National Chess Champion comes to UF
I think we can all agree that Mondays are the worst day of the week. Chances are you have an early class because the Gods of scheduling love to strike us down before we get our maximum 6 hours of sleep after cramming all of our schoolwork from the week into Sunday night.
Much to my avail, this Monday started off just right. As I walked past Library West Monday morning, I saw a heavyset man in a red shirt with about three-fourths of his belly hanging out. Next to him was a big sign that said “UF: 0 vs. Sarfati: 15.” Naturally, the first thing I did was #youjustgotgoogled.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I was standing in front of a nationally acclaimed chess master, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, FM. As it turns out, he lived in New Zealand for the majority of his life and graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with his Ph.D. and in 1988 he drew against Boris Spassky, a former world champion. The buzz around the tables was that he had just recently beaten 11 “semi-pro” chess players with a blindfold on. What in the world?
I felt like I was standing in front of the Rachel Ray of chess. This man definitely put in his 10,000 hours. I was in the chess club in 2nd grade (I still have the shirt to prove it) so I figured I’d give it a shot. I was going to play a chess Master.
After sitting down at a seat, I realized that this was arguably the most bizarre crowd playing this man in chess. To my left sat a 5 year old with no more than 15 teeth, all of which were probably loose and to my right was probably the least humble 65 year old man I’ve ever seen who I later overheard saying, “Yeah, I’m easily the best one here, most of the UF chess team isn’t here anyway.” I don’t know which is worse: Being easily the most pretentious person within a 2 mile radius or being a good 40 years older than the majority of your friends.
To make a long story short, I was destroyed in a measly 12 moves and shook Sarfati’s hand and said good game (to which he chuckled and proceeded to check-mate the next person he played).
Things like this are what really make the University of Florida something different. Not only do we have kickass football, basketball, and baseball programs, but we have a great dance team, an incredible acting program, and from what I learned on Monday…we have a damn good chess team too.
Here at GainesvilleScene we are constantly advising you to go out and meet new people, try new things, and experience life a little differently for once. This was me doing just that and I don’t regret a single second of it.
