Here is another career option for the grandchildren... hustling for money playing chess in the park each weekend. You think this is not big business? Come to Sophia and think again. Playing chess is about humiliating your opponent through better strategy... but equally important is the panache and raw ego you lay on the line. You must not appear to be thinking about your move. Immediately your opponent moves his piece, you instantaneously make your move and slap the timing clock with aggressive force... hard... I emphasise, your move must be lightening fast... and you must be conducting a casual conversation with a friend simultaneously. The effect is to convey that your opponent does not have to be taken seriously... you are so much smarter than him. Chess playing is very much a spectator sport. Crowds of young men would hasten from game to game whenever news spread of an upset result or an unusual move being employed.
Joye and I observed these dynamics while having coffee in a park close to the Concert Hall in Sophia. We seated ourselves next to two guys who looked like body builders... great advertisements for anabolic steroids. We didn't pay them any attention... fortunately no eye contact. When they were ready to leave, one of them gave a nod to other guys sitting on the other side of the cafe. Six of them (all avid users of the same anabolic steroids) walked over and made a grid formation and got their walkie-talkies out and working. The bosses sheltered inside the grid and the eight of them wandered off through the park. William and Kate would not have received so much protection. We speculated who they might be... but our knowledge of Russian mafia is very limited.
But the real action was away from the cafe at the chess tables. Perhaps our Russian mafia guy was trying to figure out how to get a protection racket rigged up... provide immediate cash advances for players down on their luck... who knows!
No comments:
Post a Comment