Am I a loser for saying that I had more fun watching old Sarajevan men play BIG CHESS than almost anything else I did in nine nights there?


Every day I walked by the board, and every day I saw the same faces. After a few visits, I even began to pick "favorite players." (I liked the guy who is pointing below).


Every move brings out the backseat drivers. "Go here," "Go there," "You shouldn't have brought out your queen," "If I was playing, I wouldn't have done that..." These are all English translations of what I can only assume was being said over and over, as everyone in the peanut gallery waited their turn to get a game.


Not too many young tourists become so enraptured by their mini-society, so lots smiled and waved when I brought out my camera.


I just think you could conduct a crazy anthropological study on these people. Do they have cliques? Alliances? Rivalries? Are there unspoken rules on who can call games? How do they call games? Is there someone that is hands-down the best player, like Benny the Jet Rodriguez?