Drunken Chess started when two people planned on getting together for a game of chess and were trying
to find a place to play. They decided on a local brewery as their venue, and sat down to play and
ordered some good German brew. It was so much fun that they decided to do it again, and again, and
again - usually around once a month. This has been a tradition that has lasted for over two years
now.
In March of 2002, those two were playing more drunken chess when the idea of a tournament came up. With
the enthusiasm of drunken fools, they started discussing the idea in detail, while still drunk.
Those geniuses who live life on (a rather intellectually-drunken) edge: Ryan Arndt and HMFY's own Ryan
Macklin.
On May 25th, 2002, it happened. HMFY.com's first sponsored event, Drunken Chess Tournament, took place.
It was a great success. Both of the Ryan's found it to be great fun, and talking about when to have the
next one.
TJ became the first Drunken Chess champion that day. We look forward to meeting again with this cunning
boozehound on the battlefield.
We learned a lot that day - we learned that getting a reservation for that many people on a holiday
weekend is a real bitch - keeping one even more so. We lucked out that day with cool people over at
River City Brewing Co. We learned that a stalemate can really throw off the tournament timing. We
learned that alcohol should be ordered at the bar, because sometimes the wait staff can be slow with
getting to our party.
For the first time, DCT3 is being planned with something other than last-minute haphazard chaos!
Long live this great HMFY tradition!
Third Tournament Goal
Both of the last two tournaments (barely) had eight players. Both times we tried to get a full 16, but kept coming up short
due to poor planning and people flaking out. This time, I'm serious about getting 16 -- I want it to show that DCT has grown
in the past year, and want to finally get a decent tournament going. That being said, I'm not keeping it a secret that I
won't run a tournament every six months if people keep flaking. If I get 16 players and the tournament goes well, I'll likely
run another around October. Otherwise, it will be at least Spring 2004 before I host DCT4.
Lack of Entry Fee & Prize Pot
As with DCT2, there will be no entry fee, nor will there be a prize
pot - the winner gets bragging rights, but we wish to discourage the
kind of competition that has players trying to remain sober during the
tournament - this is a drunken chess tournament, and we would
like all the players to embrace the spirit of that. It worked well last time, so
we're going to go with that again.
Tournament Judges
The tournament judges are (again) Ryan Macklin and Ryan Arndt. We're
hoping for a large enough turnout so that we can bow out and remain
just drunken judges, but that's not likely to happen. All rulings by judges are final, and they have
the right to kick someone out of the tournament for being belligerent
while drunk. We're trying to establish the tournament, and the last
thing we want or need are people being asses (sober or drunken) and
our name getting tainted.
Booze prices and requirements
As Streets of London is a British Pub-style venue, the drink sizes are in standard Pints (16 oz.) Note that they have two sizes of
pints - standard and Imperial (20 oz). Players may choose Imperial sizes - but the rules clearly state that you much finish you drink.
Pitchers are legal, and players are only required to finish their glass in a game, not the entire pitcher (however, players may opt to
anyway). Exception to this rule: If a player consistently drinks from the pitcher and it is not being shared, then the
judges may rule that the pitcher is the "glass" the player is drinking out of. The judges like rulings like this. It's
hilarious.
Their prices for 16 oz. pints is $3.50, Imperial pints is $4.00, and a pitcher is $10.75.
Their draft beer list: Guiness, Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Brewing Hefeweisen, MCEwans IPA, Cafferys, Fullers ESB, Beamish, Boddingtons,
John Courage, Newcastle Brown, Stella Artois, Bass, FUllers IPA, Fullers London Pride, Belhaven, Grolsch, Harp.
Their draft cider list: Blackthorn.
For those who would prefer to drink wine (such as our current champion), the drink size is one glass - the rules on drinking bottles is
the same as drinking pitchers.
Their wine list (glass price/bottle price):
Chardonnay: B.V.-Napa ($5.50/$19.00), Amberhill by Raymond ($5.00/$18.00)
Sauvignon Blanc: Canyon Rd ($3.50/$15.00)
White Zinfandel: Mantevina - Amadror ($3.50/$15.00)
Riesling: Maddalena - Monterey ($3.75/$16.00)
Marlot: B.V. Costal - Napa ($5.50/$20.00), Turning Leaf ($5.00/$18.50), Blackstone - Sonoma ($6.00/$24.00)
Cabernet Sauvignon: Trinity Oaks ($4.75/$17.75), B.V. Coastal - Napa ($5.50/$20.00), La Crosse - Napa ($5.00/$19.00)
These lists were taken from their drink menu earlier this month. No guarantees that they'll stay this way, but they should be something
for everyone.