Triggerfish Tuesday – Wind, Prestik Bishops & a Rare Window to Beat Sven
This past Triggerfish Tuesday was officially the windiest day of the week. Players arrived looking less like chess enthusiasts and more like they’d been released into the wild by the weather. None of this, however, deterred Charlie… who once again decided that chess is best played outside, exposed to the elements, as nature (and nicotine) intended.
He found his (initially unwilling) victim in Naomi, and together they circled the entire outer area of the restaurant in search of the mythical non-windy spot. After a full lap, they reached the obvious conclusion: such a place does not exist. Naomi resorted to fetching Prestik to pin the board down — after which both players still had to physically hold onto the pieces to prevent spontaneous relocation.
As they packed out, they realised a bishop was missing. Going back inside was deemed unacceptable, so a bold executive decision was made: Prestik would be the bishop. Throughout the game, the Prestik was promoted into increasingly “active bishops,” depending on where it stuck. Charlie then proposed a gentleman’s agreement: if the board blows away, it’s a draw. Conveniently, he was already in a losing position.
Naomi fought valiantly — against Charlie and the wind — and managed to pull off a win. Charlie immediately blamed the Prestik. He did at least get his smoke breaks in, though sadly the nicotine offered no tactical assistance.
Two brothers also made their debut this week. Anthony Tanser, clearly the stronger of the two, and Christopher Tanser, no slouch himself. We’re already eyeing them for the senior league. Anthony boasts an online rating north of 2000, paired with a very misleading 850 OTB rating, which he intends to correct by actually playing tournaments. He jumped straight into intense battles against Sven, who was visibly delighted to finally have a worthy opponent to crush. Final score: two wins for Sven and one draw.
We were also joined by another former chess parent, whom Naomi instantly bonded with. He’s from Pretoria, on holiday, and has a chess origin story many parents will recognise: he used to drag his son all over the country to tournaments in the name of improvement… and somewhere along the way became completely addicted himself. His son is now an FM, and he spends his free time playing online chess for fun. A textbook case of I’ll just support from the sidelines turning into I need one more game.
He dragged his partner and her daughter to Triggerfish for dinner while he “just played a quick game.” Naomi even caught him in a beautiful tactic… only for him to respond by winning her queen with an equally brilliant one and taking the game. Rude. Impressive. Educational.
As players started heading off, the Tanser brothers still wanted more chess. Naomi, also clearly not done, proposed a simul against Anthony, with Christopher joining in. At the exact same time, Sven was also running a simul against two other players — meaning we somehow ended up with two simultaneous simuls happening at once. As expected, the stronger players — Sven and Anthony — wrapped things up efficiently and convincingly, reminding everyone why they were the ones giving simuls in the first place.
To top it all off, Naomi decided it was time to launch a running ClashOTB leaderboard at Triggerfish. Early days, plenty of opportunity — and crucially, Sven has forgotten his password. So if anyone has ever dreamed of leading a leaderboard before Sven inevitably starts farming points like a side quest — this is your moment. Use it wisely.
📝 Summary (for those who lost pieces to the wind)
• Charlie fought the elements and lost to Prestik.
• Naomi beat Charlie, the wind, and a missing bishop.
• Prestik was promoted, blamed, and will be banned from future games.
• Anthony Tanser arrived with a terrifying online rating and fake OTB one.
• Christopher Tanser confirmed chess runs in the family.
• Sven happily crushed fresh blood and still forgot his password.
• Two simuls happened at once because one wasn’t chaotic enough.
• The ClashOTB leaderboard is live — and Sven is currently locked out.
Classic Triggerfish Tuesday. 🍻♟️
