Stoned Barracudas

Tournament games were usually played on Wednesday night. Friday night was blitz night. In a blitz game the players each had 5 minutes to play the entire game. The first player to run out of time lost no matter what, so it was easy to play an entire tournament in one evening. Some of the players would bring beer, making an interesting evening even more interesting. There was a small entry fee which was awarded to the winners at the close of play, then some of the players would stay, drinking beer and playing more blitz. I was shocked, shocked, when one of el fisho's Jewish friends brought some pot one night. Several of us, already slightly buzzed by the beer, took a hit or two of the pot and continued to play blitz, slightly stoned - which is a very interesting experience because one of the effects of pot is time distortion: time seems to slow down; blitz games seem to last forever. Pot also decreases aggression, hence the phrase, 'mellowed out.' The sight of a bunch of chess barracudas playing blitz stoned is hilarious, especially if you are one of them.

El fisho never attended these later sessions (having an image to nurture) though I have no doubt he knew they took place (I even wrote on the back of one of my scoresheets that I thought he had the club bugged). He would play occasionally play in the tournament but tended to leave early after a string of defeats.

One or two or the players objected to having to breathe the smoke, fearing they might flunk a drug test, so we would do the pot outside in one of the cars, then return to the club. These little parties would often go past midnight. Then the beer would run out, the munchies would set in and the pizza would arrive. Party over.