A Few Signs You Might Be a Chess Addict

February 3, 2009
Tags: Chess Facts & Fun

I came across a great article today that had all my friends laughing.  I thought I’d share a few points from it.  These are a few signs that you might be a chess addict.  You can read the full article by Bill Wall at his website: Bill Wall’s Chess Page.

A Few Signs You might be a Chess Addict:

• you bump into someone or something and say “J’adoube.” And you don’t even know French.
• you set up a chess set with salt and pepper shakers and food items when you sit at a checkered tablecloth.
• you calculate 8×8 faster than 7×7 and navigate like a knight – one block up and two blocks over.
• you have more chess clocks than watches or normal clocks and you use the chess clock as a kitchen timer.
• you buy the biggest, fastest, most expensive computer and monitor just to play blitz or bullet chess on it or use it as a chess database.
• you meet someone, your first question is, “What’s your Elo rating?”
• every week you downloaded every game from The Week in Chess, in ChessBase 6, ChessBase, and PGN format.
• you buy a newspaper only if it has a chess column in it.
• you have more chess books than any other book or magazine combined.
• the Olympics has always been every two years.
• you spot the chessboard set up wrong in every movie with a chess scene.
• you who know exactly what James Bond movie the above scene was taken from.
• you name any of your pets Fischer, Tal, Karpov, Kasparov, Fritz, Chess (not Checkers) or Alekhine.
• your favorite movie is “Searching for Bobby Fischer” or “The Luzhin Defense.”
• your favorite snack is Pepperidge Farm’s Chessmen cookies.
• you take a test, and 5 minutes before you run out of time, you mentally tell yourself that your flag is about to fall.
• when the cashier says, “Check?” you wink and say “mate.”
• you have a chess logo on your letterhead or shirt.
• going to a chess tournament and can’t wait in saying “Look at those chess nuts boasting by an open foyer.”
• you own a Harry Potter or Civil War chess set.
• you played in over 100 chess tournaments all your life and have almost made $100 (spending thousands on entry fees, hotels unless you slept in your car, travel, and cheap food).
• You have read all of this. And didn’t laugh!