2007 we were travelling in Europe
with friends and spent a few glorious days in Positano in Italy. The girls,
Lorenza and Melissa went and did some shopping, while Al and I had a few beers
on the balcony of our hotel overlooking the Mediterranean.
Lorenza and Melissa returned from
the shopping with the news that we had been invited to a cocktail party. They
had shared the lift from the hotel foyer with a gentleman named Julio, who was
the president of the local Chess Club. In the short lift ride he had explained
that the chess club was holding a cocktail party in honor of their special
guest “the worlds strongest female chess player”. Julio told them “they simply
must come along with your partners”.
The story that Al and I got from
Melissa and Lorenza about this invitation was hilarious. Both Melissa and
Lorenza had two completely different interpretations of what the “strongest”
female chess player meant. Melissa had pictured a woman akin to a weight
lifter, who played chess using real people as the pieces, picking them up using
her amazing strength to move them around a giant chessboard. Lorenza’s version
was that she was the “strongest” player because she had taken on so many great
male and female chess players and defeated them all.
So, in order to find out the truth
we decided to attend the cocktail party. We did our best to find clothes
suitable for such an event in our luggage. I had no black tie outfit, so the
best I could do was a clean pair of jeans and a linen shirt. Luckily, once we
arrived on the terrace above the beach we found out that cocktail parties are
fairly relaxed affairs in Positano.
In attendance were the local mayor,
the police chief, the commander of the customs police, and a few other local
dignitaries. Also, we met a chess journalist and his wife from Switzerland, a well-known
Italian TV presenter, and some members of the local chess club. The guest of
honor turned out to be our neighbor back at our hotel. Her name was Judit, and
was visiting Positano with her husband and two children, having been invited to
holiday there by Julio and his fellow chess club members.
During Julio’s welcoming speech to
Judit he made mention of the four Australians who had joined the party and
asked everyone to make us welcome. They certainly did, we found that the local
chess fanatics are a very friendly and welcoming bunch.
So, we found out all about the
international world of chess. I asked Judit what makes a great chess player,
her response - “patience and decisiveness”. Two local musicians playing guitar
and piccolo entertained us. Julio told us all about his adventures in the
sixties when he acted as the local guide and contact for the Rolling Stones.
Some of the other locals told us about which famous person owned this or that
villa in Positano and some stories of the celebrities who had visited the town
over the years.
We had a fun night with this crowd
and bumped into many of them during the course of our stay in Positano. It was
good to have been welcomed by such friendly people and be able to chat with
them over the next few days.
You can find out all about this
famous chess player here ... Judit Polgar
No comments:
Post a comment