Chess And Other Games

I think it is time for me to retire my chess books to a remote bookshelf.  I can't play worth a damn anymore.

When I was about 8-9, Mom taught me the rules of chess and played it with me.  She recognized that I was very good at board games and thought I needed a more open-ended and challenging one.  The idea of different pieces moving in different ways was a bit confusing at first, but I began to see the possibilty of flexibility.

I should mention that Mom's family seldom played board or card games  but Dad's family did.  And they played to kill.  "If you couldn't stand the heat, leave the table".  😈. And they didn't give much consideration to age either.  

Dad's family mostly played 2 card games.  One was Gin.  When we visited them, both Gramma and I were early risers.  So we would play Gin for a while until the rest got up and she had to start breakfast.  But she would kill me happily.  I was about 14 before I could make it a "close to fair" game.  

The other game is not well-known.  It was sort of a regional game from Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.  It is generally called "Cinch" and sometimes "Setback" and it is a rather lethal game.

The basics are that you get 9 cards (2 decks if required).  You bid a number of tricks you will take.  No suits like in Bridge and not always hearts like in that game.  The highest bidder names the suit.  Everyone tosses out the cards that aren't that suit.  And then you are dealt enough to make 6.

The bidder tosses out the first card.  Whoever takes a trick leads with the next round.  Whoever has the most tricks wins the round.  I don't recall how the scoring was done for a whole game, but I have my 'Rules According To Hoyle' marked up to reflect the version we played (it varies regionally).

I mentioned Gramma Cavebear was a lethal card-player.  She was also non-secretive.  Sometimes she would say "Oh I filled".  Meaning her 6 cards were all trumps.  We all knew we were doomed at that point.  

Dad and Gramma taught me the rules at 14, we played practice hands.  When I could follow the rules and be somewhat competitive, I was allowed at the adult table after dinner.  Some families had dessert after dinner; we played cards.

I eventually achieved average family skill.  I miss playing the game, but Gramma and Grampa eventually got older and less able to play.  And I went off to college.

Where I learned Hearts (and later, Spades).  I never understood Bridge.  Symbolic bidding (the Goren System and others completely baffled me.  I guess I think too directly.  But I was good at Hearts and Spades.  No real bidding.

But back to chess...  When Mom couldn't beat me at chess anymore, she turned me over to Dad.  I have no idea what his chess experience was, but he was better at it than Mom.  But after a year, he couldn't beat me at it either.  

I found that a neighbor kid my age also loved chess.  We played it obsessively!  His mom got so annoyed at our focus that she dragged us to a public swimming pool a few times.  Sure, we swam around a bit, but I had a pocket chess set and we played there too.

When I went to college, I found several people in my dorm who played.  By coincidence, one turned out to be the President of the college chess club.  We played equally.  I joined the club.  As a result, I joined the United States Chess Federation (USCF).  I never achieved any high ranking, but just having a ranking at all put me in about the top 10%.  

My friend the President had a bad accident one summer and returned "mentally damaged".  He left after 2 months.

Which left a gap.  The club had no President.  I became it.  That means a lot less than it may sound.  The President organizes club meetings, lays out chessboards and chess clocks, and puts everything away afterwards.  Really Good chessplayers are not interested in that.  There aren't really truly good chessplayers who can manage their own lives, never mind administrative club issues, LOL!

But I discovered a skill that the past couple of Presidents didn't have.  Members just showed up to play each other.  I researched how to arrange tournaments.  There are various ways but I won't bore you with that (unless you ask).

But the club membership doubled and better players started to attend.  I retired after 2 years, leaving a successful club behind.

For myself, I participated in several public USCF tournaments.  The games are divided among ratings.  They ranged from 1200-1399, 1400-1599, and so on to 2000.  Beyond 2000, you are Master.  I was about 1250.  Yeah, "bottom of the best".  

I won a trophy in the DC Open at my rating.  I won 5 of 6 games.  The best win was against a 1650 rated player using The Stonewall Defense (if you want to look it up).  It is routinely a White attack, but I used it as a Black Defense.  

And then, hot off my success, I participated in the Maryland Open.  And got "pantsed".  My 1st opponent pulled a Scholar's Mate on me!

White Queen to move.

I was so unbelievingly embarrassed!   The worst thing a chessplayer can experience is to be the first to leave the room in defeat.  And I didn't return...

I did get over it eventually.  Played postal chess for a decade (time to stop and think about moves) and computer chess for a decade.  But at 75, I've lost my skills at the game.  A simple computer chess game beats me.  It is time to just stop thinking about chess.  

So I don't need the books over the computer.  I'll save them for "old times sakes", but I'm not going to be playing anymore...

Relatives

I was visiting another site and a post involved visiting relatives when young.  It brought back some memories.  

We lived in Virginia at the time when the trip to the Grandparents took 12 hours.   Both sets of grandparents lived north of Boston, but near each other.  Well, that's why my parents met.

I loved visiting my dad's parents,  they had a large house and a small farm.  Grampa had a lobster boat, so we were drowned in lobster in many forms when we visited.  There was a tree house in the big apple tree.  We helped pick beans and corn.  Gramma was Amish and made wonderful chicken with dumplings.

She got up early and so did I as a pre-teen and teen and we played rummy until the rest of the family got up.  I helped her make breakfast.  It's partly how I learned to cook.  My Capt Crunch cereal there.  Waffles, pancakes, eggs...

Grmma never gave me any mercy when playing rummy.  I learned to win the hard way.  But the highlight of the evening was when the family sat down to lay "Cinch" (aka Set Back).  If you don't know what that is, it is like cut-throat bridge and Hearts or Spades.

I was allowed into the family game when I was about 13 or 14.  Gramma vouched for me for good Rummy skills.

Its a no-holds-barred game and no one gave mercy.  You declare how many tricks you will take and the highest bidder announces the trump suit.  You toss away all the non-trump cards and fill your hand to 6 -8 cards  from the remaining deck.

Gramma was infamous for saying "oh, I filled"  meaning she had a hand of all trump cards.  She played lethally.  She almost always won.  But it was played in pairs.  I was usually her partner when me visited.  The players were Gramma and Grampa, my uncle, Dad (Mom could never play cards worth a damn) and sometimes an aunt or two.

Dad had his Mom's killer instinct, but his best game was poker.  Gramma and I thought alike and usually won.  It was never kindness to me as a kid.  Like I said, they all played to win; they would beat their kids at Candyland when they could.  It was altogether wonderful.

Every year, we went to a great chinese restaurant. 

And then we had to spend days at Mom's parents.  That was altogether awful.  They were Victorian.  The house was always dim with fake Tiffany lampshades everywhere.  Kids couldn't do anything fun.  You could hardly see anything after sunset.

The house was practically a mausoleum.  Chairs had doilies to protect the fabric.  The most exciting thing was a next door kid who could flip backwards and land on his back.  I mowed the lawn "for fun".  

 Grampa was kind, but very religious.  He once took me on a walk as a child just to get me into a church.  He thought that might change my whole life.  I felt cheated and lied-to.  The high point of our visit was when Grampa would walk us to a candy store.  We couldn't have any actual candy, but a candy bar was allowed.   I always chose a Skybar.  It had 4 different pockets of flavors.

Gramma Mom's cooking was horrid and I learned why Mom couldn't cook either.  Every vegetable had to be boiled to death.  If brocolli wasn't gray, it wasn't cooked enough.  Meat was boiled and if you haven't had a boiled steak, I don't recommend it.  One year, Gramma Mom even bought a watermelon "for us kids" and she cut the heart out for herself because "why would children care"?  

I did and Mom shushed me.

Aren't different grandparents weird?