Check, Mate!

 Chess is an amazingly unsociable activity. You sit at a board and stare at it for an hour while some old guy who has Russian as his first language thinks about what his first move will be. You become smug if you win and angry if you lose. What's more, the game is no way to meet women (if I ever win the affections of a certain young lady, it won't be because of meeting her over the chess board) as for some reason they want nothing to do with the game (I can't imagine why).
 The game can be very emotionally involving. I've been known to rant and rave when losing; just last week, I was beaten - twice - by a player who I thought was clearly worse than me. I was angry, and after the game said to him 'I'm sure I'm a better player than you!'. Arrogant? Maybe. But he agreed with me, simply offering an explanation for my losses - 'you got cocky'. Once a friend threw a chess piece at my head when losing; and it's possible that the game may have contributed to the descent of such greats as Morphy, Steinitz, and Fischer into howling lunacy.
 I play it every chance I get. Mostly on Mondays and Sundays with other members of the chess club, but also on Yahoo games and with anybody I meet who happens to be vaguely interested in the game. It's a highly addictive drug, and I'm a hopeless addict for it. And like an addict, I'm constantly seeking out new thrills and new members of the chess playing community.
 And for some reason, bloggers play chess a lot. Tex, Scott - I'm always up for a yahoo game if you're willing.
 But I've just discovered that Paul Kidd, the bugger who runs this disreputable blog, plays chess.

 Having achieved legitimacy by being challenged to a game of chess by my father, I then set out to beat him... I tried the Queen's Gambit accepted, the Queen's Gambit declined, and even the Queen's Gambit politely ignored, but to no avail. My Ruy Lopez was no more effective than my Four Knights - the bastard beat me again and again.
 
 Damn it Paul, you lived in Newcastle*, you played chess, and you didn't tell me? My King's Gambit would beat yours anyday! 

*He moved to Melbourne just when I took up blogging again. Damn!