The wife and I will be moving to Thailand in the not too distant future and I´m gathering ideas on how to keep myself constructively busy once we get there!!!! Im quite a sporty type but as a pastime I also quite like the occasional game of chess. Do the locals - as well as TV members - play much chess?????

I'm willing to play in the BKK area. PM, me.

Cheers, WT.

i've met few thai's that play our style of chess (but some of them are pretty good if they do know). They have their own version of chess with similar pieces however I gave up trying to learn it because it seemed like they made up the rules as they went along. I've watched others play and there is some kind of structure and rules, but it is quite confusing to me. When I recommend to them that we should play traditional chess they claim they don't know how. So anyway, I haven't played chess in a while.

It's funny watching the Thais just playing checkers. Their version allows to move the king up and down the board in a diagonal direction similar to a bishop or queen in chess. Their version of checkers is actually a mix from the checkers I learned as a child and chess.

Yes I would also be interested in creating some sort of club, I think chess is such a good game. Relieves stress

Count me in

It's funny watching the Thais just playing checkers. Their version allows to move the king up and down the board in a diagonal direction similar to a bishop or queen in chess. Their version of checkers is actually a mix from the checkers I learned as a child and chess.

It's part of the big conspiracy to keep the population stupid. Dumb down the game, make it easy to play and call it Thai.

Playing a game of Chess with Farang rules! That's not the way, it might lead the population to improve their brain power.

No, "keep it simple, and keep 'em stupid".

I once tried to learn one of their card games, as the GF of the time (now well and truly ex for obvious reasons) spent an inordinate amount of time playing. I watched the play and thought surely I can do this as well. So we start playing, I get introduced to the basic rules and off we go. After a few hands I thought I was getting the hang of it, but then, out of the blue, PLAP! another rule pops up and I lose. This happened repeatedly as soon as I looked like winning. I tried to write down the rules as we went along, but it got really complicated, as they seem to change at random intervals.

Which leads me to introduce 12DrinkMore's Law of Thai Style #1.

"The concept of having all the rules logically and irrevocably set out on a piece of paper is not and never will be part of Thai culture"

She also became bored very quickly, as playing for points was not the same as the opportunity to loose thousands of Baht over an afternoon. Now you know why I kicked her out.

It is a bit like the way that snooker is played in Thailand, they make up their own rules, respotted reds, so I have just got to the stage where I just practise on my own and decline all offers of competition as it will lead to trouble; when one knows the written rules and they make it up. Everything in like is subject hermenutics, but you have to firm foundation in order to know what your doing.

Check out www.bangkokchess.com which is a club that meets in The Bulls Head every Tuesdays.( sukhumvit soi 33 ) Failing that you can play chess online. Check out www.postcardchess.com to see how it works. You can play a whole game or a move a day.

Do the locals - as well as TV members - play much chess?????

Many cast concrete tables have a 'chess' board tiled into them - and generally it is as mentioned about for Thai checkers with used beer caps. See any motorcy taxi strip.

In Pattaya the Beach Road McDonalds hosts a handful of serious players - they play with timers, I would imagine if expats were alerted to each other in your area someone could host a gathering.

There is a nice Thai web site for online: Thaibg dot com

And BG stand for BoardGame

Learn a new game: GO.

There is a couple a place in Bangkok where you can learn/play.