Love, Metal and Jägermeister Chess

The Rock Band HIM from Finland has three albums with a combined sales of 2 million to their credit. "Love Metal" was the result of "one and a half years worth of exploration and soul searching, as well as the time-honoured tradition of ‘working one’s ass off’". The album was produced and recorded in Helsinki by Hiili Hiilesmaa, noted for his work with uncompromising metal bands. It resulted in "a piece of Helsinki winter madness thrown onto Venice Beach". Light and darkness clashing. The end result is a vibrant concoction of in-your-face riffs, heavy beats and sweet soulful melodies. "Harder than titanium, softer than pure gold, quicker than silver. Red hot or cold as steel. Love Metal."

The five HIM members: Burton, Gas, Linde, Migé, Ville Valo

HIM played for 9000 visitors at the MTV Campus Invasion in Mannheim.

So what do rock musicians do between concerts. You may have heard a lot of stories, but you can forget them all. They play chess. Seriously. Read on and believe.

During its stay in Mannheim HIM got together with members of a local chess club for an evening of chess (and drinks and stuff). Chaos Mannheim, founded in 1987, calls itself one of the "most serious chess clubs in Baden". They do appear to have a strong connection to beer, but also to heavy metal and to the aformentioned rock band.

Let us take a brief look at the goings-on at the Love Metal Chess Meeting. There are many, many more pictures for you to enjoy, at the links given below. They include the games, which have not yet found their way into TWIC or Mega.

Jägermeister chess

We remember when we visited Finland some years ago our friends there told us to bring Jägermeister. This is a German herbal liquor you get in supermarkets, nothing special here, but apparently a cult drink in some countries. The pronunciation is "Yeah-ger-my-stir", with the stress on the first syllable.

At the HIM chess festival the band introduced the German players to a new concept: Jägermeister Chess. We do not know the exact FIDE rules, but apparently you have to drink a glass of Jägermeister at regular intervals.

No ordinary chess match, this Jägermeister thing. We even have the two games played at the HIM chess festival for you below.

Links

• The HIM web site
• Chaos Mannheim, which provided all these pictures
• Photoshoot 1: the chess get-together
• Photoshoot 2: more of the same, with the consultation game
• Photoshoot 3: The fun start, the alcohol begins to flow
• Photoshoot 4: mainly serious portraits again
• Photoshoot 5: more chess
• Photoshoot 6: things getting quite raunchy
• Photoshoot 7: more chess and alcohol
• Photoshoot 8: The Jägermeister chess match
• A selection of games, including the Jägermeister match