- Beware, we are now in Capéchecs ! Yesss !
- Cap d'Agde: what does it mean to you?
- Cap d'Agde, what does it mean ... Do I take the microphone?
- No, no, I'll hold it!
- Cap d'Agde: what does it mean to you?
- Um, for me, it's a CCAS vacation camp,
that I had gone to the year before,
which I liked,
and I wanted to try my luck again at the tournament.
- For me, Cap d'Agde makes me think
of the beach, the sea…
- Us from Charentes,
it always makes us daydream a little…
We come here to get some sun
at the start of November, it's good!
- OK, and nothing else? Cap d'Agde,
it's nothing but chess for you?
Yes, yes, completely! It means matches!
- Matches? How so?
- Chess matches!
- OK! Ha ha ha!
- No, no, it's chess tournaments!
And the beach.
- And it's chess tournaments for me, too…
- Cap d'Agde? Hm … Daggers!
- Daggers! A dagger!
- Yes!
- Yeah, a dagger!
- Capéchecs, what does it mean to you?
- Well, it's a big tournament that gets lots of players together
This is my second year coming here,
and it's a really good tournament!
- For me, it's my exposure to big international tournaments,
and above all it's the emotional memory of the 2003 edition,
with the fast-chess world championship,
where all the biggest names were there, and that's a lasting memory.
- What's your favorite memory here at Capéchecs ?
- Um, having good matches, especially winning.
- Uh, I have no idea…
the tournaments are really good,
in fact they're all so good
I can't remember.
Well, I have memories,
just not one favorite memory.
- Two days ago, we were having a drink with Strikovic and Shchekachev,
and there were lots of people from all nationalities,
all ages, young, old,
and we all came together
to play little card games,
to tell our life stories,
and I think this is the only sport that's like that.
Everyone plays: young, old,
black, white, rich, poor, it's great!
- I am happy to see young people,
little kids playing.
I'm so pleased
to see little boys and girls participating,
it's great!
- And your least favorite memory?
- Losing, and coming across people who are,
like yesterday, I was going sick,
because the person was so annoying to play!
- Really? Why? Was she complaining, being unpleasant?
- She kept moving back and forth,
and it really got to me,
I was really sick!
- Really? I wouldn't have thought…
- It was absolutely nonstop, this jiggling…
- Chess is a little closed-off, Here it's OK,
but when you're in the room,
there isn't much ventilation, at the end of the game…
- It's like in a locker room?
- It smells a little bad!
- You like 'échecs,' but not success? (In French, 'échecs' means both 'chess' and 'failure')
- No, not much, not really.
- You like 'échecs,' but you also like success?
- Success?
- Um, 'échecs'/'success'…
- I… uh…
- There's a rumor on Capéchecs,
that there's going to be an amazing surprise on Saturday night
We can't find out anything about it,
you haven't heard anything about it, have you?
- No I haven't heard anything about that,
but since you've mentioned it,
I'll do everything I can to make sure I can be there,
even though the camp is finishing on Saturday morning.
I'll try to make sure I don't miss the surprise...
- No I haven't heard anything about that,
but the closing ceremonies are really good
every year so that could be possible.
- If you had to pick the surprise, do you have any idea what you'd like?
- No, not really, it's the principle of the surprise.
- It seems that there are some clues hidden
under the chess pieces in the center.
If you ever see any sign of it, tell us, I'd really like to know...
- Let's see, we'll keep you posted!
- Ok, I'll give you some info. I don't have anything at the moment
but I'll ask some of the others.
- Do you come here for chess or music?
- A little of both. Chess is my second family!
I became a musician thanks to chess, go figure!
- You've made a lot of progress on the piano, I'll say,
but with the way you played chess last year,
have you learned the rules in the meantime?
- Yes, now I know the knight jumps
and goes forward and back,
yeah, it was good!
- If I remember, he began at B2, B4,
and I replied B7, B6, and bishop B2. Bishop B7.
E3, and I replied with H5
and an Algerian variant of the Hedgehog Defense,
for the specialists,
and then... this is going back a year…
bishop D3, and I replied with H4,
which is the Kabyle attack system,
a.k.a. Algerian, a.k.a. the 'smile' as well.
- How long do you spend playing per day?
- I don't know, but I spend too long on the computer,
about 2 to 3 hours! Probably too much!
- Far too much playing, and not enough practicing!
- I practice for one or two hours a week,
and then on top of that I do exercises, outside of the tournaments.
- Isn't your girlfriend a bit jealous of all this?
- I don't have a girlfriend right now!
- Maybe that's why?
- That's why!
- Could somebody cheat at chess?
- Yes definitely, you can cheat,
but I think this is a domain
where people respect the game.
- Of course!
- So how would one go about it?
- For example, I have a game, this guy's pawn is here,
and, off he goes, he moves it two squares along!
Imagine I was about to give up, because I had lost a piece!
And then I realized that it was an irregular move.
So I did that, he thought I was shaking his hand to give up,
and then afterwards I asked the referees.
If I gave up
and then realized that it was an irregular move,
it would be too late.
As soon as you give up, it's final!
- True, they aren't joking!
- yes, I almost gave up,
while that guy did an irregular move !
So yes, one certainly can cheat, it's crazy!
- Have you ever cheated?
- No, but it can't be that hard
when you have those earpieces, or things like that.
- The guy had a big wig,
and underneath that he had headphones,
and someone was telling him the moves !
and he did this trick for ages,
but then he got caught!
- So yesterday, when all those people were dressed up in Halloween costumes,
was that what it was all about?
- Yep, they had stuff underneath!
- Can you name 3 famous chess players?
- Fisher, Carlsen and Kasparov are well-known ones.
- I remember watching Karpov vs Kasparov when I was a kid,
it really made an impression on me!
- There's that one that we always forget,
the strongest one of all, their initials are D and B.
- I don't know...
- It's Deep Blue!
- Okay, but I'm just not keen enough,
I'm not really into tournaments,
so I can't, my mind's gone blank, you've checkmated me!
- He is a rather special character,
a bit cold, impassive, but super strong!
- Ah, impassible on the outside, but inside, you might be seething a bit.
Just like in poker, in chess you can't show your emotions too much!
You've got to try and stay calm!
- We noticed something interesting in the game of chess:
only one of the 16 pieces is female.
Does that surprise you?
- No, not at all.
- So you're not for gender equality?
- Yes, yes, yes I am!
- It's true that there's only one female piece,
but it is the most elegant one.
We can move where we want, when we can,
but we see all the angles
and we're very powerful!
- It's the strongest piece!
- Oh yes, exactly!
- Look! She's hiding her game really well!
She's all alone, but she's very efficient.
- It's a game of war and strategy, so that doesn't shock me much.
But what's good is that there are more and more girls playing,
so that's pretty good!
- It's still a man's game.
- Right now, yes, there are more men playing.
- But I don't know what's behind that,
is it that teenage girls…
- They have other things on their mind.
- Girls are drawn to other things,
more than boys.
- Does that surprise you?
- Uh, I don't know if knights can be feminine,
or the bishops?
We aren't going to call them the 'bishop-ettes,' or anything like that …
- The 'nuns'?
- The 'nuns,' maybe, it's kind of a strange piece…
- Yes, it's true that women knights would be nice
we should maybe add women knights,
without becoming vulgar of course!
Women knights, the queen, and then
one or two 'nuns' for a laugh!
- So what's your favorite chess piece,
or the one you play the most often?
- I love the knight, it can jump around in any direction,
it can 'fork' from distance…
- Oh I like the bishop's ambush, yes, that's not bad.
The bishop's diagonal motion, I love it!
- What's your favorite chess piece,
the one you play most often?
- It's over there, there…
- It's going to be delicious ! Slurp !
- Is there doping in chess,
substances that can help you play better?
- Well, I'm not a doctor,
but we did briefly talk about beta blockers
to help with stress.
- Doping, I don't know, maybe,
mainly in terms of food,
energy things...
- Of course! You wouldn't be able to keep pace
all week otherwise...
- So what are you taking?
- A bit of everything!
Whatever's on offer, beer...
- A buddy of mine applies water to his fists every game
to give himself a little boost.
Is that considered doping? I don't know...
My wife makes me a thermos of green tea
which I drink during the game,
and that's the extent of my preparations.
- have you ever taken a few things, like Red [ beep ] ?
- No, that's too weak,
it wouldn't do any good!
- Coca [ beep ] neither?
- No! Maybe it's worth a try!
- Yes, it does work!
But I think there are anti-doping checks!
- The people in uniform at the entrance?
- Yep!
- Hey Bob !
- Yes ?
- We have been looking for a long time about the surprise,
We can't get any information !
Tell us, what is it ?
- A surprise ? What is this all about ?
Please, stop dreaming !
- I was playing with this guy, he was losing on purpose,
he gave me everything in one move,
he played, I took the queen, he played...
I took a piece from him every time,
and at the end, checkmate!
He did it on purpose, I really don't understand the point?
- As there are some nudists here, maybe there are some masochists too?
- Ah yes, I don't know. At the end he was saying:
« bravo, sir, bravo, great! »
- Was he a shy guy?
- Yes, maybe it's selflessness, empathy...
I turned up and maybe he thought to himself:
"ok, him, I..."
"I'm gonna give him one point…"
- Maybe he was hitting on you?
- Ha ha ha ! I don't know !
Well, anyway it was funny…
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