournament where you had to qualify for the finals to get to meet him.

I think that nobody who has met him personally would ever have a bad
word to say about him, and nobody who has read over his games can
fail to admire his great skill and fighting spirit.

Both a wonderful person and a wonderful chessplayer, a combination not
often found.

Amazing! You obviously do not know Victor Korchnoi at all.

Sam Sloan