Today I gambled for the first time in my life with real money:) …ok …money at stake was not a big amount but the context was unforgettable..I was passing through Washington park and noticed a set of folks playing chess. I approached them and saw an empty board with a very old man sitting , who was just staring at the pieces which were nicely arranged . I approached him and said " Let’s play"..He asked - " For how much? “…I was little surprised..I never knew the games were played with money…The old man had one foot in the grave..He was extremely weak in appearance, had a ton of wrinkles on his face and could barely speak. He politely asked to go away if I did not play with money..I took a chance because I felt I could defeat this guy whose hands were trembling when he made a move…I agreed and the game began..

It was while since I had played chess but it was fun sitting in an open park and playing chess..I was thinking may be I should not be taking money from the guy when i win the game..I was already assuming that I had won the game !! But what happened in the game was unforgettable. He beat me hands down..There was no way i could bring back my chess skills and defend my pieces. He was bloody good , something I could never anticipate from his appearance..I LOST. :)..I made a mistake in the beginning and I had to pay for it very dearly…Not wanting to leave the table with a loss,i  invited him to play another game , but this time, the game didn’t go really far at all, when his queen’s indian defense was all over me and he made a check mate in 15 minutes….I was really thrilled by his aggression which was at odds with his appearance. I said “quits”, gave him 6 bucks and had a conversation with him..His goes by the name , “Timothy” ,  he is 84 years old, and he has been playing chess for the past 45 years. !!! and he said he knows about 200 openings in all its variants. His hobbies are chess and HACKING!! yes hacking!! he is computer programmer who hacked security algos for living in his hey days!!!, ……In the end he confessed that he brought in the money element in the games at the park ONLY because he was not willing to waste his time playing with casual folks!!. wow..!! this guy rocks

anyways, i walked away from the park really feeling happy, even though I lost..i don’t know why…!! I guess the whole feeling of meeting  this person was something wonderful.