Monday, July 20, 2009

My Greatest Contribution to Chess

I believe I'm correct in saying that in America, players bring their own sets and clocks to tournaments - that the organizers provide nothing of the sort.

I'm all for this. Personally, I think electronic chess clocks are highly overrated. I'd revert to egg-timers if I could, the kind with sand.

And think of the benefits to the environment, by keeping down the amount of plastic in circulation. And in fact, why rely on plastic or wood pieces at all? When this kind of thing is available, I mean:-




Yes, that's right. Chess sets made from nuts and bolts. Surely, this is the next step in the evolution of the chess set. Surely, this is the end of the Staunton design.

And I'll go one step further. Surely the day will come when you can cycle to a chess tournament, dismantle the nuts and bolts from your bike, and use them as chess pieces. Or for drivers, why not a detachable sun-roof checkered with sixty four squares?

I think this might just be my best idea ever!

3 comments:

David said...

How does this work in America? Don't you end up with twice the amount of kit? Or do people A-M bring the board; people N-Z, the set & clock? Then alternate for Rd 2 perhaps.

Good idea? Yes? No?

Or maybe they've achieved the perfect balance between the public-spirited who supply the kit; and the other bastards who've never been known so much as to set up a piece, but just turn up expecting it all to be laid on for them.

Tom Chivers said...

No idea of the details I'm afraid! I would have thought allowing people to bring their own electric clocks is possibly dodgy ---- what if they find a way to programme one side to go slower than the other?!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure we could find some current Irish player to let us know how the Bring-your-own- system works - as far as I know Irish tournaments have been run on the BYO set/clock principle for many a year now...

seani