-
A marathon underwater chess record that is being attempted
at the East Rand Mall in Benoni
(Gauteng, Witwatersrandis, South Africa), with over 50 divers challenging
each other to games of chess. Their aim is to get into the Guinness Book
of World Records by clocking up 30 hours, as the South
African Star reports.
-
Underwater Chess Tournaments for 8 to 14-year-olds are
being held in Mesa, Arizona. The entry fee is $15 and there are awards and
prizes for everyone! If you are in the right age slot and want to participate
contact the by the El
Mar Diving Center in Mesa.
- Marnix Kleefmann of the Netherlands builds a waterproof
chess and checkers board which can be used in and out of the water. It
is made of stainless steel and ceramic tiles, with a protective rubber rim
all around. The pieces are actual rubber bath plugs (or combinations of parts
of plugs). Since the board is heavy it will sink to the bottom of a pool.
The inventor notes that the rubber rim around the board makes it possible
to position the board suspended over the water in a standard bath-tub. Two
people can take a bath together and play a game of chess.
-
ChEss (for Chemosynthetic
Ecosystems) is a project to study deep-sea hydrothermal vents and their
associated fauna. These rifts were first discovered along the Galapagos
Rift in the eastern Pacific in 1977. The aim of ChEss is to improve our
knowledge on the diversity, abundance and distribution of vent and seep
species at a global scale and to understand the processes driving these
ecosystems. The geo- and bio-referenced database for all species from deep-water
chemosynthetic systems is called ...? ChEssBase, naturally. You
don't believe us? You will find full information on ChEssBase here...
-
Aqua chess. This is a game we invented years ago. It involves
setting up a chess board at one end of a swimming pool. The white player executes
a move and swims across the pool. When he reaches the opposite end the black
player makes a move and starts swimming. Each player must complete a full
lap between moves. You can win the game by outplaying your opponent, or
by out-swimming him. There are two variants: in once case you can make two
moves in a row if you overtake your opponent; in the second, the purer version,
he loses if he cannot reach the board before you. Try it out, it is a seriously interesting variant.
- Speaking of variants (and liquids): shotglass chess is
one of the less healthy ones around. Some listed on the recipe
page are downright unsavory, but hey, the game actually has its own URL:
www.shotglasschess.com/.
If you are a beer person you should go for this
variant. The nicest set we have found his here...
Movie buffs will remember the famous scene from "Our Man in Havana"
in which Alex Guinnes outsmarts Ernie Kovacs in a game of alcoholic chess.
Addendum
After this article appeared letters kept coming in, supplying interesting new
tidbits. Here are some, more will be added as they come in.
-
Casper Dahl Rasmussen or Aarhus, Denmark writes: "Dear ChessBase,
regarding your article about chess and water, here comes the best joke in
the world about exactly that. Question: Who was the undisputed World Champion
of underwater chess? Answer: Geller! LOL LOL LOL ... Well, if you are from
Denmark. Here's the explanation to ruin even the best of jokes: in Danish
'Geller' (that's how it's pronounced – it is spelled 'gæller')
means 'gills' on a fish. The origin of the joke can be tracked down to the
uncrowned king of chess humour in Denmark Thomas K. Christensen of Aarhus."
Words fail us.
- David Korn of Seattle, Washington writes: "Not long ago I read an article
by a travel writer who wanted to visit the Szechenyi baths in Budapest to
see the floating chessboards but was unsuccessfull, it was a "men-only"
day. David Llada, chess writer and photographer, emailed me that he had the
same problem when trying to visit with his girlfriend. Well, at least we know
it's still functioning."
Chess in the Szechenyi baths, on a men-only day
