The Red Thread of Fate

Above is a picture of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s chess stall at the Festa dello Sport which was recently held from September 10–14 at the Giardini del Campo di Marte in Florence, Italy. This year’s edition has not been easy, as the Comune of Florence, in an attempt to reduce budget expenses, did not provide associations with tables, so we made up for it with our old picnic table. I remember like it were yesterday where we found it many years ago. It happened during a summer camping in Corfu, Greece — a family had got rid of it after their holidays had come to an end. That was really a stroke of luck as it was really a luxury for us to have breakfast every morning finally seated. We were in Corfu for a half-holiday: I was taking part in the 2nd International Chess Open, which was held at Kérkyra’s Municipal Theatre, where the big attraction, for the openers as well as for the audience, was the “ring a ring o’ roses” match of the three Polgár sisters (Zsuzsa, Zsófia, and Judit) against the then Greek national team (Efstratios Grivas, Vasileios Kotrōnias, and Spyridon Skembris). Both of the sisters’s parents were there, too, and it well could happen that they had been seated amid the audience in the hall. It was, of course, a great opportunity to see the phenomenal Judit Polgár live in action, but in the end, since I had to play my always too long common-mortal games in the backstage (literally drowned in the dark), only my beloved Alessandra had time — and time — to keep her eyes stuck onto the (dimly lit) stage. But, alas, Alessandra’s daily recaps weren’t what the readers of a black and white chess review would look for. At the end of every day, she always told me the same thing, just one thing: “Judit has very beautiful long red hair”. I would never have imagined that our old picnic table could have ever served as a chess table, and, indeed, I was almost resolved not to take part in the Festa della Sport without any institutional arrangements. That was, until Alessandra said the magic words, “Why don’t you use our old picnic table?”. Eureka, of course! It had to be done, and so we did it. Nevertheless, I know there was no need of it for you to be punctual and on time for the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s season’s first Fischerandom chess meeting on Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 16,00 as usual. Photo: UISP Comitato di Firenze.