Rather unrelated, I've been informed more than once that businesses often like to set up a showpiece chessboard, with the pieces on the correct squares for the starting position of a game, except that the board is oriented so that h1 is a dark square instead of a light one - the intent is to lure passersby to come in, to tell the business the board is set up wrong, whereupon a bit of salesmanship might then take place.
Also unrelated, back in the 1980s one Ontario Closed I played in was held in a sponsoring company's office cafeteria. At one point two employees walked by the entrance, and one said sarcastically: Chess! (I took it in stride, but I noticed IM Deen Hergott was visibly annoyed). Then again, around that same decade, a Hamilton TV News Sportscaster also sneered at the game, on air, after a report about a world championship match.
Chess takes a lot of abuse.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 07-30-2018 at 09:11 PM.
Reason: Spelling
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.