Chess Without a Board

Posted on the 12 April 2014 by Smokeandminds @smokenminds

The game of chess has been exemplifying human creativity and intelligence for well over a millenium - perhaps two. It is war, strategy, orchestration.

Carl and Marko have been playing for years and lately with/against each other. Since my first conversations with them separately, each praised the abilities of the other. Each professed to have learned through these matches, a couple of which I have documented through photographs.

Having absorbed my first chess games as an adolescent, I am familiar with the excitement, tension and experience of being in the middle of a match. However – specifically yesterday – I experienced the orchestration aspect in chess anew. This manifests best when one has listened to a cigar smoking conversation between Carl and Marko that went on for a short eternity. They delved into details about moves and situations that were part of the match I happened to have captured in photographs about two weeks ago.

As a musician and composer I see unavoidable passion in orchestration. And after having witnessed these two minds in many discussions the last months, it was a special treat listening to them last night as they played chess without a chess board, shared calculations, strategies and even the wonders that take place within a single match. They reconstructed and deconstructed that match. The considered alternatives, thus orchestrating the matches to come. They drew on their cigars and made moves. No chess board.

Marko listening to Carl / NYC Fine Cigars, New York, NY / Leica D-Lux 4


Filed under: Cigar Lounge, NYC Fine Cigars, New York, NY, Tobacco Tagged: Chess, Cigars, Games, NYC Fine Cigars, Smoke, Tobacco