Table of Contents
Los Angeles Chess Club………………….E4
Sunday Songs…………………Wild Cards
Sunday Poll……………………..Results are in
Sunday Carrier………………….What has the pigeon dragged in?
Studio Jali …………………………Studio Updates
P.S ……………………………………….Most octopuses can eject a thick, blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main coloring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin color.
The first rule of Chess Club, you talk about Chess Club.
I sat down to play my first game hungry for blood. In chess, there is no slow playing your opponent, there’s nothing physical about someone that will reveal how skilled they are at the game. 8-year-olds can beat grandmasters. Humbling sure, but it’s what keeps the game timeless and pure.
Greg B was my first opponent. He took the white pieces and I, the black. I played solid, opting out of taking any chances or playing into any lines that I wasn’t familiar with. It was my first over-the-board game in a while, and I had zero intention of getting checkmated in five moves because I was too friendly, too cautious, or too blind.
The game progressed quickly, and by move 15 I had won a piece, a pawn, and was on my way to taking all of the material that I could. Soon, it was clear that I had, objectively, dominated. And by the time we reached what was left of an endgame, with him only having his king and a few pawns, and me having my king safe and tucked away, along with still retaining my queen, rooks, and a bishop, he asked me if I wanted him to resign and I responded by saying the choice was his. And so he did. We shook hands and that was that.
1-0
It was apparent early that our ratings weren’t in the same tier, but this wasn’t something I spent any time thinking about as I stood from the table and took in the club fully. It’s set in a rented-out warehouse near downtown LA, there’s 30 to 40 people, a DJ, a pizza vendor, an art vendor, and an open bar. I got a glass of vodka OJ, and it was time for my next game.
The main floor is set by arena-based matchmaking on an app. Meaning, you win a game, and you are paired with someone else who won their last game. So, when my second opponent came up to me asking my name, the only thing I thought was that he must be better than Greg B, but how much better?
We sat down, introduced ourselves, and after telling me his name he said that it was “the Asian version of Juan Carlos.” He took the white pieces and again I took the black. My opponent, who I’ll respectfully call Juan Carlos, set a clock on the table next to our board. 5 minutes each. Blitz.
There’s a certain heightened intensity in most sports and events when a timer is involved, and of course, chess is no different. Immediately out of the opening, he played a string of moves that I wasn’t familiar with or recognized. Not wanting to waste time calculating or falling into any tricky gambit, I opted to ignore this and develop as normal, allowing him to play with some tempo and counterplay on the left side of the board.
We didn’t begin trading pieces until the middle game, and it was here when I began to feel the clock. I was falling behind on time searching for both the best winning combination of moves, and avoiding ways to blunder and fall victim to a checkmate or irrecoverable loss of material.
He pushed some pieces and I played on the counterattack and tried to get creative, but ultimately made a mistake when I allowed him to castle after I blocked my queen with a bishop move. This is an idea I missed that he only pointed out to me after the game. In the moment we played on and I generated enough of an attack to bring our time close to equal and to increase the chance he’d make a mistake, and ultimately we came down to the end game both frantically stopping the clock after each move. However, ultimately I wasn’t fast enough and my time hit 0 seconds. He still had 8 seconds remaining.
1-1
After the game, I was appropriately humbled a bit, but less bothered by the loss since it was a result of time and not being thoroughly outplayed to a checkmate or total losing position. We talked about the game after and tried to input it into the arena tournament on the app, but had some technical difficulties. This ultimately became a good thing because he asked if I wanted to play again ‘out of the arena’ and I agreed. Both because I wanted a bit of revenge and because life is more fun with a friendly rival.
We played two more games after that, and I won both. I sacrificed a queen during the second game to capture a bishop with a pawn and threatened to promote back rank to regain my queen, a move that Juan Carlos called “beautiful” and in the third game, I had a nasty pin on a knight to the king, and two connected rooks on the A file that became too much to defend, forcing a resignation. As we had after all the games, we shook hands and talked about the games a bit before getting up and going our separate ways.
3-1
By this time, it was getting late and I was getting drunk. But I wanted to play one more game before I left.
I walked around the warehouse a bit more, watching people's games, talking a bit, and being more social as my initial lust for tone-setting (blood) had worn off and been replaced with all the positive emotions and ambiance of the environment. The DJ was still going, the club had expanded from 40ish people to 50, maybe a bit more. All over 21, but some a lot older than that, and a healthy mix of men and women for as far as chess clubs go.
I sat down at a board I liked, set up the black pieces, and a minute later was joined by an LMU student who asked to play. She said that she wasn’t very good, and asked if I was and I said “Pretty good” and we got to playing. She told me she learned from her cousins and we casually talked until it reached the point in the game where we both needed to focus. I don’t remember too much from this game, thanks to the open bar, but I remember enough that it was similar to the second game with Juan Carlos, where I managed to double up rooks and force a pin of a piece to her queen. This was the only game of the night I finished with checkmate, and as always, we shook hands, said good game, and went on our way.
For me, it was time to go. It was my first ever time at LA Chess Club and it was everything I would want from a chess club and a place that I know I’ll be going to more often when I have the time. I’m good at chess, but given the number of players there, I know there are probably at least 5-6 players who are real sharks that could beat me down and mate me or force an early resignation, but those are also the players I look forward to playing the most.
Until next time Chess Club.
4-1
Sunday Songs
Keeping things short and streamlined this week for Sunday Songs. First up, is “1901” by Phoenix, a song I think I heard the first time playing NBA2k or Fifa way back in high school freshmen or sophomore year. My algorithms picked it back up recently and reintroduced it to me.
I don’t know how often I’ll listen to this song after this week, but it’s always nice to be reminded of something you used to listen to that you can still enjoy.
Next is Egyptian Lover by Felukah. This song sounds like it’s in the vein of Yaya Bey, Cleo Sol, and Baby Rose, and makes a good playlist rotation add.
Here’s another Egyptian Luvr freebee. (Disclaimer, I’m not an overly huge fan of this song, I mostly just think it’s funny and odd that both these songs have the same title and are so different).
Last up, Southern Nights by Glen Campbell. I’ll be taking no questions for the inclusion of this song, it’s just cozy and warm, while also feeling like the needle drop for a horror movie set in the Deep South.
That’s it. Told you it’d be short and sweet. This week feels like a wildcard bag of songs, but that’s not a bad thing. Never is.
Sunday Poll
In a record number of votes for a Pen Sunday poll, the results are in! The people say that San Francisco is a “B” city. This feels about right. I didn’t vote and never do for obvious reasons, but if I get an after-the-fact vote, I’ll say that a B sounds right. B- in the winter when it’s cold and rainy and wet.
Voting is free and anonymous. All it takes is a subscription. (That’s free too).
You only have one week to vote. Results will be reviewed and discussed in next week’s edition.
Sunday Carrier
Israel-Palestine Human Rights Watch
A Los Angeles woman was arrested in Russia on charges of treason
Texas judge upholds school's suspension of black student over dreadlocks
US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli embassy in Washington DC
Metro board approves Dodger Stadium gondola
Weekly Report:
First episode of Uncredited (Season 2) debuts this Thursday!!!
PS
It’s the end of Pen Sunday, edition #69. If you reached the end, thank you for reading. It means a lot.
Pen Sunday is a newsletter about a writer, a dream, and a studio. With headlines from around the world, music, and maybe a poem. Every Sunday and Sunday only.
Until Sunday,
Solomon Lovejoy