|
Erik drove alone to a chess tournament in Indianapolis. The way he tells the story makes it sound like this was a while ago but not forever ago. Maybe 2012, 2013, or 2014.
Erik won some money, which is a rare thing. There were ratings-based divisions and Erik maybe signed up for the sub 1600 or sub 1800 ELO section, depending on what his official USCF rating was at the time.
Erik is the type of chess player who is very hard to beat if you haven't played him before. He is aggressive. He doesn't need a queen. He will make large sacrifices for space.
Erik went out drinking afterward. He wanted to celebrate. He got really drunk and decided to drive all the way back up to South Bend because he didn't want to pay for a hotel room.
Erik loves to save money.
Erik fell asleep at an intersection and woke up to several Indianapolis cops dragging him out of his car and pushing him to the ground and handcuffing him. A lady cop yells at him, "How do I get in your car?"
And this is Erik, so he doesn't explain that only he can open the doors to his car because none of the doors work right and the only reason he can finagle them is because he has been driving this car since he was in high school, twenty years ago.
No. Fucking Erik, he says, "You don't get in my car."
Which is how he ends the story. He doesn't say anything about if he went to jail or what ended up happening with his car.
He just opens your car door for you because you can't open it yourself and then he tells you about a chess tournament he went to in Indianapolis where he won some money and went out drinking to celebrate and woke up to cops dragging him from his car and arresting him.
Erik preserves the vastness this way.
|