SPETEMBER 4th - Blindfolded: What to Do and What Not to Do



On this day in 1945 chess master Ruben Fine won 4 simultaneous games of rapid chess. That would be pretty impressive for us normal folk, but Ruben spat in the face of normality. He won those games blindfolded. He only had ten seconds to move each piece while his opponents had 30 seconds. Plus the dude couldn’t see. While I do appreciate the difficulty of this accomplishment, it’s still pretty high up on the list of things I would attempt blindfolded. I’m not trying to be TJ here. Mr. Fine should proud. I’m just saying there’s not really an element of danger there. Now if you threw in a wild tiger, which hadn’t eaten in weeks, to roam the playing area while Rube was blindfolded? That would add a little danger, no? Look, I’m not going to win four games of rapid chess, blindfolded or otherwise--barring a Freaky Friday occurrence or an unwanted brain transplant with the craziness that is Bobby Fischer--but I’m not going to die if I attempt it, hence my willingness to try. My breakdown would be as follows:

Things I would attempt blindfolded:
1. Probably anything that happened in 50 Shades of Grey
2. Reading 50 Shades of Grey (I imagine it would improve the book greatly)
3. Eating Cereal (could get a little messy, but milk is supposed to be good for your complexion)
4. The William Tell experiment (as long as I got to shoot at the apple)
5. Rapid Chess

Things I would NOT attempt blindfolded:
1. Driving (Lt. Col. Frank Slade is the only person who should drive blind--hoo-ahh)
2. Funambulism from a height higher than twelve feet (of course I probably wouldn’t attempt walking a tight rope without a blindfold either)
3. Parkour (good way to break a femur)
4. Hunting
5. Sightseeing

So while I acknowledge and appreciate Ruben Fine, I implore you all to think twice about what you attempt to do blindfolded. It’s a wild world out there, folks. Sometimes you need to see what’s going on.

This day has been Marked.

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