# only in Australia - full-contact chess **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507 "2000-04-26T23:47:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/1 "2000-04-26T23:47:00Z")
Why couldn’t my days in the chess club have been as interesting as this? REUTERS Oddly Enough Headlines Wednesday April 26 7:41 AM ET Chess Players Face Bans Over Punch-Up CANBERRA (Reuters) - Two chess players are facing possible bans from the gentle sport of intellectuals after a punch-up during Australia’s premier Grand Prix tournament. Australian Chess Federation (ACF) president Graeme Gardiner said on Wednesday that he was waiting for a report on Monday’s brawl before deciding what action to take. `It is quite possible there will be a ban (but) I want to be in full possession of the facts,'' Gardiner said. `I am waiting on a written report which I will then discuss with my colleagues on the ACF council.’’ The two players, David Beaumont and Alexander Gaft, came to blows during the fourth round of the prestigious Doeberl Cup in Canberra. The fight began after Beaumont complained that Gaft, who had completed his own match, was disrupting him while he was playing another opponent. Witnesses said the argument soon turned violent as the pair started trading punches and grappling with each other until they were eventually pulled apart by other players. `We have had people thrown out of the tournament before but never for fighting,'' chief arbiter Shaun Press said. `Beaumont was sorely provoked but retaliation is no excuse.’’ Beaumont returned to his seat to complete his match but was told that he and Gaft had both been disqualified. One startled onlooker, Tony Oliver, said: `It is one of the most disgusting things I have seen at a chess tournament. `How can an intellectual pursuit degrade itself in this way?’’ ---
**Author:** ![Fillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/2 "2000-04-26T23:50:00Z")
A key question - were they wearing short shorts, like footie players do? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/3 "2000-04-27T16:36:00Z")
They should have left them fighting and banned the one who burst into tears first! ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/4 "2000-04-27T16:52:00Z")
This is not that uncommon in chess. I think the Fisher/ Spassky match or some earlier world championship match (Botvinniek - d’oh: I know that’s not the right spelling, but hey it’s late and I’m a drunk ozzie, so you’re not arguing eh?) had the organisers installing a partition under the table to stop the combatants kicking each other under the table. I also recall an incident where there was … how can I put it … an unwelcome advancing of bodily fluids under the table. I would have posted this earlier, but I was concerned to bolster our wholly unwarranted macho national image. picmr ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/5 "2000-04-27T19:53:00Z")
picmr, I think the usual spelling is Botvinnik. Do you remember anything more about those stories? Both of them are new to me. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/6 "2000-04-27T20:02:00Z")
Ah, yesssssss…the infamous Tal/Botvinnik pissing match of 1959… ---
**Author:** ![dpr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8797f3/32.png) [@dpr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dpr)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/7 "2000-04-27T22:51:00Z")
Hey we’re Aussies… the only thing missing was the drunken yobbos cheering them on. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/8 "2000-04-28T02:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Arnold Winkelried: > \*\* Do you remember anything more about those stories? Both of them are new to me.\*\* I’ll have to dig my chess books out of storage. It looks like Ukulene Ike remembers one of them though. picmr ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/9 "2000-04-28T16:49:00Z")
I went to a fight once, and a chess match broke out… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/only-in-australia-full-contact-chess/16507/10 "2000-04-30T12:47:18Z")
Scottish soccer hooligans vs. Aussie chess players… **TO THE DEATH!!!** 😃