Cafe Pi

where I go when I don't have enough 'nerd' in my life... like the weekends, when I experience nerd withdrawal... and then I get to practice my French too...

It is a hippy (as in lot of vegetarian selections) and eclectic (like Montreal is...) cafe on the busy and lively Blvd. St Laurent that is famous for chess. A lot of people there are people who played in tournaments at some point in their lives, if not now.

So when I go and ask to play, they are always skeptical. But nobody has refused me upto now, I guess they don't want to hurt my feelings, or they feel 'ah what the heck, it's some girl...' :) But you know they are always totally undermining me. Now I know those of you who've played chess with me are thinking, rightly so... I ain't no grand master, it's true... But I always surprise them. It is very fun to see them go from taking it really easy to 100% concentration... Most of the time I don't win there, but I do at least have a strong defense and sometime a pretty good offense too.

They say I play a different game. This I think is because I have never sat down with a chess book and learned some traditional chess strategies. My brother did this one time, he got a book and learned this, but this never interested me. I know how the pieces move, and the rest is spontaneous. At the end they are always surprised that I held the game for about 1hr. So they go around telling everyone how good I am... So now when I go to Cafe Pi, I go there also for the much needed ego-boost...

Ok, now people tend to think of girls as eye-candy (this from my very politically incorrect former office mate) and I think I am no exception. Now I should be offended right? I know, but somehow I am not... May be because I feel like I am truly a nerd, so I can use some eye-candy attitude... So when I sit to play chess, I imagine these people see me this way. And I just totally love this... I never volunteer to tell people what my profession is. I hold it back as long as I can. But often, like at the end of a well played chess game, the curiosity gets the better of them, and they itch to know what I am doing... After some tinkering of their thoughts I tell them what I am and there jaws drop... I just love this... :)