Killing Time: Chess at Cafe Calypso

.
A lot of my time in Corpus is spent playing games. I find a measure of comfort in gaming that I don't find in much else with the exception of hiking and biking. I play a lot of checkers and backgammon at MSN's "The Zone" in which you don't have to log in. But more on that later.
.
After a trip with my parents to see The Social Network (great film, by the way), I wrote some more thank-you notes and then headed off to Cafe Calypso. Cafe Calypso is one of the few places in Corpus that has a real unique flavor to it. (I should hedge a little here: I don't get out that much, so what do I know?) There's usually a musical act twice a week, and tonight there was a great quartet playing Latin American beats. As a result, the ambience is great, but it all takes back seat to the chess. I've been playing chess there off and on for years and see a lot of the same folks.
.
I found a couple of guys playing a game, then another, but after ten minutes, they were through. I stepped in when one had to go and met Lonnie, the fellow pictured above. Lonnie is a good guy, kind of mumbly and usually avoiding direct eye contact, but polite and to the point. He won one game against my five or so wins, and as I'm ranked higher than he is, that's pretty good.
.
After winning our last game, I said something like, "Well, that was good." Lonnie immediately countered, "No, it's not." He then pointed out that I had three entire pieces along with my king versus his king and pawn. In the picture, you can see that my bishop was covering my rook in the far back corner, which forced checkmate. He was friendly about the losses and had been up for repeated poundings during the course of an hour.
.
I took off as Lonnie was putting up his pieces, said goodbye to another player George who was just relaxing and enjoying the Saturday evening music, and headed home. When I arrived, I went straight into making some rolls from a dough I had refridgerated earlier in the day. I found my mom still up, and she and I chatted while the rolls baked.
.
When the bread came out, we were waiting for it with butter. Warm bread at night. What a great way to end the day.