Wang's Chesshouse

Ok so it didn’t last all Summer, but it was my vacation and it did take place during the Summer so bear with me.

So I finally make it to my folk’s place and we promptly did…nothing!  I sat up late nights with my dad, we talked about politics, our beloved New York Football Giants, family, and all other kinds of stuff, and even had a crazed night of Wii playing, I won at bowling and we split our games of tennis and I woke up the next day with a very sore arm. 

There wasn’t anything more than that,  We just hung out with my folks for a few days, we barbecued, and generally just enjoyed one another’s company, it’s been awhile since we were all together, so it was nice to just be.

On Thursday I went into NYC, Mrs Wang had old friends to meet in Manhattan and I had chess stuff to attend to.  I headed to Fred Wilson’s Chess Books.  It is in an old office building in down town Manhattan, one that seemed very familiar to me, but more on that later.

I’ve been dying to go to this bookstore forever, I heard that Fred has a great selection of books and he’s your best bet to find something that’s out of print. Imagine my disappointment when he wasn’t there when I first arrived.  Bummer!  The gentleman at the security desk told me to check back in about an hour, that Fred likes to wander around from time to time, but he should still be around. 

So I headed down the street to the Strand.  The Strand is a famous NYC used bookstore, and while it isn’t technically a chess bookstore they do have a nice collection down in the basement.  I poke around awhile but nothing really tickles my fancy.  I head out hoping that Fred will be there, when I realize that I’m starving!  It was just after 5Pm and I hadn’t eaten since 10am.I head on out to grab a bite to eat.  

There are few places like NYC, there is a lot to do there and culturally it just can’t be beat.  It is very expensive, and the living is vertical (we build up, not side to side) and takes some getting used to and it certainly isn’t to everyone’s taste.  I left NY 5 years ago, mostly because of the expense. Despite this there are a few things I desperately miss about it.

1. Melting pot of people.  All types of people and nationalities in NYC.  Korean, Latino, Irish, Russian, Indian etc…it is amazing to see how many different types of folks call this country home,  There is no other single city where this is more on display than New York. 

This diversity leads into other areas as well, most notably…

2. Food, all types.  In one block you have Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Italian, French, etc..the list goes on and on, just a cornucopia of food.  This is why New Yorker’s tend to be picky (some call us snobbish) about food.  Name a kind of food and a NY’er has had a good sample of it, and is not likely to be fooled by cheapo imitation stuff easily.

3. Beautiful women.  Just a lot of beautiful women, what can I say, I’m a fan of the ladies

Ok so long story short, I find a block with like a dozen different types of restaurants on it and decide on a small Japanes noodle joint.  The Ramen was slamming!  When done correctly ramen

1. doesn’t come from an envelope with dehydrated vegetables.

2. Has a light flavor.

3. Is simply fantastic fast food.  oh and

4. Sodium isn’t the main ingredient.

So I woof down my noodles, drink my Sapporo  and head back to Fred’s this time he is here.  Fred has a small store, it’s more of an office, with chess books and videos in every possible nook and cranny of the place.  I mean I never thought there could be so many books crammed into one place.  I find a copy of Play 1.d4! by Richard Palliser that is out of print for $10!  That is a find.

We talk for a bit about all things chess related, Fred admits to playing the King’s Indian Line in the Palliser book when he was “a deviant 1.d4 player”  (That line itself was worth the trip from Pennsylvia) and I realize that although I could stay here and chat with him for hours I’ve got a tournament to hit at the Marshall.  I pay for my books and head on down to the Marshall Chess Club for some Thursday night Cracktion chess. 

Now for chess geeks everywhere, just being at Fred’s chess book store is cool enough, but imagine being just 4 blocks from one of the most storied chess clubs in all the world!  This is some pretty exciting stuff. 

I make my way down tot he Marshall and meet a cool dude named Mark (I’m pretty sure that’s his name) who tells me that despite what Polly might have told me he would be very surprised not to see her at the Marshall tonight.  He actually looked at me a little funny when I said I didn’t think Polly was going to show up.

True to form Polly just couldn’t avoid all of that fantatic cracktion action at the Marshall and I get to meet my second chess blogger (yay!) we chat for bit and then the round starts.

I haven’t analyzed the games and it probably won’t happen until after I get done with my Economics class in a few weeks.  I will tell you that I lost all 3 games and lost a total of 7 rating points.  That should tell you just how strong the field was.  Being I was the lowest rated player there I wasn’t even playing the strongest players.  My games were against an expert, a strong (1974) class a and a strong (1790 ish) class b.

I did get a good Alekhine game against the expert.  We were running short on time when I just about equalized.  Instead of bringing pieces to my Kingside and getting ready for his final push there I swiped a pawn instead.  He mated me with both of us having about 20 seconds left on the clock.

When he made his final move he looked at me and said, “Well that’s G30 for you”.  He seemed more bummed for me losing than I was!  Truth is his better skill let him see a mating pattern that I missed.  Yes I played a good game and didn’t embarrass myself, but the outcome was as it should have been.

Against the strong class A player I did embarrass myself with a Scotch game.  Although I have vowed that this would be my opening of choice this is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to play it since that proclamation 6 months ago!  It might be time to reconsider.

The final game, well I was going to withdraw because I just wanted to get a couple of games in and didn’t really feel like playing, but I felt it would be kind of a douchey thing to do so I stuck it out.  I won a piece from my much younger opponent, but I got into serious time trouble and he ended up winning.

All in all not a bad experience, although I’ll probably stick to G60 or higher, I just can’t think at 25 w/5 second increment. 

While this wasn’t the end of my vacation for blogging purposes it is.  I could tell you about the rest of my trip but since none of you know my family or most of the folks in the stories I would tell, well suffice to say you have no point of reference so none of it would be terribly amusing  to you. (although it was absolutely hysterical to me). 

Mrs. Wang and I had a great relaxing time back east and we actually made the trip back to Arizona incident free. 

I would like to thank Fred Wilson for being so inviting and down to earth and for having a kick ass chess book store.  I’d like to thank Polly for making me feel at home at the Marshall, and I’d like to thank the proprietors of that most outstanding Japanese noodle shop for having kick ass noodles, and some pretty waitresses too  I told you I’m a fan of the ladies

PS>Oh and the office building that Fred is in?  My mother used to work there when I was a wee lad, her company left that building when I was about 9, so it turns out I did remember the place.

Have an excellent week folks.