Andy
@andrandiriel.bsky.social
89 followers 99 following 171 posts
35, she/they, professional science geek, amateur musician. currently losing my mind about M*A*S*H. embarrassingly straight for Bill Christopher. Was @\DisasterAndie on that other site.
![Alan and Mike [Farrell] used to play chess a lot. When one of them was missing, we had an electronic chessboard and they could play against that. I didn't dare play since chess always made me very nervous. Nevertheless, Alan actually coerced me into playing chess once. (Is anyone really interested in these stories?) Well, he coerced me into playing chess, and I sat down with him and said "all right I'll play you one game and one game only, because there is too much stress in this game."
So there we were, he was playing very cavalierly and not concentrating too much, I guess, and I was working very hard to make sense of all the moves. And I was sitting there and it was my move, and Mike arrived on the set. As he came in the door on Stage Nine, he walked over to the chairs and looked at the board. I still hadn't moved. Alan was making jokes and saying, "Hurry up, come on, Bill."
Mike asked, "whose move is it? Is it your move, Bill?" and I said yes. He whispered in my ear to move the bishop to this queen's something or other. So I looked at that, and realized that really was a wonderful move. So I did it, and the game was over! I had beaten Alan! In one move!
After I had played, Mike smiled and said, "Checkmate to you, Alan." And Alan stared at the board. Then he said, "Bill, Bill, Play me again! Play me again!"
"No," I said, "I agreed to one game only! Goodbye!" So I got up and moved over so Mike could sit down and I could return to reading Homer. That was the only game I played, and I beat Alan not even knowing what I was doing!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hfuwrygpr4bfu77jpd6eluvw/bafkreico72oukpmyqkvd3gjpimjxv5mnindjebow5aimxk7ox4nv5g2kre)
