There is not too much to say about the visit to that little chess club, back in 2005. When I arrived they had already started playing and there was apparently only a some six year old girl left that I could play (lol). Needless to say the game wasn’t interesting. The point was that she could speak English, but she was so shy that even 3 words on the game (or massacre) itself was somewhat out of the question. I could already speak shitty Chinese by then so the English requirement wasn’t even necessary, but that’s not too important.
So chess wise it wasn’t interesting. What was more interesting was the ‘interview’ I got from the dude who operated this chess place his mother.
‘What do are you doing here?’ ‘Are you this?’ ‘Are you that?’ ‘Are you a threat?’ ‘How long will you be here?’, etcetc.
At the end she simply said:
“Yes, these were many questions, but that is because I have to know you.”
Remember that comment. Essentially it was their excuse to internationalize The Shitshow and willingly completely destroy my life while doing so. You will see.
Also, this mini story itself is far from over, so prepare yourself for some good stuff!